Mississippi Bafflingly Shortlisted Mosquito Flag Design, Turns Out To Be Error
Images via Shutterstock and Shutterstock
Mississippi state has scratched out a proposed mosquito design for its new state flag after accidentally greenlighting it for the second round of evaluation.
Following Black Lives Matter protests, the state promised to change its flag so it no longer features the Confederate battle emblem of a blue saltire cross with white stars. It is currently reviewing the public’s iterations for the redesign.
The commission recently concluded the first round of selection, which saw almost 3,000 proposed artworks. The pool was then whittled down to just 147 entries for the next round.
One of the chosen designs was weirdly fronted by a mosquito, with a circle of stars in the background, and locals were itching to find out why the six-legged, blood-sucking mascot had passed the initial assessment.
Very important news: a mosquito flag has made it to round two of the new Mississippi flag considerations. pic.twitter.com/zKDZ1H9wsH
— BLM, money plane pilot (@babystatesman) August 10, 2020
It turns out that the bizarre choice was merely a rash slipup. The state’s department of archives and history (MDAH) confirmed in a statement on Tuesday, “The mosquito flag advanced to Round Two due to a typo in a list of flag numbers submitted by one commissioner.”
The department added that it was asked to remove the mosquito art from the selection, and that it “complied.”
The commissioners will shortlist five submissions on Friday before deliberating on a single design ahead of the 3 November statewide ballot.
The chosen redesign can either be an individual work or a combination of proposed elements. What is clear, though, is that it will include the US motto “In God We Trust,” as briefed to members of the public who wanted to send in concepts.
The public will vote on whether they’d like to have this single design as the new state flag, and if the majority rejects it, another artwork will be suggested.
[via The Guardian, cover image via Shutterstock and Shutterstock]
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