Governor Phil Bryant recently proclaimed April as Confederate Heritage Month in the state of Mississippi.  Mississippi does have a rich and deep, yet complicated, history.  Unfortunately, there is no room to lend credence to the idea that somehow the Confederacy was a great institution by honoring its ideals, views and values.  There are numerous books, chapters in school textbooks and websites which provide detailed accounts and documentation regarding the Confederate States of America, and the people that supported it.  With that said, honor and remembrance of Confederate heritage is absolutely not absent both inside and outside of Mississippi.  

I, and hosts of others, do not believe the Confederacy is an institution that should be celebrated.  Alexander Stephens (Vice President of the Confederate States of America) clearly states the underlying principle behind the Confederacy in a speech given on March 21, 1861 in Savannah, GA: "Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition". As a citizen with deep roots in Mississippi, there is no reason to celebrate a heritage steeped in this type of ignorance.  

I humbly petition that there should not be a Confederate Heritage Month in Mississippi.