Strike the colors! Mississippi flag forces ALL state banners out of DC subway

With the Mississippi State flag falling from favor in Washington, DC, over its Confederate imagery, the standards of all American states are being removed from the Capitol’s subway system. Replacing them will be prints from each state's official coin.

The flags are on display in the most-traveled of multiple subway tunnels connecting the Capitol to the House and Senate office buildings.

The Mississippi flag was removed from a subway tunnel 10 months ago following a shooting at a black church in South Carolina’s Charleston by a white supremacist.

The flag was controversial due to the Confederate imagery on it, evoking a racially-charged past.

The idea to pull down the flags of the other 49 states, the District of Columbia and US territories is attributed to House Administration Committee Chairman Candice Miller (R-Michigan).

“Given the controversy surrounding Confederate imagery, I decided to install a new display,” Miller’s statement said, stressing that she is “well aware” of how many Americans view the Confederate flag negatively and that she personally is “very sympathetic” to those views.

Congresswoman Miller announced Thursday that on her order the state flags are set to be replaced with prints of quarter-dollar coins dedicated to each state.

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“A print of each state’s commemorative coin will be tastefully displayed for this highly-trafficked area, as each quarter serves as a reminder of the ideals, landmarks and people from each state, as well as this nation’s great motto, ‘Out of many, one,’” Miller said in a statement.

Miller specifically stressed that the federal government is not going to dictate what flag each state flies and that a designated representative in Congress will continue to “display their state flag, alongside of the American flag, outside their individual offices.”

“In this way all state flags are displayed on Capitol Hill,” Miller assured.

The compromise “will not prevent members of the Mississippi House delegation from displaying the state’s flag outside their offices,” the Washington Post reported.

The Stars and Bars on the Mississippi banner reproduces Confederate battle flag of the American Civil War (1861-65), which ended with a loss for the Confederation of seven southern US states and brought an end to slavery.