Gov. Kenneth E. Mapp

CHARLOTTE AMALIE — Governor Kenneth E. Mapp has asked the Virgin Islands National Guard (VING) to remove the Mississippi state flag from the armories in St. Croix and St. Thomas, citing its incorporation of the Confederate flag within the design of the flag, Government House said Tuesday.

According to a press release from Government House, Mapp “ordered” Maj. Gen. Renaldo Rivera, the adjutant general of the VING to deliver the flags to the governor’s office so the flags can be returned to Mississippi.

“While the Confederate Flag has its place in United States history, the negative affect that it has on people of color, particularly African-Americans, and its symbolism of hate, are the two things that many do not question,” Mapp said.

Mapp also cited the state of South Carolina’s recent decision to have the Confederate flag in front of their statehouse “relegated…to a museum, where it belongs.”

”The symbolism of hate that the Confederate flag represents has no place in a territory whose population is predominantly made up of people of African descent,” the governor said. “We are very hopeful that the elected leaders of Mississippi will come to a similar conclusion as their colleagues in South Carolina did and vote to remove the Confederate flag from flying above the state.”