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‘Go, Mississippi’: State could ditch song with racist roots

Mississippi state Sen. Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford, is shown Friday, April 1, 2022, at the state Capitol in Jackson, Miss. She supports a bill that would retire "Go, Mississippi," the state song that has been used since 1962. It uses the tune of a 1959 campaign song by Ross Barnett, who was elected governor that year by promising to maintain racial segregation. Boyd says the state needs a new song that reflects positive images of Mississippi. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) Mississippi state Sen. Hillman Frazier, D-Jackson, is shown Friday, April 1, 2022, at the state Capitol in Jackson, Miss. Frazier wants a committee to study various genres of music and suggest a new state song for Mississippi. The Legislature has passed a bill that would retire "Go, Mississippi," the state song that has been used since 1962. It uses the tune of a 1959 campaign song by Ross Barnett, who was elected governor that year by promising to maintain racial segregation. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) CORRECTS KARMEN OWENS' POSITION TO RIGHT, INSTEAD OF LEFT Karmen Owens, of McComb, Miss., right, and Raniyah Younger, of Jackson, Miss., share a laugh Friday, April 1, 2022, in the Mississippi Capitol, where they were working as state Senate pages. Owens, 15, and Younger, 17, both said Mississippi should change its state song that was adopted in 1962 using the tune of a 1959 campaign song for segregationist Gov. Ross Barnett. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) File - This Jan. 4, 2022, photo shows country music singer and songwriter Steve Azar at the Mississippi Capitol in Jackson. Mississippi legislators passed a bill March 31, 2022, to designate Azar's "One Mississippi" as the new state song and to create a study committee to consider additional state songs in the future. "One Mississippi" would replace "Go, Mississippi," which became the state song in 1962. "Go, Mississippi" uses the tune of a 1959 campaign song by Ross Barnett, who won the governor's race that year on a pro-segregation platform. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo, File) FILE - Mississippi Gov. Ross Barnett waves a confederate flag before the start of Ole Miss-Kentucky football game at the stadium on Sept. 29, 1962, in Jackson, Miss. With Barnett is his wife, the former Pearl Crawford, left. Mississippi in 2022 is on the verge of retiring a state song with racist roots, two years after it surrendered a Confederate-themed state flag. “Go, Mississippi" uses the tune of a 1959 campaign song for Ross Barnett, who won the governor's race proclaiming support of segregation. (AP Photo/Jim Bourdier, File)
‘Go, Mississippi’: State could ditch song with racist roots