Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed a bill into law on Monday that would remove the Confederate battle symbol from his state’s current flag, which will be replaced by a new design to be decided later.

MSNBC’s Ari Melber played a clip of the Republican governor officially passing the legislation and giving brief comments on the historic move, which was prompted by the nationwide protests over racial injustice ignited by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police last month. Mississippi’s state flag had incorporate the Confederate battle flag into its upper left corner, or union, since 1896, and it was the last state to still have an element of the rebel flag in its design. Georgia, the last, previous state to remove the Confederate symbol from its state’s flag, did so in 2001.

“A flag is a symbol of our present, of our people, and of our future,” Reeves said during the signing ceremony at the Mississippi state capitol over the weekend. “For those reasons, we need a new symbol. It is now law.”

Melber then played footage of the old Mississippi state flag being lowered for the last time.

“That is the change, and overdue or not, it was one that Mississippi had resisted for a long time,” Melber noted. “It comes in the context of months of national protest. Mississippi actually has the highest percentage of black residents and it was the last state, though, that was having them go to the work in the capitol or go visit the buildings run by the government. Kids growing up with that Confederate symbol flapping on its flag.”

“I can tell you there will be a vote on the new flag design that’s held during these coming November elections in that state.”

Watch the video above, via MSNBC.

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