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NATCHEZ — Officials formally adopted a second flag to represent the City of Natchez seal while keeping the original Natchez flag during a Tuesday meeting.

Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson presented the new flag bearing the City of Natchez seal as a gift to outgoing mayor Darryl Grennell during the inauguration ceremony the the newly elected mayor, board of aldermen and municipal judge last week.

At the time, Gibson had said he hoped the flag would become the new city flag with approval from the Natchez Board of Aldermen.

Gibson said he since received feedback from both supporters of the City Seal Flag and the original city flag.

“We have received a lot of comments favorable to our city seal, which is a really inclusive city seal in that it tells the entire story in the history of Natchez. Although we love the city seal and we love the city seal flag, we have also received and we have heard a lot of input that favors the current city flag that Natchez has,” Gibson said.

The seal, Gibson said, honors all of the contributors to Natchez’s history with the placement of the Natchez Indian flanked by the French, British, Spanish and American flags. The seal is also circled by West African Adinkra symbols “Mmere Dane,” which means “change,” and “Boa me na me mmoa wo,” interpreted to mean “help me and let me help you.”

On the flag, the seal is positioned in the center of a wavy blue and white background.

Gibson said the blue of the flag represents the Mississippi River that allowed the City of Natchez to exist and the white represents purity and light.

Gibson also recommended during Tuesday’s meeting that the board amend the city seal so that it would include the words “in God we trust.”

A motion was made by Ward 1 Alderwoman Valencia Hall and seconded by Ward 4 Alderwoman Felicia-Bridgewater Irving to amend the seal so that the words “in God we trust” would be included and the motion passed unanimously.

The board also unanimously established the flag as the City Seal Flag, which would also be known as the “Unity Flag,” during Tuesday’s meeting.