Ellington

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is declaring October to be racial reconciliation month.

In a proclamation issued Wednesday, Republican Bryant specifically honors Mission Mississippi, a Christian group that has been working since 1993 to break down barriers in a state with a complex and often troubled history of relations between white and black residents.

The governor's wife, Deborah Bryant, spoke at a Mission Mississippi event last week in Jackson.

Bryant's proclamation for racial reconciliation comes months after he drew widespread criticism from black lawmakers for declaring April as Confederate Heritage Month. Other Mississippi governors, Democrat and Republican, have set the April designation at the request of Sons of Confederate Veterans.