Minnesota Is Replacing Flag Considered Offensive

A state commission went to work Tuesday on designing a new state flag and seal for Minnesota to replace a current emblem in both that's considered offensive to Native Americans. One of the main elements of Minnesota's state flag includes a prominent state seal against a blue background. The seal depicts a Native American riding off into the sunset while a white settler plows his field with his rifle leaning on a nearby stump. The imagery suggests to many that the Indigenous people were defeated and going away, while whites won and were staying. Not only do the state's Dakota and Ojibwe tribes consider that offensive, but experts in the scientific and scholarly study of flags—known as vexillology—say it's an overly complicated design, the AP reports.

Guidelines from the North American Vexillological Association say flags should be simple but meaningful, with just a few colors, easily recognizable from a distance, and without seals or lettering. The association ranks Minnesota in 67th place out of 72 US and Canadian state and provincial flags. Minnesota's design dates from 1957, an evolution from the 1893 original. The Democratic-controlled Minnesota Legislature earlier this year tasked its commission—which includes representatives of the state's tribal and other communities of color—with producing new designs for the flag and seal by Jan 1. Unless the Legislature rejects them, the new emblems will automatically become official on April 1, 2024, Minnesota's Statehood Day.

"What I am looking forward to is creating a flag that we can all be proud of, and a flag that everybody can look at and say: 'Yeah, that's Minnesota's flag. That's a cool flag. That's very distinctive,'" says the commission's vice chair, Anita Gall, who teaches state history at Minnesota West Community and Technical College in Worthington. Other states considering simplifying their flags include Maine, where voters will decide next year whether to replace their current banner with a retro version featuring a simple pine tree and blue North Star, as well as Michigan and Illinois. (Utah's new flag will become official in March 2024.)