(Headline USA) A Minnesota state commission announced this week it will begin redesigning the state flag due to concerns that the original design is offensive to Native Americans.
The Minnesota state flag features the state seal against a blue background. The seal depicts a Native American riding off into the sunset while a settler plows a field with his rifle leaning on a nearby stump. According to leftists, the image is derogatory toward Native Americans and wrongly commemorates “colonization.”
The Democrat-controlled state legislature earlier this year asked the commission, which includes representatives from Minnesota’s tribal communities, to produce a new design for the flag by Jan. 1.
“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,’” said Anita Gall, the commission’s vice chair.
The commission must also design a new state seal.
“These are enduring symbols and emblems meant to last not just decades, but one or more centuries,” said Democrat Secretary of State Steve Simon, who also sits on the commission. “And so it’s a big responsibility.”
Conservatives have pushed back on the effort, arguing that the state flag is nearly identical to a flag carried by the 1st Minnesota Infantry Regiment that helped hold the Union line against Confederate forces during the Civil War.
“I know that there’s many Minnesotans that think we need a new flag and there’s many that don’t,” said Republican state Sen. Steve Drazkowski. “Obviously, the decision is made — we’re going to have a new flag. And so my goal going forward … is that we have a flag that doesn’t represent one idea or one ideology or one anything, but represents all of Minnesota.”
