REGIONAL- The rumblings that Minnesota’s flag could do with a redesign are being felt in the state Legislature again as a bill introduced last year by Rep. Peter Fischer, DFL-Maplewood, has gained some traction in the current session.
Fischer has been looking into the flag issue since 2017, when two high school students came to him with a list of issues about the design, which does little to easily identify and distinguish Minnesota from the flags of nearly 20 other states. In fact, an association of flag experts, the North American Vexillological Association, has rated Minnesota’s flag among the ten worst flags among U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
“The design is not simple: no child could draw it from memory,” wrote Thomas Atkins one of the students who contacted Fischer. “Furthermore, the flag uses seven colors, more than the three or four typically recommended, and contains a prominently placed seal. This overly complicated design obfuscates any symbolism the flag intends to convey. Writing ‘Minnesota’ on the flag only makes the problem worse, as effective flags need not write the name of the region they represent to invoke their meaning. Finally, to the average person, Minnesota’s flag is indistinguishable from 19 other state flags, all blue backgrounds with overly detailed state seals.”
Minnesota didn’t have a flag when it became a state, and it wasn’t until the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair that state leaders held a contest for a state flag that could be used in a contest at the fair. The state seal, dating its origin back to territorial days, was chosen to be displayed on a white field, and it remained the defining feature on the banner when it was redesigned in 1957 and again in 1983 when the seal was tweaked and standardized.
The seal itself is problematic for many Natives and non-Natives alike who perceive the imagery on it to be racist. It depicts a white farmer ploughing ground in the foreground, while in the background an Indigenous rider on horseback is riding out of the scene. The stark division emphasizes the triumph of the early pioneers over the centuries-long inhabitants of the land. A 2020 guest column in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune written by Mark Grindy, bluntly described the message conveyed by the imagery.
“This is not an attempt to honor our heritage or history, but to erase it,” he said. ”The truth is, state-sponsored violence against people of color is not merely part of Minnesota history but central to it.”
Fischer notes that the state flag and seal should have an element of branding and be symbols that are instantly recognizable as Minnesota.
Fischer’s bill would create a State Emblems Redesign Commission to “develop, design, and recommend to the legislature and governor a new design for the official state seal and a new design for the official state flag … that accurately and respectfully reflect Minnesota’s shared history, resources, and diverse cultural communities.” A target of May 11, 2023 is set for a new flag and seal to be adopted.
The 14-member commission would include four legislators, three public members appointed by the governor, two members appointed by the Indian Affairs Council, one from each of the state’s three ethnic councils — Council on Asian-Pacific Minnesotans, Council on Latino Affairs, and Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage — and one member each representing the Dakota and Ojibwe communities.
The bill sat in the House State Government Finance and Elections Committee for over a year before the committee passed it along party lines and sent it to the House Ways and Means Committee last week. A companion bill introduced in the Republican-held Senate has yet to be acted upon.