Why is the state of Minnesota trying to change its flag? The motion to remove the flag's offensive imagery reached a head in 2023.
The Gist:
- Citizens of Minnesota have been calling for the state flag to be changed for years.
- The motion gained new traction in 2022.
- Concepts for the new flag have been printed at the end of 2023.
Over the past decade or so, there have been movements in numerous portions of the United States for cities and states to take down their ancient monuments. Many of the monuments in query — i.e., statues, side road names, and different such landmarks — have been placed centuries in the past and made to memorialize ancient figures who actively contributed to America's long-running bouts of racism and bigotry.
As racial violence and prejudice continue to plague the country to these days, many believe that it is crucial to be sure that imagery that glorifies racial violence is addressed or even got rid of as wanted.
That sentiment has even been prolonged to state flags, many of which depict racist imagery on their banners.
To that finish, Minnesota is one such state whose flag has been a point of competition for a few years. In 2023, the movement to change its flag has made serious headway.
The State of Minnesota wants to change its flag for excellent reason.
You may well be shocked to know that the Minnesota flag has lengthy been thought to be one of the vital worst flag designs in the United States. In 2001, an internet poll of United States flag designs placed Minnesota's within the bottom 10.
It used to be already perceived negatively all through the rustic, however the design itself conjures up a revisionist depiction of Minnesota's racist background.
In the early 2010s, a motion to change the flag's imagery began gaining some traction. The seal depicts a Native American man on horseback driving away from farmland that is being tended to via a white man, virtually directly evoking the state's historical past of displacing Native Americans within the title of colonization.
With the state flag having been criticized for each poor design and racist imagery, a change was virtually inevitable. However, it wouldn't actually come about till the 2020s.
In March of 2022, Minnesota lawmakers formally started their efforts to redesign the flag. Several state lawmakers and contributors of Minnesota's indigenous councils were assembled to begin creating and presenting new ideas for a new state flag.
More than a yr later in December 2023, the concept designs have been officially unveiled.
The new aesthetic for the flag draws more intently from L'Étoile du Nord (The North Star), Minnesota's reliable motto and moniker. Some redesign candidates include the superstar positioned with blue, white, and green colors to represent the sky, clouds, and wooded area. Some function easy directly strains whilst others depict trendy "swooshes" with the aforementioned color scheme.
Unsurprisingly, none of the new flag designs depict folks on it, let on my own depict the state's racist historical past.
As of this writing, the choice committee settled on a design featuring the North Star on a depressing blue background with 3 distinct directly lines of white, green, and blue on best of one another. After receiving public input, Minnesota's new flag will probably be implemented on Jan. 1, 2024.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXSramam6Ses7p6wqikaKhfrLW6ecOim2almaO7pr%2FOrZhmm5iWu6ixjKKrrGWWoa6o