Minnesota has a new state flag to replace one some thought offensive

After four months of discussion and more than 2,000 design submissions, Minnesota has a new state flag and seal.

Members of the State Emblems Redesign Commission on Tuesday chose a flag design with an eight-pointed white star on a dark blue field inspired by Minnesota’s shape,  and a field of light blue on the right.

The final design emerged after multiple rounds of elimination by the 13-member commission and several final tweaks by professional designers, including the removal of green and white stripes.

Why those final changes? Simplicity, says commission chair Luis Fitch, a brand designer by profession who led the panel through the process.

The change comes after decades of calls to replace the state flag.

Minnesota’s current flag includes the 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.

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.

Both issues led the state Legislature earlier this year to establish the process to redesign the seal and flag.

Commission Vice Chair Anita Gaul said the change could be hard for some but the public will get used to the new symbols.

“By the time my kids are adults, they’ll embrace this flag,” she said. “They’ll hardly remember we had one before it.”

Only one commission member voted no:  Denise Mazone favored the design with the green and white stripes.

Members of the commission also made more tweaks to the state seal on Tuesday after selecting the final design concept earlier this month. The design centers around a loon, the state bird, and now is surrounded by a golden circle with 98 segments to represent Minnesota’s 87 counties and 11 tribal nations.

The state will adopt the flag and seal on May 11, unless state lawmakers reject the recommendations. Overall, the process cost the state about $35,000, Fitch said.

The flag design is inspired by a submission from 24-year-old Luverne resident Andrew Prekker. In a written statement to the commission, he said he was humbled by their choice to use his concept as a starting point, and expressed his hope that the new flag would help create a sense of unity.

“It is my greatest hope that this new flag can finally represent our state and all of its people properly,” said Prekker. “That every Minnesotan of every background, including the indigenous community … can look up at our flag with pride and honor and see themselves within it.”

In its original form, it had white, green and light blue horizontal stripes and a navy blue section on the left that mimics the shape of Minnesota. The eight-point white star is meant to symbolize the state’s motto “Star of the North” as well as unity in a diverse land.

The white stripe symbolized snow, the green stripe represented nature and agriculture, and the light blue stripe represented the state’s waters.

While the flag and seal are likely to remain as they are and become the official state symbols next spring barring legislative intervention, minority GOP lawmakers are signaling opposition to the changes.

Following the selection of the new state flag, non-voting Republican lawmakers on the commission said they planned to file a report highlighting what they said were issues with the selection process.

Rep. Bjorn Olson, R-Fairmont, said he thought the four-month timeframe for the selection process was too fast, and that the commission should have spent more time gathering public feedback.

He also argued that the seal’s inclusion of  “Mni Sota Makoce” — Dakota for “Land Where the Waters Reflect the Clouds” — violated the statutes governing the emblem selection process as it is representative of just one community in the state, potentially opening the symbol to legal challenges.

Rep. Matt Freiberg, DFL-Golden Valley, pointed out that the state name is already derived from the Dakota saying, and likely is not an issue, but Olson was not convinced.

“I believe that it is identifiably controversial and it will be challenged,” Olson said. “Will we have to go back to these tables and make a new flag and a new seal five years from now? 10 years from now? Let’s settle the controversy.”

Republicans said they will advise the Legislature to put the flag on the ballot in 2024, something Olson said would “forever quell” any resistance to the flag. Secretary of State Steve Simon, who also serves on the committee, said he did not believe the Legislature could do that as only constitutional amendments and candidates can go on the ballot.

Even if Republicans do make an issue of the flag, their protests are unlikely to gain traction in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor-controlled Legislature.

Gaul said she doesn’t expect the Legislature to change course.

“Once they see our designs and they read our final report, I do think the Legislature will be on board,” she said.