Minnesota officials apparently decided this week that they did not want their state’s primary emblem to be seen as promoting a suburb of Somalia.
A state commission opted to replace Minnesota’s current banner with a simple design honoring its nickname as the “North Star.”
The design features a single 8-pointed star on a navy blue background that covers about half the flag and is shaped to resemble Minnesota. The rest of the banner is a plain field of light blue.
But, according to a news report, it came after the commission was ready to select a flag that resembled the one in the Somali homeland of radical Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar.
The problem with the current design, as is expected in a liberal state, is that it’s “racist.”
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As Fox9 in Minneapolis reported on Tuesday, “The seal [on the current flag] 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.”
Fox9 noted that some American Indians in Minnesota had long complained about the style of the current flag.
Now, instead of having that imagery, Native Americans are simply erased.
“Minnesota’s new flag captures the imagination while standing apart from all other state flags with its unique design that depicts the shape of our state. Minnesotans have so much to be proud of from the beauty of our land, to our rivers and lakes, to our recognition as the North Star State – all of which are reflected in this flag. I hope Minnesotans will find commonality in this flag and unite around it for generations to come,” Secretary of State Steve Simon said in a statement.
Yet the contest to design the new flag did highlight one possibility that would end the “racist” history of the current standard by referencing a foreign state.
Minnesota’s 13-member State Emblems Redesign Commission ignited a controversy with one of its six finalists, chosen from a pool of more than 2,600 suggested designs.
The conservative X account End Wokeness called attention to the commission’s pending decision by noting on social media on Sunday that one of the board’s choices resembled the Somali state of Puntland.
“Minnesota is home to the largest Somali population in the West. Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minnesota) is from Puntland. Minnesota just unveiled their new flag. I’m sure this is just a coincidence,” End Wokeness posted along with images of one of the final designs and the flag of Puntland.
Puntland’s flag features three stacked horizontal stripes of light blue, white and green, with a single star in the blue field.
Meanwhile, one finalist for Minnesota’s proposed state flag stuck with a star on a blue field the shape of Minnesota, as well as horizontal stripes of light blue, white and green, which reflect Puntland’s flag.
When conservatives objected, the liberal media trashed them for “freaking out” and advancing a “conspiracy theory” about the design.
Even Omar, a Somali-born Muslim who excused the 9/11 hijackers for their attack on America, tweeted to the “right-wing crazies” that she had nothing to do with the final design.
But that was not exactly the point.
As reported by The Epoch Times on Thursday, the State Emblems Redesign Commission opted for the final selection because of the backlash from conservatives.
“The latest flag flap began after the commission announced the preliminary selection of a new flag design on Dec. 15. It had a simplified shape of Minnesota on the left in dark blue, with an eight-point star representing the North Star in the center of the blue. To the right were three stacked bars—one light blue, one white, and one green.”
“When unveiled, critics raged online that the new design closely resembled the flag from the Puntland state of Somalia. That regional flag has a blue, a white, and a green bar, with a white star centered at the top,” the Times continued.
“For days, tempers flared across social media over the proposed revamp of the flag. And at a commission meeting on Dec. 20, several members of the redesign committee acknowledged the controversy,” the Times added.
Ultimately, instead of moving forward with the controversial design, the committee backed away and adopted another, which apparently will now be Minnesota’s new flag.
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