Minnesota’s new state flag should feature an eight-pointed North Star against a dark blue background shaped like the state, with a solid light blue field at the right, a special commission decided Tuesday as it picked a replacement for an older design that many Native Americans considered offensive.
The State Emblems Redesign Commission chose the final version on an 11-1 vote after finalizing a new state seal that depicts a loon, the state bird. Unless the Legislature rejects them, the new flag and seal will automatically become official April 1, 2024, when Minnesota observes Statehood Day.
The star echoes Minnesota’s state motto of “Star of the North.” The commission’s chairman, Luis Fitch, said that to him, the light blue represents the Mississippi River, “the most important river in the United States,” pointing to the North Star. But he acknowledged it could mean other things to other people. Symmetry and simplicity won out over other versions, including ones that included a green stripe for the state’s agricultural heritage.
Ironically the changes brought it closer to the actual flag of Somalia which is just light blue with a star on it (the three stripes were from some provincial flag, obviously cherry picked out of the many different flags with green blue and white in them to try and rile people up). I don’t care though I think it was a stupid argument anyways. I liked the look of the stripes better, but I like this one too. Just was very tired at seeing the very predictable rhetoric from the right in response to a positive change correcting an ugly poorly designed flag. Glad there’s a new one now.