Thread by @searchlight5

The MN legislature is advancing a bill to redesign our #MinnesotaFlag.

Story: house.leg.state.mn.us/SessionDaily/S…

It's been a pet issue of mine for years.

I've heard chatter about this being a waste of time, so to win hearts and minds, I thought I'd share some thoughts.

A thread. 1/

First, my qualifications: None, really.

Except: I'm a proud Minnesotan who loves this state and cares about our history, present, and future.

I also have an ordinary human's natural interest in matters of language, symbols, and design. 2/

Now, let's start by considering our current Minnesota state flag. Can you picture it? If I gave you a box of crayons, could you draw it? 3/

Here it is. Kind of boring, really. It's the elaborate Minnesota state seal (more on the seal in a bit), wrapped by the word "Minnesota," on a plain background. 4/

But boring isn't the problem. Japan's simple red circle on a white background is boring, I suppose, and yet it's a strong flag.

No, the problem is vexillological. ("vexillology" = the study of flags.) As a flag, Minnesota's fails. 5/

Vexillologists (flag geeks) have outlined 5 principles of good flag design.

1. Keep It Simple.
2. Use Meaningful Symbolism.
3. Use 2 or 3 Basic Colors.
4. No Lettering or Seals.
5. Be Distinctive or Be Related.

See nava.org/good-flag-bad-…

6/

Minnesota's flag falls short on all accounts!

It's 0 for 5 on the principles of vexillology!

That's some vexing vexillology. 7/

Think of some flags you like. Here are a few of mine:

USA's stars and stripes
State of TX
State of CO
City of Chicago (cool flag!)
Canada (that maple leaf!)
UK's union jack
The Bleu, Blanc, et Rouge of France
Jamaica
Kenya

(There are more) 8/

These cool flags elicit an immediate, powerful response. If you saw one atop a ship's mast, on a distant hill, or on an Olympic jersey, you'd recognize it immediately.

A complex seal on an indistinct background, like MN's flag, can't do that. 9/

So that's the first problem. The flag fails as a flag. 10/

The other problem is the seal that's the heart of the Minnesota flag's design.

It's seriously problematic.

It's a depiction of white settlers displacing Native Americans. 11/

You think I'm overreacting? Reading too much into it? Too "woke"?

Check out the poem that accompanied the early visualization of this seal.

This poem describes the scene that the Minnesota seal illustrates.

Here it is, from an 1850 newspaper. Read it.

I know: Yikes! 12/

I'm an English major, so indulge me while I interpret a few stanzas.

The poem opens "Give way, give way young warrior / Thou and thy steed give way."

That's the poet demanding the "young warrior" leave immediately -- and the horse he rode in on, too ("thy steed"). 13/

Then: "The rocky bluff and prairie land / the white man claims them now."

IOW: We're taking your land. All of it. Hills to prairie. The whole thing. All the animals, too ("otter, lynx, wolf, deer"). That includes our local NBA and WNBA mascots, by the way. 14/

Later, we read "Thy father's bones may rest no longer here."

That's harsh. The poet doesn't even want the young warrior to leave the buried bodies of his ancestors. He wants all trace of the native people erased. 15/

The heart of the poem: "And Minnesota's land / must pass with all its untold wealth / To the white man's grasping hand."

That's the crux of the piece. The white man has to ("must") seize the entire place -- a land grab, literally. 16/

The most chilling couplet is this one: "Thou and they noble race from earth / must soon be passed away."

Wow. That's a call for the young warrior's entire race to be wiped "from earth." That's a call for genocide.

Can you read it another way? 17/

You get the point. The sentiment behind the current Minnesota state seal and flag is undeniably awful, and has caused serious harm to people throughout history.

While history can't be erased, retiring this flag would be a step towards reconciliation and redemption. 18/

So: the current flag is boring, it's bad design, it's not memorable -- and it's rooted in an awful, genocidal, immoral sentiment.

I'm not one for overturning traditions lightly (you should see me at Christmas), but that sounds like a good case for changing it. 19/

Which brings us to the next question:

If we change the Minnesota State flag, what should we change it to?

How do we go about coming up with a new, better, cooler, less awful design?

On that, I have good news. 20/

Smart, capable people have been working on new designs for the MN state flag for years. The most popular such design has proven to be something known as the "North Star Flag."

It was developed by fellows named William Becker and Lee Herold back in the late 1980s. 21/

Check it out.

A few bold colors. You could draw it with the small pack of Crayolas.
The star represents the MN motto, "Star of the North"
The wavy stripe evokes our legendary lakes & rivers.
The white in that stripe evokes our legendary winters.

Cool flag! 22/

And even better, this North Star Flag has already gained grassroots traction. You'll find it at gift shops, on laptop stickers, flying from flagpoles at lake cabins. Minnesota United fans even fly it (and custom variations) at Loons matches! 23/

So I, an ordinary Minnesotan, whole-heartedly suggest we retire the current seal and flag.

And rather than engage in a lengthy, costly effort to find a replacement, I suggest we adopt the North Star Flag, a sharp looking, market tested, vexillologically strong banner. 24/

Read more about the North Star Flag here:

mnflag.tripod.com

(I have no affiliation with this group other than following them on twitter.) 25/

If you are a fellow Minnesotan and you agree we need a new flag, please retweet this thread to spread the news -- and contact your legislators.

And thanks for reading.

CC:
@GovTimWalz
@_RyanWinkler
@SenRonLatz
@NorthStarFlagMN

end/

@threadreaderapp unroll