by Jay Boller in News

There’s not much to celebrate in Minnesota on Flag Day.

The Minnesota flag is ranked as one of the 10 worst state flags by the North American Vexillological Association. This group, which is dedicated to the academic study of flags, gives particularly low ratings to flags like ours that look like a “state seal on a bedsheet.”

From a botanical perspective, the Minnesota state flag is definitely a loser.

A tree stump and a farmer tilling a virgin prairie are prominently featured. There must be a better way to represent the importance of forestry and agriculture, without emphasizing the destruction wrought by these industries.

On the positive side, the Minnesota state flag also includes a wreath of showy lady’s slipper orchids, our state flower. Coincidentally, they bloom about Flag Day, June 14.

There have been various proposals for a new Minnesota flag. It’s time that we adopt a more appropriate, and preferably plant-themed, design.

There are lots of beautiful flags with a botanical motif that we can use as a model. The Canadian flag with its maple leaf and the South Carolina state flag featuring a palmetto are my favorites.

Although we wouldn’t go wrong by elevating the showy lady’s slipper to a central position on the flag, my design for a new Minnesota flag would feature trembling aspen.

This tree, which is also called quaking aspen or popple, is the perfect choice to adorn any flag. That’s because its leaves behave more like a flag than any other plant — the leaves flutter, or quake, in the wind.

The reason this occurs is because the leaf stalk is not round as it is in most plants. Rather, it is flattened in a direction parallel to the main stem.  As a result, even the slightest breeze causes the leaves to wobble side-to-side, flag-like, along their central axis.

Second, trembling aspen is the most abundant tree in Minnesota. With the exception of a few counties in the southwest corner of the state, it grows throughout the state. From this perspective, it symbolically unites the diversity of people and habitats throughout the state.

Finally, trembling aspen has the tendency to send up sucker shoots from the root system. A single tree can quickly colonize a large area.  This ability is reminiscent of the settlers who arrived in the 1800s and rapidly spread throughout Minnesota.

Clearcutting and burning the debris, which are traditional forest harvesting practices, stimulate the formation of aspen sucker shoots.   Consequently, as Welby Smith notes in his outstanding book “Trees and Shrubs of Minnesota,” “the vast expanses of trembling aspen seen in northern Minnesota today are the legacy of pine logging a century ago.”

Let’s put trembling aspen on our Minnesota state flag. It would be a much more appropriate symbol to represent the history and importance of forestry in the state than a pine stump. Now, that would be something to celebrate.

This is the opinion of Stephen G. Saupe, a professor in the biology department of the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University and director of the CSB/SJU Bailey Herbarium and Melancon Greenhouse. He can be reached at newsroom@stcloudtimes.com.

By Bob Collins

I was wondering whether a long simmering controversy would reignite in the wake of the focus on the Confederate flag.

Today.

What’s the deal with this flag, Minnesota?

First of all, they jammed about 10,000 things onto it. You’ve got your farmer, your sunrise, your waterfall, the state flower and, oh yes, your near naked Native American riding by on a horse.

“The image of the pioneer, a peaceful man who has laid down his gun and is plowing his field, is juxtaposed with the image of the Indian, who may still want to fight (his spear is at the ready) but who seems to be riding away,” writes Judith Harrington in today’s Star Tribune. She’s an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

“The pioneer/farmer is using a plow, a symbol of civilization. The white man is depicted as a ‘doer’ who is entitled to the land, trees and water, empowered by the concept of Manifest Destiny. The Indian is the vacating tenant. A peaceful transition is suggested, but this ignores the tense and problematic history of conflict between European settlers and Indians, such as the complicated history of treaties and the Dakota War of 1862.”

“It does not reflect the values and sensibilities of Minnesotans today,” she writes.

The flag has been occasionally debated almost since Gov. Sibley saw the painting and thought it’d be a great symbol of a pretty good state.

It’s not the only state flag getting a little criticism this week. In Massachusetts the governor has hinted he’d be open to a new design after the Confederate flag protests prompted a little introspection.

“By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty,” the state motto on the flag says.

“The irony of using a Native American on the arms of the political entity that destroyed them is rather like a hunter hanging trophy heads on his wall,” a respondent in a poll said.

“It is hard to read it all together as anything but a flag designed by and for the colonial conquerors who made the Bay State, the ones who won the land — with a short time out for Thanksgiving dinner — by all but eradicating the people who got here first,” writes Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham.

In both cases, our state flags represent the way we frame history — war and conquest.

Would we even know how to begin thinking about our history any other way?

It, too, may fail to reflect current sensibilities.

The current interest in the removal of the Confederate battle flag from public displays and store shelves provides an excellent opportunity to examine what the Minnesota state flag represents. The images on the flag are interpreted by state documents as innocuous symbols of the state’s history. A critical examination of what the flag is saying, however, should make Minnesotans reconsider what their state flag projects about their state.

The state flag of Minnesota is often something that is taken for granted. Thousands of people see the flag flying without giving it a second thought. First unfurled in 1893 (a date found on the flag), it has the state seal featured prominently in its center. The seal was based on a painting by Seth Eastman and was promoted by Gov. Henry Sibley; it did engender criticism when first used in 1858, but was not changed.

The “great symbolism” of the figures on the seal, as described by the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, include an American “Indian on horseback … riding due south and [representing] the Indian heritage of Minnesota. The Indian’s horse and spear and pioneer’s ax, rifle, and plow represent tools that were used for hunting and labor” (Minnesota Legislative Manual).

A close examination shows the central figure to be a white pioneer dressed in work clothes, wearing a wide-brim hat and pushing a plow. He is an iconic image of a hardworking, rugged individualist who works alone to chop the trees, plow the land and protect his home. He is looking over his shoulder at the Indian, who is riding a horse and holding a spear.

The contrast in the images of the figures is interesting: The image of the pioneer, a peaceful man who has laid down his gun and is plowing his field, is juxtaposed with the image of the Indian, who may still want to fight (his spear is at the ready) but who seems to be riding away. The pioneer/farmer is using a plow, a symbol of civilization. The white man is depicted as a “doer” who is entitled to the land, trees and water, empowered by the concept of Manifest Destiny. The Indian is the vacating tenant. A peaceful transition is suggested, but this ignores the tense and problematic history of conflict between European settlers and Indians, such as the complicated history of treaties and the Dakota War of 1862. More problematic, however, is the depiction of a racist, stereotyped Indian, who wears only a loin cloth and a feather.

The Minnesota state flag has engendered criticism — particularly in the past 50 years, as outlined on William Becker’s and Lee Herold’s website (see http://mnflag.tripod.com): In the civil-rights era of the 1960s, the rider on the horse was changed to a white rider for the state seal, but this was not used for the flag. The Minnesota Board of Human Rights pushed for changing the seal in 1968, but this did not go far; the two major newspapers in the state gave the proposal little regard (the St. Paul Pioneer Press decried the cost of any such change, while the Minneapolis Star said the Minnesota Board of Human Rights was “on the warpath” about the seal). An entirely new flag was proposed in 1989 by Becker and Herold, with a star and a simple white, blue and green wave design, but it has not gained sufficient support.

The history of Minnesota includes many different stories, and the state flag should represent those many voices or — at the very least — not be offensive to those who live there. There have been voices of protests for this flag ever since the seal was first used. It is time that the state flag is revised, perhaps through a statewide design contest. While the current flag may represent a certain view and vision of the past, it does not reflect the values and sensibilities of Minnesotans today.

Judith Harrington, of New Richmond, Wis., is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

A good case can be made for designing a new state flag for Minnesota.  The main reason is that the existing state flag, adopted in 1893, is poorly designed, according to flag design experts.  It lacks focus, is too complex and uses symbols that are not relevant to 21st century Minnesotans.  The flag consists of a rectangular blue field with the state seal at the center.  In the center of the state seal is a Minnesota pioneer plowing the prairie, with an American Indian horseman riding in the background.  The flag bears three dates — 1858, when Minnesota was admitted to the union; 1819, when Fort Snelling was established; and 1893, the year the flag was adopted.  In addition, there are 19 stars, since Minnesota was the 19th state admitted to the Union after the first 13.

There are more details, but those are enough to show that the flag violates the first requirement of a flag design — simplicity.  Fortunately, a Rochester man, Lee Herold, has been active in offering a replacement design to a legislative committee.  The committee is headed by state Sen. Ed Oliver of Deephaven, Minn.  Oliver supports a bill that would appoint a task force to select a new state flag.  Herold, who operates Herold Flags in Rochester, has advised the committee that the Minnesota flag design has been ranked 67th out of 72 state and provincial flags evaluated by the North American Vexillogical Association, and organization of flag design experts.  It based the ranking on a poll of 400 flag experts throughout the world.

Herold says that there are a few key standards for good flag design.  They include simplicity, good use of color, distinctiveness, differentiation from other flags and “flyability” — how the flag looks when flying or at rest.  The design should be easy to remember and should have a distinct focus.  All of those characteristics are present in a design presented to the committee by Herold.  It includes a large yellow star on a field of blue, with a white stripe underneath.  Herold said that he hopes the task force is appointed and that it reviews the subject and chooses a new flag — whether it is the design that he suggested or another one.

Choosing a new state flag is probably not at the top of the list of urgent needs for most Minnesotans.  However, a state flag serves the same purpose as the nation’s flag — a symbol of unity and common purpose.  As long as Minnesota has a state flag, it might as well have one that is recognizable and well-designed, not one that is archaic, cluttered, and mostly forgotten.  We wish Lee Herold good luck in his effort to have a task force appointed to review the need for a new design.

It seems many Minnesotans agree with flag scholars who recently declared our state’s flag one of the nation’s ugliest.  In response to that troubling national report, the Pioneer Press asked readers to submit their designs for a new, improved flag …. We thank all who submitted designs.  Here are the winners — one best overall, plus winners in each of three age groups.

Best Overall: The Rev. William Becker of Austin, Minn., and Lee Herold of Rochester, Minn.  Herold and Becker believe Minnesota needs a vibrant flag that speaks to Minnesotans as powerfully as the U.S. flag speaks to all Americans (Becker, of Queen of Angels Church in Austin, is an expert on the state flag with the Minnesota Historical Society).

In 1989, Becker and Herold appeared before the Minnesota Legislature twice to discuss creating a new flag.  This flag, what they call “the North Star banner,” was the design they presented.  But it was not adopted by the state.

Now, the men hope their ode to Minnesota will receive renewed attention.  They say their flag has multiple meanings: the North Star recalls the state motto, adopted by the pioneers; gold is for our state’s natural wealth; blue is for our lakes and rivers; the waves illustrate the Indian name “minisota” (meaning sky-tinted water) and the “land of 10,000 lakes”; white is for our winter; green is for our farmland and forests.

The Star Tribune recently voiced Minnesotan’s objections to official display of the Confederate flag at South Carolina’s statehouse. Minnesotans, however, should look first at our own state flag. After all, its history is also marred by bigotry.

Among other things, Minnesota’s flag features our state seal. The latter shows a pioneer farming and an Indian riding away on horseback. It was created for the Minnesota territory in 1849. It symbolized Indian flight from the white man’s “manifest destiny” – a nineteenth century euphemism for what amounted to ethnic cleansing.

Even then the Minnesota historical Society acknowledges the symbolism. The following poem about the seal was written by the wife of its designer:

“Give way, give way, young warrior,
Thou and thy steed give way;
Rest not, though lingers on the hills
The red sun’s parting ray.
The rock bluff and prairie land
The white man claims them now,
The symbols of his course are here,
The rifle, axe, and plough.”

Civil rights advocates objected to the seal for decades before the Legislature modified it in 1983. The Indian no longer flees westward into the setting sun. He rides south instead. Nevertheless, for many Minnesotans the seal’s original legacy is hard to forget.

Eleven years ago the Star Tribune endorsed the idea of a new Minnesota flag. After all, few Minnesotans recognize or remember it’s complicated design (editorial, March 21, 1989) surely woeful history is another reason. Why should our state flag summon up bitter memories instead of honor for all?

I agree that the Confederate flag should be hauled down from the South Carolina statehouse. But before Minnesotans moralize further about symbols of the Southern bigotry, let’s examine our own.

– The Rev. William M Becker, Winona State University, Minn., Assistant Professor of Theology

(Originally published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 12, 2000. Reprinted with the author’s permission)