MinnPost commentary from flag redesign committee member: MNGOP claims are historically wrong and needlessly divisive

Earlier this week, the Republican Party of Minnesota launched a culture war on the North State State's new flag:

Chairman Hann & Deputy Chairwoman Bergstrom denounce new state flag; launch website to save the current flag: https://t.co/Q5bzRsyYr8 pic.twitter.com/xUChqsxfX2

— Republican Party of Minnesota (@mngop) January 10, 2024

Unfortunately, it didn't seem able to establish the history of the state flag itself.

In Friday's MinnPost, State Emblems Redesign Commission member Aaron Wittnebel pointed out a few problems with the new campaign in the commentary below. Bluestem feels schooled on having state seals on state flags, however much I like the loon.

Flag redesign committee member: Minnesota GOP claims are historically wrong and needlessly divisive
By Aaron Wittnebel, MinnPost

There was no state flag for Minnesota prior to and during the U.S. Civil War. The original version was from the late 1800s, decades after the Civil War and it was the Great Seal on a white flag.

While I knew that the minority caucus in each legislative chamber disapproved of the new official state flag because of shared concerns about process, the claims in a Wednesday press release from Minnesota Republican Party Chairman David Hann and Deputy Chairwoman Donna Bergstrom are troubling. More to the point, they are, as reported, factually incorrect. When Hann was a state senator, I found him to be quite knowledgeable and agreeable on a variety of policy positions; this week’s statements are a concern for me.

Hann stated, “The flag the DFL eliminated was a version of the historic flag our regiments fought under during the Civil War.” As a member of the flag redesign commission, I know that there was no state flag for Minnesota prior to and during the U.S. Civil War. The original version was from the late 1800s, decades after the Civil War and it was the Great Seal on a white flag.

I respect Mr. Hann, but I find it unbelievable that he would make this claim, when Minnesota Civil War battle flags from the volunteer regiments are displayed in places across the state, which includes a well preserved one right across the entrance to G-15 Senate Hearing Room in the State Capitol. There is also one on display in my hometown of Lake Park. The Minnesota Volunteer Army Regiments fought under a U.S. flag with gold fabric letters of “M” and N” sewn onto them.

Though we are both Red Lakers, I haven’t had the pleasure of formally meeting with Ms. Bergstrom. She stated: “Keeping the current flag would have been a powerful acknowledgment from the Walz Administration and the DFL that our Native contributions are valued. The new flag erases every trace of our contributions and every trace of us.”

Bergstrom seems to not have read up on the historical facts. Henry Sibley, who unilaterally took it upon himself to create the old Great Seal without legislative approval, was noted for saying that it was a memorial to “Manifest Destiny.” This was a bloody, genocidal part of the U.S. government policy at the time. It is nothing to be celebrated, and its depiction in the Great Seal is offensive, bar none.

The Great Seal does not belong on a flag. A flag is an emblem used to identify a nation, state, group or other subdivision from a distance, in this case Minnesotans. The Great Seal is a functional tool that represents the authority of state government. While the seal has some ceremonial uses, those are not the official purpose. It is for authenticating, certifying, recording and officiating governmental documents. It should not include depictions or caricatures of peoples or things that are not official state symbols.

It was hard for me being the only moderate, with mixed ethnicity (half Germanic/half Ojibwe) and the only member with a disability, to sit on the State Emblems Redesign Commission (SERC), which contained liberals, far-left liberals and no conservatives; it made for a very frustrating time at attempting to carry out the duties as delegated by the Legislature, duties that were  unclear in certain parts. Another fact that continues to be misreported, though it is clear in the enabling legislation, is the power of adoption. Simply stated: If SERC completed its directive to adopt a new Official State Flag and new Great Seal on or prior to January 1, 2024, at 11:59 p.m., there is nothing further to be done.

The new flag and seal as adopted by State Emblems Redesign Committee go into effect on May 11, 2024, with no further action required. Officials who hold duties with the Great Seal (like me in my work as a notary) will have time to replace our seals by January 2025. I was hoping to get a legislator from each caucus and chamber to correct the new Great Seal for errors in its design. But, with partisans going at each other, that doesn’t seem likely and it’s very distressing to me. We have a short bonding session this winter/spring, and I don’t think many policy bills will be considered based on history of the Legislature.

This story or presser by the party leaders appears to be less of a genuine concern about process, input or our new state flag. It appears more like an under-the-radar attempt to have people sign petitions, which in turn ask for donations to a political party burdened by debt. Either way, it is only sowing further division among Minnesotans.

Aaron Wittnebel lives in Lake Park, Minn. He is a former legislative aide with the Minnesota House to both parties, a political party leader and a mayor. He has worked on matters to improve the quality of life for those living in the rural and tribal communities throughout greater Minnesota.

Republished online from MinnPost under a creative commons license.

Photo:  Minnesota's new state flag, State Emblems Redesign Commission.

Related posts

•  Commission finalizes new Minnesota state fla
• ‘Let it speak for us’: state senator Reynold Nesiba plans to pursue SD flag redesign
• Selection of loon state seal makes Minnesotans wonder: why not just use it on new state flag?
• LTE of the day: loons visit everywhere in Minnesota though not on finalist flags
• Formal effort begins to replace ‘cluttered genocidal mess’ on Minnesota state flag and seal

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. 

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Comments

[Steven Chesney]

In Elementary school I had a unit on Minnesota history. We were taught explicitly that the state seal celebrated the Indian (riding off into the sunset) making way for the European settler (plowing his field while looking on). Later on there was some backtracking on that but it still looks that way.

[Oliver Steinberg]

I don't like the new state flag design--graphically, it's an anonymous yawner--sterile in its superficial symbolism and visually too close to monochromatic. All that can be said for it is that it's a big improvement over the old design. The 1945 Legislative Manual has the authoritative description of both the state seal and the state flag. The territorial legislature voted for a seal that would portray "an every-day scene, consisting of an Indian family with their lodge, canoe, etc., and a single white man visiting them, with no other protection than the feeling of hospitality and friendship existing between the two people. The white man is receiving from the Indian the pipe of peace."
The 1945 Manual states: "That seal was authorized by law but never used."
When the egregiously different design came back from the engraver (replete with a misspelled Latin word in it), "it was ridiculed by journalists as representing 'a scared white man and an astonished Indian,'" and "a man plowing one way and looking another." But that scene was retained in the state seal only with a French motto, not a Latin one.
The state flag was adopted in 1893, when a designated committee of six women selected the design submitted by Mrs. E. H. Center of Minneapolis. Her scheme placed the state seal in the center and surrounded it with a surfeit of symbolism & decorations (stars, flowers,ribbons, fringe.) It was two-sided--white and blue. [Oregon still has a two-sided state flag.] That design was altered later, maybe in the 1950's, at least to the extent of just using the blue background. Some of the decorative details were modified, I think, but I wasn't here then.
That old flag was so foolish and uninspired--embarrassing, really--that it was a REPUBLICAN STATE SENATOR, Ed Oliver of Deephaven, who sponsored a bill to re-design the flag, over 20 years ago! (Pioneer Press, March 27, 2002.)
I would have favored a flag full of turtles (since Oklahoma's already has a "peace pipe.") At the very least, we could have had a loon. We're at the headwaters of the great river, and Louisiana, down at the other end, has a pelican. Thus we'd have symbolically united north & south, start and finish, with popular mascots. Loons may not nest in every county, but we all know what they look & sound like---whereas not one Minnesotan in five could point out the Noprth Star in the night sky--in fact, over half the people of our state never really see the stars at all because of urban light pollution. We're not even the northernmost state anymore; and Polaris neither evokes a popular sentiment of sympathy or affection, nor has it any practical use now for navigation or anything else. The Republicans should admit that the old flag and seal were best set aside; the DFL-ers should stop being afraid of democracy, and let the people of the state have the final decision.