Minnesota adopts a flag reminiscent of Somalia's because it better represents "communities"“
The state has replaced a 130-year-old flag with a design made to reflect “diverse cultural communities.” The result has been a new flag that resembles Somalia's.
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Minnesota's flag change has not been a mere aesthetic update. The state has replaced its more than 130-year-old flag with a new design with a Somali «flavour». The official aim of the redesign was that a flag was needed that reflected “the shared history, resources and diverse cultural communities of Minnesota'”At the same time, however, the rules of the process prohibited including symbols that represented a single community or a specific individual.
From a flag laden with symbols to a «reference to the blue Minnesota sky»
The previous flag of Minnesota was not a mere combination of colours. It incorporated the state seal and distilled a historical reading of the territory: a farmer working the land, a Native American rider, farming tools, trees, water, the landscape and references to the state's origins. It was a flag laden with symbols, perhaps too complex by today's graphic standards, but rooted in Minnesota's history and in its formation as a North American state.
It was precisely this symbolic charge that was one of the arguments used to justify its replacement. The supporters of the change They presented the old flag as an image too closely tied to the colonial past. and an uncomfortable depiction of the relationship between the settlers and the indigenous peoples. Instead of revising the symbols, simplifying the flag or updating some of its elements, Minnesota opted for an almost total break: to remove most of the historical iconography and replace it with an abstract image.
The new flag is reduced to a geometric shape., a white star and two shades of blue. The official version maintains that the star represents the North Star and that The blue is reminiscent of the sky and the waters of Minnesota.. But this explanation is rather meagre compared with the symbolic density of the previous flag. Critics see in it a flag that is too reminiscent of Somalia's and that fits better with a political diversity operation than with Minnesota's historical memory.
The state threatens municipalities that continue to fly the old flag.
The change has not remained merely an institutional decision. Several municipalities in Minnesota refuse to fly the Somali-style flag on public buildings. In Elk River, according to CBS Minnesota, more than a thousand residents took part in the local referendum and nearly 75 per cent supported the old flag.
This turns the debate into a matter far more serious than aesthetic taste. First, the state replaces a historic flag without the citizens directly voting on the final design; then, when some municipalities decide to keep the old one, a proposal emerges to punish them financially. That is to say: The new flag is not only being promoted as the official symbol, but is also being imposed with a threat of funding cuts..
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