ST PAUL, Minn. — Editor's note: The video above aired on Dec. 19, 2023.
Minnesota GOP leaders are blasting the state's new flag while launching an effort to "save" the old one.
Chairman David Hann and Deputy Chairwoman Donna Bergstrom sent out a press release denouncing the new flag, which was approved in December by the State Emblems Redesign Commission. The Republican leaders say the old flag holds great historical importance and maintain that, contrary to the views of their Democratic rivals, it unites Minnesotans by recognizing the people and events that helped create Minnesota.
“The flag the DFL eliminated was a version of the historic flag our regiments fought under during the Civil War," Hann said in a released statement. "Minnesota was the first state to offer troops to the Union cause in 1861, beginning a long tradition of leading the nation in confronting injustice. The DFL quest to erase our history is repugnant and should be rejected.”
"Keeping the current flag would have been a powerful acknowledgment from the Walz Administration and the DFL that our Native contributions are valued," added Bergstrom, pointing to her status as a Native American and tribal member. "The new flag erases every trace of our contributions and every trace of us. With eleven federally recognized Tribes who call Minnesota home, the DFL flag design is an insult and an affront to the sacrifices and contributions we have made to our state.”
In an attempt to reject the new flag and save the old one, Hann, Bergstrom and other GOP-ers have launched a website that sells t-shirts, asks supporters to sign a petition supporting the old flag, and take part in a poll.
The GOP leadership isn't the first political voice to challenge Minnesota's new flag. The Crow Wing County Board blasted the change at a meeting in late December, with one board member calling the new flag a "whitewashing" of Minnesota's history.
The current flag was adopted in 1957 with slight changes from one adopted in 1893. It features the official state seal on a blue field. Some Native American groups have said the seal’s imagery is offensive, depicting an Indigenous person riding off into the sunset as a white settler plows a field with a rifle nearby.
State lawmakers will have the final say when they assemble for the 2024 legislative session.
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