Is Minnesota embracing the future or erasing history?
This question was asked by none and answered by many at Tuesday morning’s Rice County Board of Commissioners work session, during which discussions began over whether to oppose a new Minnesota flag and seal.
Commissioners Gerry Hoisington and Jim Purfeerst requested the item be added to Tuesday’s agenda.
“I have received a lot of requests from my constituents and a lot of discussion over the flag issue,” Hoisington said. “I have received negative responses and positive as well. And I thought we should do it justice by having a discussion within our county.”
The commissioners will likely take an official vote at a later meeting, once a resolution is drafted. Hoisington seemed eager to get the resolution on next Tuesday’s meeting.
Commissioner Galen Malecha began the discussion by noting that the county is a nonpartisan entity, and commissioners agreed a resolution would need to be centered on the budgetary impacts of a new seal. The Rice County Sheriff’s Office would need to replace badges and patches on uniforms and decals on squad cars, which all feature the state seal.
Sheriff Jesse Thomas estimated the replacements would cost the county a little under $30,000. There are other departments that would also need to make some changes, but the Sheriff’s Office would see the largest expense.
So far, five other counties have passed resolutions opposing the new designs: Crow Wing, Douglas, Houston, McLeod and Nobles counties. Fillmore County considered the resolution but instead asked state officials whether there would be funding to help support the changes.
Among those who responded to Fillmore County was Aaron Wittnebel, who represented the Ojibwe and was one of the notaries on the redesign commission. He told the Daily News Tuesday afternoon that only the county Recorder’s Office, notaries and state officials would need to change their seal by next year.
“Rice County’s badges look like the Great Seal, but they actually aren’t,” he said. “In fact, the Sheriff’s Office uses personalized badges and — I looked into it a little bit — they can have that emblem changed at no extra fee. But yeah, no one is saying they need to change everything like the state.”
In fact, Wittnebel pointed out that the badges feature a different seal than the squad cars.
“County and city officials, elected or appointed, are not authorized to use the Great Seal for official purposes under Minn. Stat. § 1.35 Subd. 6,” he told the Daily News in a followup email. “It is solely reserved for state officials, departments and agencies. Notary Publics are commissioned state officials.”
Different perspectives
The Rice County commissioners meeting saw both sides of the issue represented during the extended public comment period.
First up was Linda Moore, who is a Faribault School Board member but said she was speaking as a citizen; she said she opposes the new flag and seal.
“When you want to destroy a country from within, you take away its heritage or its culture,” she said. “It’s done slowly, incrementally, little by little so that no one notices. Do you want this to happen? Keep our flag, our heritage and our nation but stop the erasing agenda of our culture and nation before it’s too late.”
Kathleen Doran-Norton supported the new flag and suggested covering the old decals with stickers. She refuted Moores interpretation of the current flag depicting a friendly relationship between a farmer and a Native American.
“We know that’s not what happened,” she said. “We know that Minnesota reneged on multiple treaties. We know that the Native Americans starved and then were forced, marched out of Minnesota. (We know) that the governor increased the bounty on scalps from $75 to $200.”
Her voice became shaky at this point of her statement.
“Looked it up: the average income back in those days was $218,” she continued. “A year’s income for murdering and mutilating another child of God. I think we ought to return to our original values, where we both live, we all live together. And that we have a flag that does not focus on the hateful things that we’ve done in the past, but a future that we live together, even if it’s aqua.”
One after another, these two points — for and against — were reiterated in some form. Among those against, one suggested the new flag design had a "star of tyranny" that represents the brutal conditions "many of our refugees that are coming to our country now are fleeing."
Bree DeGrood said she felt the flag is being changed because of “cancel culture,” mentioning statues being removed.
"We need to consider the historical statues and monuments that have been desecrated and removed since 2020," she said. "And then, we have to ask ourselves the question: Why is this happening? I don't believe it's difficult to reach the conclusion that America is under attack, and it's under attack from the inside-out. It's true that for many of us the new flag and seal represent the destruction of Minnesotan and American history that we hold so dear. I speak for many when I say we cherish our history, we cherish the heritage and culture of Native Americans, and we cherish the heritage and culture of the settlers as well."
Kay Keller said it’s all an “ongoing orchestrated effort to erase history in the United States, in Minnesota” and in “western civilization.”
Flag and seal background
The Dakota people are intrinsically tied to Minnesota history. The word “Minnesota” is from the Dakota language and can be translated to “where the water meets the sky.”
The current Minnesota flag was adopted in 1957. Like the versions before, it featured the state seal, which had a Native American riding a horse and a farmer using his plow.
Next to the farmer laid a musket with a powder flask hanging from the barrel. The man on horseback was seen riding away from the farmer, which the original designer, Henry Sibley, said was a reference to “manifest destiny.” Manifest destiny is a 19th century United States doctrine that a group or person is the rightful owner of land or a title, as granted by God.
According to the Minnesota Historical Society , the Minnesota Human Rights Commission asked the Secretary of State to redesign the seal to one that doesn’t suggest a group of people “were not welcome in their own state.” In 1971, the Native American was replaced with a white man.
That version of the seal never made it to the flag and was again replaced in 1983. This time, the Native American was added back but was riding toward the farmer.
In 1989, a blue, white and green flag called “the North Star Flag” was introduced and even gained some traction, earning endorsement from the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune. It was never officially adopted though.
Proposals came and went until September of last year when a commission began an official redesign process. Among the redesigns were many that resembled the North Star design.
The ultimate winner of a monthslong debate was two-toned blue, explained as a simple representation of Minnesota’s lakes and the night sky, with the north star featured. In other words, it depicts where the water meets the sky.
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