Minnesota panel chooses new state flag featuring North Star to replace old flag seen as racist

By STEVE KARNOWSKI
Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A state panel says Minnesota’s new state flag should feature an eight-pointed North Star against a dark blue background shaped like the state, with a solid light blue field at the right. The commission picked it Tuesday as a replacement for an older design that many Native Americans consider offensive. Commissioners also finalized a new state seal that depicts a loon. Unless the Legislature rejects them, the new flag and seal become official April 1. The current state flag depicts a Native American riding off into the sunset while a white settler plows his field with his rifle sitting nearby. Critics say that imagery suggests the Indigenous people were defeated and leaving, while whites won and were staying.