Liberal Minnesota politicians are crafting legislation to bully cities and counties that continue to fly the old state flag in defiance of a new design.
The Minnesota House of Representatives passed a bill that would strip state funding from any local government that “flies or otherwise makes use of a state flag other than the design of the state flag as certified in the report of the State Emblems Redesign Commission.”
‘I’ve been a little disappointed in the cities around Minnesota that have been kind of manufacturing this culture war over this state flag.’
The new flag design was changed in 2023 by the State Emblems Redesign Commission after some critics said the previous design from 1893 was racist against Native Americans. It was officially adopted in 2024, but opponents of the new flag say it looks too much like a Somali state flag.
However, Republican state House Speaker Lisa Demuth says the bill will not make it past the state Senate.
“That bill is dead on arrival. There is no way this bill is moving through,” she told CBS News. “To know that Democrats are trying to take funding away from our police … it’s ridiculous. We have real work that could help Minnesotans.”
State Rep. Mike Freiberg, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, is one of the authors of the legislation.
“I’ve been a little disappointed in the cities around Minnesota that have been kind of manufacturing this culture war over this state flag,” Freiberg said. “I felt like it was important for there to kind of be a statement legislatively in support of the new state flag, which is the official state flag.”
On Monday, the Inver Grove Heights City Council voted to fly the old design and joined Elk River, Champlin, Zumbrota, and Plainview in defiance of the new flag.
“The old flag is not only kind of boring but also kind of racist,” Freiburg added.
“The seal depicts a Native American riding off into the sunset while a White settler plows his field with his rifle leaning on a nearby stump,” reads a 2023 description of the old flag from the Associated Press. “The imagery suggests to many that the Indigenous people were defeated and going away, while whites won and were staying.”
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Demuth went on to say the vote of the commission didn’t represent all Minnesotans.
“They felt as Minnesotans, they were disrespected in the process, and everyone I have talked to wants the old flag back or at least a choice in the matter,” she added.
If the new legislation becomes law, it would be implemented in 2027.
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