Posted on 07/04/2015 10:56:17 PM PDT by nickcarraway
It, too, may fail to reflect current sensibilities.
The current interest in the removal of the Confederate battle flag from public displays and store shelves provides an excellent opportunity to examine what the Minnesota state flag represents. The images on the flag are interpreted by state documents as innocuous symbols of the states history. A critical examination of what the flag is saying, however, should make Minnesotans reconsider what their state flag projects about their state.
The state flag of Minnesota is often something that is taken for granted. Thousands of people see the flag flying without giving it a second thought. First unfurled in 1893 (a date found on the flag), it has the state seal featured prominently in its center. The seal was based on a painting by Seth Eastman and was promoted by Gov. Henry Sibley; it did engender criticism when first used in 1858, but was not changed.
The great symbolism of the figures on the seal, as described by the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, include an American Indian on horseback riding due south and [representing] the Indian heritage of Minnesota. The Indians horse and spear and pioneers ax, rifle, and plow represent tools that were used for hunting and labor (Minnesota Legislative Manual).
A close examination shows the central figure to be a white pioneer dressed in work clothes, wearing a wide-brim hat and pushing a plow. He is an iconic image of a hardworking, rugged individualist who works alone to chop the trees, plow the land and protect his home. He is looking over his shoulder at the Indian, who is riding a horse and holding a spear.
The contrast in the images of the figures is interesting: The image of the his
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
The Minnesota state flag depicts a white man as a hardworking, rugged individualist, and an Indian riding a horse and holding a spear.
That’s way too cluttered.
Ping
A guess a new flag for Minnesota would have the Hammer and Sickle, with Democratic Farm-Labor Party Uber Alles on it.
Looks like it was drawn a kindergartner.
How does she know tge indian was racist? And what should he be wearing, a tux?
These people are idiots...seriously. I grew up very near the Minnesota border (in Iowa). This scene could have actually been taken directly from my family’s farm.
On one side was a smallish lake. My GG Grandparents farmed the ground on one side; the Indians lived on the other. They became very friendly...my Great Grandmother (who was a girl at the time) told me that they traded back and forth. My family would buy things for them in town...in return they would get meat, furs, etc. She had a spectacular collection of stone bowls, axe heads, arrowheads...all kinds of things that they were gifted.
But hey, by all means...lets just assume the worst, shall we?
Because he’s an Indian, of course. And sexist too, else it would depict a female Indian.
It could give one a headache.
Superimposed on a rainbow background...with a mosquito!
Cheers!
LOL! After looking at the depiction of the Indian, he looks like he’s wearing a feather, but nothing else. He looks naked. Where’s the loincloth?
“...he looks like hes wearing a feather, but nothing else.”
Minnesota has always been ahead of it’s time. Just add a rainbow border (or maybe a rainbow by the waterfall!) and it will be up to code.
Native American, you Neanderthal.
Well, maybe first come, first serve.
That looks like a dildo on his head and a horsewhip in his hand. Problem solved.
That looks like a dildo on his head and a horsewhip in his hand. Problem solved.
That looks like a dildo on his head and a horsewhip in his hand. Problem solved.
Not exactly. It depicts him as an idiot trying to plow a field by pushing a plow thru the earth.
It's also really, really ugly.
Motto - “L’etoille du Nord” - the Star of the North, likely from the French trappers many years ago.
When these Leftists finish cleansing history, the Indians will all be erased.
designed by a committee
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