Minnesota seeks unifying symbol to replace state flag considered offensive to Native Americans

 By Steve Karnowski THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MINNEAPOLIS (AP)-A state commission went to work Tuesday on designing a new state flag and seal for Minnesota to replace a current emblem in both that’s considered offensive to Native Americans. One of the main elements of Minnesota’s state flag includes a prominent state seal against a blue background. 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. The imagery suggests to many that the Indigenous people were defeated and going away, while whites won and were staying. Not only do the state’s Dakota and Ojibwe tribes consider that offensive, but experts in the scientific and scholarly study of flags, known as vexillology, say it’s an overly…

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