MAZEPPA, Minn. — Republican Senator Steve Drazkowski said he will introduce legislation to put changing the state seal to a vote of the people. “These are long-standing symbols and people should be able to vote,” he said. Drazkowski, from Mazaeppa in southeast Minnesota, doesn’t much like changes proposed by the State Emblem Redesign Commission: “The commission waded into divisiveness.” He objected to:
>Removing the state motto, which has the French phrase “L’etoile du Nord.”
>Replacing the French with the Dakota phrase “Mni Sota Makoce.”
>Dropping the year of statehood: 1858. This, Draz said, was because the Commission saw the presence of the year as celebrating the U.S. confiscation of Indian lands. The proposed seal might as well be for the Dakota Indians rather beig inclusive for all Minnesotans, he said
Draz also criticized the role of the North American Vexillological Association in the redesign. The Association, which consults nations and other government entities on flag design, had favored a bold north star for the flag. Draz, who is White and whose Mazeppa hometown is 98% Caucasian, said the design too closely resembles the flag of the primarily Black African nation of Somalia.
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Drazkowski. Not a member of State Emblem Redesign Commission. An armchair observer.
Current Minnesota flag. With the state seal.
Proposed state dflag. With eight-point north star.
Somali flag.