• ornery_chemist
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    1 year ago

    Visual aesthetics aside, in the Seal of Minnesota (the busy bit in the center, which has official uses besides the flag), the native on horseback is riding off into the sunset (westward, the 1983 edit notwithstanding) in the most gerenous interpretation or being driven off by the settler in a less charitable one (see rifle in the foreground). Regardless, the message is one of displacement of the native peoples by the mostly European-heritage settlers for the sake of “civilization”. It’s not something we should display proudly as an embodiment of our state’s core values, and for that reason has been contentious for years.

    Some reading if anyone is more interested in the history: #1 and #2