Minnesota Ditches New Flag Design Following Firestorm Over Similarity to Flag of Squad Member’s Native Somalia

To mimic the flag of the homeland of Rep. Ilhan Omar and the state’s large Somali population would be like a foreign takeover of a state symbol, critics fume.

New state flag designs are considered by a Minnesota committee at St. Paul, Minn., on Dec. 15, 2023. Glenn Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP

A flag design preliminarily picked to replace Minnesota’s current state flag triggered a backlash on social media for its similarities with a Somalia regional flag. It’s now been rejected in favor of a different design.

A 13-member State Emblems Redesign Commission was tasked with developing a new state flag after the old design was deemed racist. It showed a seal with a white settler plowing a field and a Native American riding away into the sunset on a horse.