Babbitt council opposes new state flag

by Parker Loew

On Tuesday the Babbitt city council voted to send a letter to state legislators opposing the change to the Minnesota state flag.

Council member Joseph White brought this before the council saying he believes it is time to take a stand.

“I’m tired of people trying to erase our history,” said White. “I have pride in our state flag, and it’s time we stop with this nonsense.”

The DFL-controlled legislature authorized the State Emblems Redesign Commission to choose new official state symbols.

Proponents of the new flag said the old flag, which depicts a Native American man riding a horse on land being cultivated by a white man, represents the displacement of the indigenous people of Minnesota.

Over the last few years, there has been a movement in America to get rid of things that might offend or trigger someone, even if it represents a factual historic account.

“A lot of the people that we’ve erased, these national treasures we have and everything, no one’s even alive that was a part of that,” White said. “We’re destroying our history, one state at a time. We weren’t perfect, but deleting this isn’t changing our past.

While White personally didn’t like replacing the old state flag with a new one, he had also heard from many constituents unhappy with the change.

“The Metro does not represent Minnesota,” he said. “It shouldn’t be a committee created in the city that decides