Minnesota just replaced its official state flag with a new flag that looks awfully similar to Somalia.
A state commission selected a basic design concept Friday for a new state flag for Minnesota to replace a current banner that is considered offensive to Native Americans, but will need more time to add the finishing touches.
The final choice came down to two templates. The panel went with one bearing a stylized dark blue shape of Minnesota on the left with an eight-pointed white North Star on it, then either horizontal stripes or a solid field on the right.
“Let’s marinate these for a couple of days. I think it’s important,” said the chair of the commission, Luis Fitch. “And then let’s hear what the public and the people of the state of Minnesota have to say.”
The second-place finisher featured a pair of curving “swooshes” — one white and one light blue — symbolizing the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, against a dark blue background with a North Star in the upper left corner. To some people, the swishes also looked like loons, the official state bird. But the panel’s members opted for the design with straight, simple lines.