Why many American states and cities are changing their flags

THE LOBSTER is ubiquitous in Maine. Its picture is on every part from licence plates to house decor. Now one other emblem is rising in reputation: a inexperienced pine tree with a blue North Star, designed by Bethany Discipline and Chris Korzen, founders of Maine Flag Firm and Unique Maine. Their hand-stitched flags are impressed by the unique 1901 official flag of Maine and likewise nod to the state’s maritime burgee. It may be discovered on sweatshirts, automotive bumpers, Adirondack-chair cushions and entrance porches. Its grassroots reputation has given momentum to a legislative proposal to modify from the present official state flag, which options the state seal, to a model of the easier 1901 banner.

Different states are altering their flags. In March Utah swapped its busy seal for a giant beehive, a logo of industriousness. As easy and wonderful as that is, it isn’t with out controversy. Some say the flag, which additionally has Native American symbolism, is “woke” (regardless of being proposed by a conservative Republican) and need the outdated one again. Mississippi scrapped its flag in 2020, due to its Accomplice imagery. Massachusetts and Minnesota need to redesign their banners, every based mostly on a seal with troubling depictions of Native People.

Many municipal flags are horrible, too. “Why metropolis flags would be the worst-designed factor you’ve by no means seen”, a TED speak by Roman Mars, a podcaster, in 2015, shone a lightweight on how terrible many official flags are. Since his speak, which has had 7m views, the North American Vexillological Affiliation has documented greater than 300 cities redesigning flags. Mr Mars singled out the (nonetheless unchanged) flag of Milwaukee because the “kitchen sink”. Its pictures embody a barley stalk for the brewing business, a gear representing business, a ship and, bizarrely, a wartime-service flag—a flag inside a flag.

Maine’s seal can also be far too fussy. It depicts a pine tree, a star, a moose, a sailor and a farmer, plus the phrases “Maine’‘ and “Dirigo” (“I lead” in Latin). Ted Kaye, writer of “Good Flag, Unhealthy Flag”, a design primer, calls state flags with seals “SOBS: seals on mattress sheets”. Seals had been meant to be learn on paperwork, not fly on poles. Greater than 20 states use seals with blue backgrounds as flags. It’s difficult to inform them aside. Some attempt to remedy this drawback by together with the state’s title. “Think about if the flag of France mentioned ‘France’ on it,” despairs Mr Kaye.

A very good flag creates a reference to the place it represents. Texas’s “Lone Star Flag” is a high quality instance, and is the best-selling state flag within the nation. Earle Shettleworth, Maine’s state historian, factors out that “state id means a fantastic deal to individuals. And it’s actually a query of how are we going to undertaking ourselves?”

“We didn’t got down to change the flag,” says Ms Discipline. When she and Mr Korzen began making their model, they requested: “May we make this picture be as recognisable because the phrase ‘Maine’?” Since Maine’s bicentennial in 2020, the star-and-pine-tree picture is in all places. The state Senate not too long ago added an modification to the invoice requiring a referendum on whether or not to vary the flag. Sean Paulus, the state lawmaker who proposed the invoice, says it’s “embracing what individuals have already proven that they need”. ■

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