The South Dakota State flag
The proposed South Dakota flag
PIERRE , SOUTH DAKOTA –– Recently abandoned legislation supporting a new state flag has sparked a continuing tirade among South Dakota’s conventional, steadfast constituents. The bill to adopt a less cumbersome, more streamlined design as the 21st-century version of the state’s official flag was killed before it ever really saw the light of day. Introduced during South Dakota’s 87th Legislative Session, Rep. Bernie Hunhoff (D-Yankton) was the bill’s main sponsor. The main run of the annual winter lawmaking blitz, which lasted 35 working days, ended on March 2. Hunhoff, who also serves as House minority leader, initially had the support of over 80 other lawmakers when House Bill 1235 was drafted in January. “I’ve been aware for a long time that I really don’t think we have a state flag,” said Hunhoff. “We had one a hundred years ago, and then somehow, just through some bureaucratic changes, we gradually drifted into just putting the state seal on a flag.” Originally created by artist Dick Termes of Spearfish over 20 years ago, the rejected flag is simplistic, non-worded and could be considered a geometrician’s dream with its large triangulated sunburst overlapping two differently-sized, differently-hued spheres of blue and underlapping a somewhat nondescript orange-and-midnight blue representation of a Native American medicine wheel. The pattern is centered against a clouded, sky blue background. Termes told South Dakota Public Broadcasting last year that a state flag should be an eye-catcher that represents the diversity of South Dakota. “Why not have a flag that’s the best and most-fun-to-look-at flag?,” he said. Hunhoff said he had hoped the state legislature would come together and agree on the new design. “So far my proposal has not unified anyone,” he said with a laugh. Hunhoff’s seemingly innocuous move brought the ire of many non-Native American South Dakotans, who are famous – or infamous – at times for their conservative loyalty to decidedly inanimate objects and ideals. In the two weeks after the bill’s introduction on the House floor and successive committee review assignment, lawmakers were bombarded with phone calls and emails from constituents urging them to leave the flag alone. At least one other prominent state politician joined the fray as well. While the State Affairs Committee was contemplating Hunhoff’s proposal, Secretary of State Jason Gant urged the House panel to keep the current flag, which he said is representative of the state’s history and recognizable by the people of South Dakota, according to The Associated Press. “I think the state flag is pretty fine the way it is,” Gant said. Rep. Brian Gosch (R-Rapid City) concurred, saying he sees no reason to modify the flag. “I’m just not sure it’s a good idea to throw away history just because someone thinks they have a better idea,” Gosch said. The committee ultimately voted 7-4 to defeat the measure. Other prominent politicians from South Dakota offered tepid support at best for a possible updated flag. Gov. Dennis Daugaard offered no opinion on Termes’ design and said that consideration of several different designs, not just one, in the future would be the best course of action in selecting a new state flag, according to his press secretary, Joe Kafka. “The issue of changing the South Dakota flag is up to the state Legislature,” said the state’s Democratic U.S. Senator, Tim Johnson, in an email to Native Sun News. “If they do move forward with changes in the future, I hope they reflect our state’s broad history, including the contributions of Native Americans,” he said. On a blog sponsored by Sioux Falls’ ArgusLeader.com, South Dakota citizens freely posted thoughts on the once-proposed replacement flag. A sampling of posts reflects the overall staunch resistance to change of the bloggers. “It’s the dumbest thing I have ever heard,” said Gerald Jonason. “If we need a medicine wheel on our flag, just put it in the upper corner and leave our flag alone.” Liz Nelson said, “We think the current flag is great with the state’s name and Mount Rushmore on it. As for the proposed flag, the Native Americans are part of South Dakota, but not to the extent that it shows. Let’s leave well enough alone! From a couple of senior citizens … .” “The new proposed flag … looks to represent the Native American population only, with the design and color scheme. A new flag should represent the state as a whole … ,” said Michelle Pearson. Even the Rapid City Journal’s editorial board gave itself a pat on the back apparently for prognosticating the obvious fate of the Legislature’s push for a new state flag in an opinion piece from early last month. “Every legislative session includes at least one bill that invites ridicule. This year, it was HB1235, which would have replaced South Dakota’s state flag with a design first proposed for the state’s centennial in 1989. We joined many other South Dakotans who have a fondness for the current flag … .” the editorial board said in the Journal’s March 4 edition. South Dakota’s current flag, however, with its depiction of the state seal ensconced in a sunburst against a sea-of-azure backdrop and circular inscription “South Dakota The Mount Rushmore State,” might be considered archaic by some. The design has been in existence in one form or another since 1909. “I love our state seal, I think it’s one of the great seals of the country, but I’ve always felt that a seal – a very intricate seal – doesn’t necessarily make a flag,” Hunhoff said. “(The state seal is) very detailed yet incomplete,” he said. “And when you try to do too much with a design, you accomplish too little, if that makes sense.” The seal’s emblematic images as portrayed on the state’s flag are not easily discernible from a distance – not even a short distance. In 2001 a survey conducted by a group of flag experts, the North American Vexillological Association, ranked South Dakota’s state flag the fifth-worst on the continent. “I say leave it alone. The (formerly proposed) new flag is totally ugly. If (Hunhoff and other legislators) want to incorporate Native American culture into the flag, then they need to maybe just change the illustrations in the center of the present flag to depict both cultures here,” said Marisa Abernathy, Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member. “Anyway, if I had a choice, my vote would be to leave the flag alone,” she said. South Dakota’s flag may be one of the worst, but perhaps not just simply for the way it looks. According to South Dakota’s Bureau of Administration website feature “History of the South Dakota State Flag,” both the state flag and the state seal “are symbols of the proud heritage we as South Dakotans are privileged to enjoy.” The state’s Great Seal and – by virtue of inclusion of that Great Seal – the state’s flag are not entirely accurate representations of South Dakota’s “proud heritage,” however. As painstakingly described on the “History of the South Dakota State Flag” webpage from the original official resolution transcript of the Constitutional Convention of 1885 – though the seal is stamped with the year South Dakota became a state, 1889 – and now included in the state’s Constitution, the seal features “a circle within which shall appear in the left foreground a smelting furnace and other features of mining work. In the left background, a range of hills. In the right foreground, a farmer at his plow. In the right background, a herd of cattle and a field of corn. Between the two parts thus described shall appear a river bearing a steamboat. Properly divided between the upper and lower edges of the circle shall appear the legend ‘Under God the People Rule,’ which shall be the motto of the State of South Dakota.” Noticeably absent from this solemn, antiquated decree is any hint of recognition of South Dakota’s large indigenous population. The adoption of the state’s “Great Seal,” and subsequently its state flag, occurred at a time when American policies and practices were acutely aimed at containing and controlling the “Indian problem” through confinement on reservations as well as in boarding schools. This turbulent era of termination via forced assimilation is what might be accurately represented by South Dakota’s current state flag. “I do not think South Dakota needs a new flag,” said Lori Josephsen on the Argus Leader blog. “The proposed new flag simply looks like a design that has absolutely nothing to do with our State! We don’t have to compete with other states to see who has the fancier flag!!! We have our history, our agricultural state, Mount Rushmore and need I say more. Our flag should stay just as it is. It depicts more of what our state is all about than something like the proposed flag.” Between the state seal’s pre-unionized adoption in 1885 and the state flag’s adoption in 1909, South Dakota’s indigenous peoples, who were not even considered “citizens” of the U.S. until 1924, had to also endure irreversible land loss via the Dawes Act of 1887, South Dakota’s statehood in 1889 and the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 and its aftermath. The Dawes Act illogically attempted to make farmers out of once-nomadic peoples, while Wounded Knee served to stifle for good indigenous attempts to remain genuinely free of white control. The ramifications of South Dakota entering the union are still playing out today for the state’s indigenous constituency. The state seal’s intricate complexities, which pay tribute to the mining and agricultural industries and to commerce, as well as to geographic identifiers the Missouri River and Black Hills, are overwhelmingly based in non-Native American culture, although one of the featured landmarks, the Black Hills, or Paha Sapa, is considered sacred by the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota peoples of South Dakota. The diminutive mountains are situated on land that was originally promised to them in perpetuity by the federal government through the legally binding Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874, however, brought an unstoppable force of white Americans onto the Great Sioux Reservation, spelling the end of the last vestiges of any form of a traditional way of life for the Great Sioux Nation. Hunhoff found that a majority of his Native American constituents in the Yankton area were supportive of his efforts to introduce a new state flag, but added that his involvement in the issue “never had anything to do with race or culture.” The state needs a flag more representative of its history, said Hunhoff. The medicine wheel included in his new flag of choice even predates the history of South Dakota, he said. And, as Hunhoff understands it, the medicine wheel is a powerful symbol of unity among Native Americans. “I thought the medicine wheel would be a great symbol of unity for our state,” he said. For Rep. Ed Iron Cloud III (D-Porcupine), the medicine wheel provided the focal point. He told AP that having such a symbol indeed could show unity and coexistence. “Native American people are indigenous to here, and later South Dakota became a state,” Iron Cloud said. Over the past few weeks, Hunhoff said he has seen reproductions of Termes’ design displayed at various offices throughout the Capitol building. “In time, it could become a beloved symbol,” he said. “It’s not surprising that it didn’t take hold. There’s a slow movement away from using the state seal as a flag (in other states), but it’s slow for the very reasons we found here in South Dakota.” (Contact Jesse Abernathy at editor@nsweekly.com)
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