Which former state flag is more racist: Mississippi ... or Minnesota?

Four questions and takeaways from the latest Grown Black Girls podcast 

Minnesota finally replaces its own racist state flag. To see the new design, check out the latest podcast. image credit: Shutterstock

Our own Natalie A. Collier and Charity Clay caught up on the Grown Black Girls podcast last Friday. Their focus: “In Search of Blackness … Skin Folk, Kin Folk and How to Spot the Difference.” If you haven’t yet tuned in, here are four questions and takeaways you might have missed.  

1. Should we dive deeper into menopause? Comment below.   Itching. Fatigue. Brain fog. Perimenopause and menopause can come with surprising and startling symptoms. The insidiousness of it all is we’re often unsure if our symptoms are in fact the onset of menopause, allergies or something else entirely. Some research shows menopause shows up in Black women different. Is this a topic you would like us to explore further? Let us know in the comments!  

   
   

   Start at 06:53 to hear Natalie’s current regimen to battle a particularly disrespectful symptom. 
   

2. Allergies getting worse? Maybe the cure is more time outside, not less. 

Speaking of itching. Charity stops blaming “tree jizz” for allergies after some recent wisdom from Black Forager: 

The reason our allergies are getting worse is because we’re not spending as much time outside. … That’s messing up the interaction between oxygen and carbon dioxide, which is causing us to be more sensitive and the trees to be more “polleny.”    -Charity

Start at 07:15 to hear more about the myth related to tree planting and food access that just won’t die. 

3. Which old state flag is more racist: Minnesota or Mississippi?   They’re both bad, which is worse?   

The old Minnesota flag, you have to kind of lean in close to see what’s happening in the picture. … where the old Mississippi flag is like ‘boom, here it is … You don’t have to interpret anything.  - Natalie for the Mississippi “confederate battle” state flag

The old Mississippi flag speaks to a specific racist symbol, but the actual picture of a naked Indian on a horse, that’s a choice ....   On the [Minnesota] flag, when I say ‘injun,’ I mean like the white imagination of what a First Nation person looks like: naked on a horse, with a white man literally stealing his land with a shotgun. -   Charity for the Minnesota state flag 

Start at 10:48 to see the old and new flag designs.  

4. Play along with Charity and Natalie as they play a game: “Skin folk or Kin folk”  
   

   Teyana Taylor. Candace Owens. Angela Davis — no one escapes scrutiny.   

How do we measure people whose work has inspired people to do real stuff? But their personal lives and evolution is a departure from that thing that was so impactful.  - Charity

  Start at 57:00 to learn how the game is played. 

If you haven't subscribed yet to the Grown Black Girls podcast, now is the time.