Is the Albany City Flag a Racist Symbol That Should be Changed?

There is a petition going around calling for the removal and replacement of the Albany City Flag.

Apparently, at the heart of the request is the similarity of the design of the Albany City Flag and a Dutch Flag that has connections to Dutch white supremacists. It also has a similar design to the old Dutch West India company that transported slaves. In addition, the Albany City Flag is similar to a flag associated with apartheid in South Africa.

According to the petition at www.albanyflag.com, "For the past 112 years, we've been using a poorly designed, uninspiring, racist flag, making us just another city without beautiful symbols we can be proud of. It doesn't have to be this way."

Proposed Albany Flag

I threw the petition out on the Q1057 Facebook page just to get an idea of what people in the capital region think about a redesign. Here are a few of the responses.

"Wayne Johnson - Really... Waste of time and energy."

"Patrick Bruno - We need to stop trying to please everyone,stop worrying about everyone’s feelings,its a f****n flag,we’ve had it for 111 yrs & now its a issue. Really!!"

"Andrew Bedard - The flag is modeled after the Dutch flag from the city's Dutch origins. I don't see a need to change it. Maybe people need to educate themselves on flags."

the Albany Common Council plans to take up a resolution that would create a commission that would review designs for a new flag.