Residents in Newburyport are demanding that the City Council replace the Massachusetts flag and seal, claiming that the imagery is problematic and helps promote the state’s racist history.
According to the Newburyport Daily News, the Council received a resolution on Feb. 27 asking them to support the work of the Special Commission Relative to the Seal and Motto of the Commonwealth. The Commission, in part, recommended replacing the seal and flag to better reflect the diverse residents now living in Massachusetts.
That same day, the resolution was referred to the General Government Committee in a 9-2 vote.
The resolution has been pushed by Newburyport residents Marianna Vesey and Linda Lu Burciaga, who say that 55 other municipalities have already adopted the change. Vesey and Burciaga also claim that dozens of other municipalities are considering the resolution.
Vesey said the state seal supports the idea that White people are "in charge of this world and that we have to subdue the Native American people" through a "colonializing and violent depiction."
"One of the reasons that we can ignore this so easily is that our White supremacy culture has really allowed for the disappearance of the Native American world. We’re really trying to say that they are not gone. They are here among us and we really need to, not only recognize that, but to honor it," she added.
Meanwhile, Burciaga called the state flag and seal "problematic." According to Burciaga, both the flag and the seal depict a White hand grasping a Colonial sword over the head of a Native American person. Both emblems include the Latin motto "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem" which translates to "She seeks by the sword a quiet place under liberty."
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"The belt was patterned by the illustrator after the red flannel belt of (Wampanoag leader) Metacomet, who was the leader of the first native war of resistance against English colonization," Burciaga said. "His severed head was impaled on a pike and displayed in Plymouth for more than 20 years as a war trophy. That’s just one part of the depiction."
Burciaga also pushed for more curriculum in local schools that focuses on Native American culture and claimed the current education system does not teach youth about the "true history" of the state.
"Most of these schools are not teaching our youth about our true history in the state. The use of mascots and also the cultural appropriation of some of the Native American artifacts and whatnot that have been taken from them. This is not just a symbolic ‘Get rid of the state seal and flag or change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day’ thing. This also includes something that we should be doing for the rest of our lives, including education," she said.
Vesey, noting that the resolution to replace the flag and seal grew from their successful effort to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day, said that mascots associated with Native Americans should also be replaced to address the state’s "racist culture."
