The image above is the official seal of Whitesboro, NY. This rendering, which shows a white settler in the process of wrestling a Native American man to the ground, is currently emblazoned on municipal vehicles, police cars, and official letterhead.
The image above is the official seal of Whitesboro, NY. This rendering, which shows a white settler in the process of wrestling a Native American man to the ground, is currently emblazoned on municipal vehicles, police cars, and official letterhead.
Last summer, during a national debate over the public display of the Confederate flag, Whiteboro’s seal was mentioned as a symbol that projects a less-than-positive message about inclusivity and diversity. After a Change.org petition drew nearly 10,000 supporters, Whitesboro agreed to put the issue to a vote.
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That vote happened Jan. 11. And they’re keeping it. Of the 212 locals who turned up to vote, 74% chose to keep the seal.
“There’s nothing racist or white power about it. It’s HISTORY it’s what happened and it wasn’t a BAD thing,” a commenter wrote to the local paper.
Whitesboro is a village of roughly 3,800 people, 97% of whom identified as white in the 2010 census. It is named for its founder, a wealthy patent holder named Hugh White.
According to the village’s official history, the seal depicts a pivotal moment in the early days of Whitesboro, in which a White family member was challenged to a friendly wrestling match by a local Oneida man and won almost immediately after “a fortunate trip.”
The victory “made more manifest the respect of the Indian for White,” the history reads, who subsequently “became a hero in the eyes of the Oneida Indians.”
In 1977, a Native American group sued the city to change the seal, because—well, look at it. In a rare concession, the village agreed to alter the image to move White’s hands closer to his opponent’s shoulders. Previously, they had been depicted solidly around the Oneida man’s neck.
