Cancel culture takes aim at Massachusetts state flag, seal – residents say ‘problematic’ imagery supports ‘white supremacy culture’

A group of Newburyport, Massachusetts, residents are demanding the city council replace the state flag and seal, claiming that the imagery is "problematic" and promotes a "white supremacy culture."

Last year, the Special Commission Relative to the Seal and Motto of the Commonwealth voted to replace the state seal and flag. A resolution was brought to the General Government Committee on February 27, where the city council voted 9-2.

According to Marianna Vesey and Linda Lu Burciaga, two residents leading the effort in Newburyport, 55 other municipalities have already agreed to the change.

Burciaga argued that the imagery on the state flag and seal is "problematic" because it depicts a white hand wielding a Colonial sword over the head of a Native American person, according to the Newburyport Daily News. The seal and flag also include the Latin phrase "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem," which translates to "She seeks by the sword a quiet place under liberty."

"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. 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 said.

Vesey claimed the seal portrays a "colonializing and violent depiction that is really supporting the fact that white people are in charge of this world and that we have to subdue the Native American people."

"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," Vesey continued.

The two residents also called for local schools to add more curriculum that addresses the history of Native Americans in Massachusetts. Burciaga claimed that most local schools are not teaching children about the state's "true history."

"The use of mascots and also the cultural appropriation of some of the Native American artifacts and whatnot that have been taken from them," Burciaga stated. "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."

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