Massachusetts Senators Form Panel To Suggest New State Seal, Which Would Replace Version Native Americans Call Racist

Massachusetts senators unanimously agreed Tuesday that a panel should suggest a new state seal to replace the 122-year-old version that Native Americans largely view as symbolizing white supremacist violence.

The Senate voted 39-0 to approve a Sen. Jason Lewis resolve forming a special commission tasked with designing a new seal and state motto and with studying ways that the existing version, which depicts a Native man standing beneath a disembodied arm and sword, “may be unwittingly harmful to or misunderstood by the citizens of the commonwealth.”

Tribal leaders and activists have pushed for decades to replace the state seal, warning that the individual pictured reinforces stereotypes against Native Americans and that the inclusion of the overhead sword implies violent subjugation of the Indigenous people. Their protests gained traction in recent weeks.

“This flag and emblem has long been viewed by indigenous people and others as symbolizing white supremacy and ethnic cleansing perpetuated against the Native populations,” Lewis said on the Senate floor.