A logo that has been called racist and offensive will stay as the seal of a central New York village. The logo appears to show a white man choking a Native American.
In a non-binding vote Monday night, residents voted 157 to 55 to not change their current seal.
The Whitesborowebsite says the emblem dates to the early 1900s, and depicts a friendly wrestling match between village founder Hugh White and an Oneida Indian. It says White won the match and the lasting goodwill of the Oneidas.
The seal appears on village police cars, signs, and stationery. Controversy has waxed and waned over the years and came to a head last summer, when an online petition was posted by someone who saw the logo and took offense.
We've seen very few people vote for anything other than the current Village of #Whitesboro seal. pic.twitter.com/ybjmksjWpa
— Kimberly Howard (@KHow87) January 11, 2016
The village seal has been under scrutiny for decades, but according to Syracuse.com, the logo drew attention last summer after the Charleston church shooting investigation -- where the suspect ?Dylann Roof was seen brandishing a Confederate flag on his social media account, which put other controversialsymbols -- like the Whitesboro Village Seal -- into the national spotlight.
An online petition on Change.org currently has almost 10,000 supporters in favor of Whitesboro changing their seal.
Several new seals were created by a New York City-based design group and another by a local Whitesboro resident.
This report contains information from The Associated Press. Daniel Keith is an intern at WNPR.
