Officials in Cambridge, MA, which is known for its progressive politics, have removed the Massachusetts state flag from city hall. The flag features an image of the Native American leader Massasoit (aka Ousamequin) with the arm of Myles Standish holding a sword at the top.
Rob DiRienzo reports at FOX News:
Cambridge removes ‘offensive’ Massachusetts flag from City Hall as calls grow to replace itAs the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s landing approaches next year, there is a growing push to change the Massachusetts state flag because of its depiction of a Native American.At least 30 municipalities have endorsed a state bill to remove and replace the state’s flag and motto. Cambridge, the fifth largest city in the state, went even further — earlier this month city council members labeled it “offensive” and approved a proposal to remove the state flag from council chambers.”I found out that there is a lot of imagery on the state flag that I didn’t actually know existed,” said Massachusetts State Rep. Nika Elugardo, who is co-sponsoring the state resolution to replace the flag.The flag features a Native American holding a bow and arrow. Just overhead is a disembodied arm with a sword. Surrounding the seal is the phrase “Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem,” which roughly translates from Latin to, “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.”…Most objections aren’t with Ousamequin, but the arm and sword overhead. They are said to belong to Myles Standish, an English military officer who helped establish and secure the Plymouth colony.
The local news program “Greater Boston” did a recent report on this which you can watch below. You’ll be astounded to learn that they somehow managed to tie this effort to the Trump presidency.
Once again, the people who claimed three years ago that they only wanted to remove Confederate symbols, are using the same argument to go after entirely unrelated symbols.
Rich Barlow writes at WBUR:
The Mass. Flag Honors The Oppression Of Native Americans. It’s Time To Change ItWhen confronted with a public question, we traditionalists instinctively consult history for solutions that have stood the test of time. But savvy people don’t blindly defend every historical hand-me-down, no matter the reverence it commands. The father of modern conservatism, English statesman-philosopher Edmund Burke, understood that any tradition deserving of conserving must adapt to changing mores…It would be hypocritical to argue, as I have, that southern states should mothball Confederate flags and monuments, while ignoring our own history. We would be aghast at honorific flags and monuments to the Third Reich. Nazism’s neighbor in hell, racism — whether honoring slaveholders and Confederate traitors or a Plymouth Colony forerunner of our genocidal treatment of Native Americans — is similarly indefensible in a memorial.
Do you ever get the sense that some people on the left feel powerless in some areas and are compensating by exerting control in other areas?
Featured image via YouTube.
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