Hey Whitesboro New York, You’re Next in the Internet’s Crosshairs

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When the internet gets angry about something, it typically keeps looking for other examples of that thing to get angry about. So after picking apart the Confederate flag, then trying to pick out potential copycats in each Southern state’s flag, you knew they’d start looking North. And a sleepy New York town called Whitesboro (swear to God that’s the real name) has now caught the eye of the World Wide Web. A story by the Utica Observer-Dispatch from 2009 trended on Thursday, titled “Whitesboro seal ‘takes a little explaining’,” and the image is all over Twitter:

It’s obvious what it looks like, but according to the town, it’s supposed to represent town founder Hugh White engaging in a friendly wrestling match with a local Native American to earn their respect. The seal was designed by one of his descendants in the 1920’s, and according to the Observer-Dispatch, this isn’t the first time it’s attracted controversy:

Whitesboro historian Judy Mallozzi said the current seal was adopted sometime in the 1970s after the village was sued by an Indian group over the depiction at that time.

“The hands of Hugh White were on his neck area,” she said of the earlier image. “So after the lawsuit, it was determined it’s part of our history, so we didn’t have to stop using the seal. We just had to move it, so it’s down on his shoulders.”
The 2009 article was about a 1999 complaint about the seal, which is on the town sign, flag, and city vehicles. And the local school’s teams are called the “Warriors,” and their logo is a chief’s head. If you didn’t know better, you’d think it was a satire bit.

The seal is all over Twitter and Reddit, and has even been tweeted out by Natalie Morales.

Congratulations, Whitesboro! You’ve won the internet anger lottery!

Read more at the Utica Observer-Dispatch.

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Interrobang Staff

Interrobang Staff