Massachusetts Seal And Motto Commission looks to find traction

Sam Doran

More than a year after the Legislature first called for a commission to consider changes to the state seal and motto, the panel began setting up its internal structure Tuesday and looking at what sort of timeline it will operate under.

Gov. Charlie Baker over (last) weekend approved a budget bill that pushed the commission’s final deadline to December. When it first convened last summer, not all the members had yet been appointed. Sen. Marc Pacheco told his fellow commissioners they might want to wrap up work in the next five months — before the Legislature ends formal sessions July 31 — if they want to see any “substantive change” to the seal enacted into law, rather than see the report shelved in the waning days of the legislative session.

Pacheco and Rep. Antonio Cabral are co-chairs of the Legislature’s State Administration and Regulatory Oversight Committee, and Cabral said that committee would probably be the next venue for public input after the seal commission concludes its work.

Cabral said he felt “we shouldn’t be rushing, trying to meet a July 31 deadline necessarily,” a sentiment shared by Jim Wallace of the Gun Owners Action League, another of the commission’s 19 members. “Having dealt with public policy, legislation, and regulations for a quarter of a century myself, you are probably going to get one crack at this,” Wallace said. ” … You’ll get pushback from the general public who doesn’t understand what you’re trying to do because you’re trying to rush something. I love to cook, and anytime you try to rush the soup, it ain’t gonna come out good.”

Commissioners spent part of Tuesday pondering the scope of their eventual report.

In addition to the general history of the seal and recommended changes, several members expressed a desire to document the nearly 50 years of advocacy for revisiting the seal. The layout seen today was formalized by the Governor’s Council in 1780, according to the General Court Manual. An indigenous person is portrayed on the shield, and the crest above it features an arm holding a broadsword. The arm and sword is also the state’s military crest and appears above the shields on Massachusetts National Guard unit insignias. Advocates have argued for change in recent decades, saying the imagery of the seal represents violence and oppression toward indigenous communities. Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, chairwoman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, said the seal and motto — commonly translated as “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty” — has “been problematic to us for as long as I can remember.”

The panel voted to establish three working groups: The Histories and Usages Subcommittee will look at the history of the symbols and how they came to be adopted by the state, their use in different contexts such as in the state National Guard, and what Co-Chair Brian Boyles referred to as the “history of the harm created by the seal.” A subcommittee on Research and Design will investigate how similar redesign processes have played out in other states, and a Public Consultation Subcommittee will explore avenues for public input before a final report is made to the Legislature.

The commission is co-chaired by Boyles, executive director of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, and Brian Moskwetah Weeden, leader of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. Boyles said he plans on monthly meetings on the third Tuesday of the month at 11 a.m., and that the group will continue to meet virtually for the time being.