Village of Whitesboro unfairly annexes satire

The official, controversial seal of the village of Whitesboro, NY

The controversial official seal of the village of Whitesboro, NY

When I first saw an article claiming that residents of Whitesboro, New York would vote on whether to change their official town seal, pictured above, I assumed it was heavy-handed satire. The name “Whitesboro” is obviously made up, and even if it weren’t, there’s no way any town would adopt as its official seal an image of a pioneer choking an Indian to the ground. Satire should be a little absurd, but it can’t be completely on-the-nose like that. Maybe if you made a seal showing pioneers eating at a big table while hungry Indians peeked in from the background, maybe that would work. But then I checked the mostly reliable New York Daily News, and it turns out Whitesboro is an actual place with that actual seal.

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