By David Detmold, Montague
It has been six months now since the last meeting of the Massachusetts Seal, Flag and Motto Advisory Commission. Please forgive the length of this post, but it has been longer than that since I last sent an update on the grassroots effort to change the flag and seal of Massachusetts.
Call me naïve, but has the political will to accomplish this long-awaited change vanished from the statehouse and the governor’s office in this gubernatorial election year?
Banish the thought.
Towns across the Commonwealth are pushing back, and telling the legislature: “Don’t make us fly this racist flag any longer.”
Calls are needed now to the governor’s office, telling Maura Healey: “Racial justice delayed is racial justice denied.” Get this done!
As middle school teacher Kelly Lawlor told the annual town meeting voters of the Town of Stow yesterday, May 9th, “The legislature has had this issue under study in various committees and commissions since a bill to change the flag and seal was first introduced in 1985.”
Don’t you think that’s enough time to study a flag of overt white supremacy before you decide to take it down?
The bipartisan commission that studied the origins of our state flag and seal, which included all the leaders of the federal and state recognized tribes in the Commonwealth, or their designated representatives, voted unanimously in May of 2022 to seek a complete revision of the state flag, seal and motto because it was “inflicting harm” and easily interpreted as a “celebration of the history of settler violence perpetuated (sic) against Indigenous populations.”
A white hand holding a sword over the head of an Indigenous figure, with a Latin motto that translates, essentially, as ‘Peace Under the Sword,’ is “not a good look for Massachusetts,” Sheffield resident Laura Grunfeld decided. That’s what she told WAMC listeners throughout Western Massachusetts in a February 29th interview, after she gathered more than enough signatures to bring an article in support of a new flag and seal to Sheffield’s annual town meeting.
“It was very apparent right away that this has to change,” said Grunfeld.
Overcoming opposition from the selectboard, the town meeting voters of Sheffield agreed by a 52-37 majority on Monday, May 5th.
The next day, the town meeting of Egremont heard a quote from Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican spokesman Shawn Stevens, from that same WAMC interview. He said, “The sword above the Native figure, to me, represents genocide.” Moments later, the town meeting voters of Egremont, founded on the land of the Stockbridge-Munsee nation, agreed – unanimously – that flag should come down.
Yesterday, May 10th, the town meeting voters of Stow backed Kelly Lawlor when she said, “This is a shameful symbol to teach to our public school students year after year.” They voted 95-20 to make Stow the eighty-fifth town to tell their legislators to make changing the flag and seal of Massachusetts a top priority.
A flag is supposed to be a unifying symbol, representing the highest ideals of the state. How many more towns have to say, “Take it Down!” before Beacon Hill admits our state flag has failed that test in every way?
Advisory Commission’s December Vacay May End… Someday
When the state senate, under the leadership of Jo Comerford (D-Northampton) and Jason Lewis (D-Winchester) voted 30-9 on May 23rd, 2024 (all nine dissenting votes were from white men in the senate) to set up an advisory commission to come up with a new design for the flag, seal and motto, we had high hopes that Governor Healey would appoint the commission swiftly, that it would complete its work on schedule, hold public hearings across the state and deliver a new, aspirational and inclusive flag and seal design to the legislature for approval no later than the summer of 2025.
None of that happened.
The governor waited six months to complete her appointment of the 10-member commission. Off to a late start in March of 2025, the commission at first seemed to be racing to the finish line, gathering over 1100 design and motto submissions from the general public, then winnowing them down to a second round of finalists.
But when the commission used a scoring rubric heavily weighted in favor of superficial appearance over the content of the submitted designs, a weak slate of third round finalists revealed in August of 2025 (including one based on the state flower, the Mayflower) generally fell flat with the media and the public.
The four Indigenous leaders serving on the advisory commission called a time out for further discussion, which took place in an education subcommittee. There, the history of harm caused by the present flag and seal was reviewed in the presence of Indigenous representatives, and a powerful slide presentation was developed for the general public to see why the state flag, seal and motto must be changed.
In mid-December, the full commission met again and promised a new scoring rubric would develop a more robust slate of final designs for the public to review.
Since then, nothing.
Two of Governor Healey’s top lieutenants, Education Secretary Stephen Zrike and Travel and Tourism Director Kate Fox serve as the co-chairs of the seal, flag and motto advisory commission.
In her January 2023 inaugural address, Governor Healey promised to ““Let Massachusetts be the place that shines a light on every systemic barrier, and then does the hard work to break them down.”
How hard can it be to choose a new state flag?
Other states, like Mississippi and Minnesota, have done it recently in a matter of months, once they found the political will to do so.
Asked during a September 17th, 2025 press conference about her position on changing the racist flag and seal of Massachusetts, Healey laughed the question off. She said, “I’m sure there will be discussion over the ensuing time and years.” Glancing back to the flag on the podium, she added, “Until, you know, further discussions and recommendations, I’ll continue to be here and that flag will continue to be here.”
Great comment, Governor.
You can’t pledge to eliminate barriers of systemic racism on the one hand and then duck the issue when it comes to the most obvious and overarching symbol of enduring racism in the Commonwealth today. Tell us how there can be “further discussions and recommendations” if your top lieutenants on the advisory commission fail to call another meeting?
Call Governor Healey : Let’s Get this Done!
Please, if you care about peace, racial justice, and respectful dialogue with the Native people of this land, take a moment to call or text Governor Healey’s office (617-725-4005). Call today, Sunday, and leave a message on her answering machine. Or call tomorrow, Monday, and speak to one of her staff in person.
Urge the governor to get this issue off her desk once and for all. And off the back of her chair in her statehouse office, where a large engraving of a sword hanging over the head of an Indigenous person is hanging over the governor’s head too.
Tell Maura Healey to demand action from the commission, and from the legislature, so she can fulfill her inaugural pledge.
Haven’t we had enough examples of ‘Peace Under the Sword’ in our nation’s domestic and foreign policy lately?
That sword hanging for centuries over the heads of the Indigenous people of this land is no laughing matter. Governor Healey, Massachusetts should be proud to take down this shameful flag in the full glare of the national media, and in the glare of your Republic opponents for governor.
It is Time to Change the Massachusetts Flag and Seal.
Please call Governor Healey, (617-725-4005) and share this post with friends and networks across the state.