The logo you see above is not a parody, but the actual seal of the Village of Whitesboro, NY. It depicts the founder of the burg strangling a Native American. Nice. The powers that be in Whitesboro recently revisited this issue and reaffirmed the seal in rather Trumpian terms. And that is why the Village of Whitesboro, NY is malaka of the week. Not sure if that should be are and plural, but malakatude is malakatude, no matter how you slice it. I prefer deli thin slices of malakatude myself…
I’d like to thank Josh Marshall for putting this bit of historical malakatude on my radar screen. Otherwise we’d just be blips that passed in the night or some such shit:
In a highly proud day for the State of New York, the village of Whitesboro, New York has voted to retain the village seal which appears to show a white man throttling or choking an Indian. As I said, a proud moment, though village resident Scott Hastings, makes clear that he won’t be pushed around. “Political correctness, who cares? This is our village, who cares what the world thinks? I want to see this settled today. Once and for all.”
But part of me wonders whether this isn’t a more appropriate or at least more historically accurate way of representing the country’s and perhaps this village’s origins.
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I certainly agree that the Whitesboro town symbol is not one to base a multi-ethnic 21st century village around. It’s wildly offensive. It also makes me a little curious how they became “whitesboro”, though normally I would just assume that the founder’s surname was “White.” But who knows?
I love it when political correctness is invoked as a reason to do or not to do something. I think removing Confederate monuments and such is good manners, not craven cowardice but that’s just me. Clearly the residents of Malakaboro are The Chokin’ Kind:
I’m not sure what they’d make of a soul singer like Joe Simon, they might prefer to play that funky music Whitesboro boy:
I wonder if the Insult Comedian is planning a stop in Whitesboro in support of their stance against political correctness? There could even be a re-enactment of the town seal with the Donald as the choker or, better yet, the chokee.
Even if the town seal qualifies as truth in advertising, it’s offensive, obnoxious and a whole bunch of other O-words. And that’s why the Village of Whitesboro is/are malaka/malakas of the week.
Good or bad, I think it’s important to remember our history, acknowledge it, and preserve the evidence of it for future generations. I’ve heard more than one person say when visiting a concentration camp in Germany, they weren’t struck with the enormity of the Holocaust until they saw the huge piles of shoes. At which point they broke down and cried. But shouldn’t your official seal be something you’re proud of? Something that represents how you want to be viewed, or a key achievement in your past? Hmmm… now I’m starting to re-think the Grizzly Bear on our state flag…
Having taken a second look at the seal, perhaps Whitesboro is proud of their early acceptance and celebration of mixed-race and even same sex relationships. Clearly, these men are in love and preparing to “lie together.” It’s kinda sweet!