While the snowy, Democratic bastion of Massachusetts and the sunny, Republican stronghold of Florida are rarely on the same side of any given issue, they’re strange bedfellows on one: In 2026, they’re the last two states in the Union to center around portrayals of Native American people on their flags.
“The state symbol of Massachusetts on both our flag and seal is centered on an Indigenous caricature. That figure is centered in a European coat of arms, just beneath a white hand holding a colonial broadsword poised as if to strike," said David Detmold of Montague, who coordinates ChangeTheMassFlag.com, a grassroots effort that’s pushing the commonwealth to change the emblem it established in 1908. “And there is a Latin motto underneath this coat of arms. And that Latin motto is commonly translated, she -- meaning Massachusetts, in this case -- seeks a quiet peace under the sword, peace with liberty.”
It’s a call that Indigenous leaders in Massachusetts and beyond have sounded for over 50 years, given the commonwealth and country’s history of violence and exploitation against Native Americans.
“The sword above the Native figure, to me, represents a genocide. Native Americans did not have swords. It was nothing that we had used. A sword is an implement of war," said Shawn Stevens, who is a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians.
The Wisconsin-based community was pushed out of the Northeast by European colonists two hundred years ago, and has worked for decades to re-establish its ties to its long-lost homelands- including those in Western Massachusetts.
“I usually don't get too upset about mascots and things like that, unless they're very, very despicable," Stevens continued. "And this one, I can't stand by and say this one's not bad. It's bad. It's terrible.”
Detmold of ChangeTheMassFlag.com has been working with communities across Massachusetts since 2018 to organize citizen-lead calls for the commonwealth to act. In the Bay State, more than 80 of the 90-plus municipalities that have voted on changing the flag and seal have backed the move.
“So finally, in 2021 Governor [Charlie] Baker set up a special commission to study this, a bipartisan commission, and invited six Indigenous leaders to sit with historians, the Secretary of State's designees, and legislators to really look at the history of our flag and seal,” said Detmold.
In 2022, that body voted unanimously that the icons should be completely revised.
“In their final report of that special commission, in November of 2023, they said, this symbol is inflicting harm, it's causing harm today, and it is easily interpreted -- and I think this is a very mild statement -- as a celebration of the history of settler violence perpetrated against Indigenous populations,” Detmold told WAMC.
While an advisory commission appointed by Governor Maura Healey in 2025 deliberates over new designs, the ChangeTheMassFlag.com campaign grinds on.
The Southern Berkshire community of Sheffield and its 3,300-odd residents will vote on whether or not to back changing the flag and seal at its annual town meeting on May 4th.
Town resident Laura Grunfeld successfully collected enough signatures to get the question on the warrant.
“It was very apparent to me right away that this has to change," she said. "The hand holding a sword over the head of a Native American- It's not a good look for the state of Massachusetts, and the flag represents the people of the state of Massachusetts. And I just think that's a terrible way to do it.”
An informational meeting about the effort is being held this evening at Sheffield’s Bushnell Sage Library.
“I have spoken with a couple people who were concerned that, they thought having an Indigenous person on the flag was a good thing and honored Native Americans, but they didn't really look very carefully at the flag and what was happening with it, and where that imagery came from, and that it shows how disrespectful and dishonoring we are being to Indigenous people," Grunfeld told WAMC. "So, best case, I hope that people bring their questions, all kinds of questions, and get them answered, so that we can clear it all up and do the right thing for the state and get that flag changed.”
If Sheffield voters approve the measure, the town will join other Berkshire County communities like Great Barrington, Stockbridge, Lee, and Becket that have already passed resolutions calling on Massachusetts to change its flag and seal.
