New York village of Whitesboro votes to keep racist seal depicting white man strangling Native American

Residents of the New York village of Whitesboro voted Monday to keep their town seal, which depicts a white man strangling a Native American, The New York Daily News reports. The seal dates back to the late 1800s and shows the town's founder, Hugh White, "subduing" a Native American man. The seal first came under scrutiny last summer following nationwide controversy over the confederate flag. Proposed replacements for Whitesboro's seal included a depiction of White and the Native American shaking hands.

While the ballot was not legally binding, 157 of the 212 votes cast supported keeping the seal; notably, in the most recent census, 99.5 percent of Whitesboro residents identified themselves as white.

"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," Whitesboro resident Scott Hastings told WKTV News. Speaking to the same station, voter Herb Lamach said, "We know the Indian and the white man wrestling together. We know they both appreciated it and enjoyed it. It was a good thing. So all of this other talk is just that, talk." The mayor of Whitesboro, Patrick O'Connor, has also reportedly called the emblem "a very accurate depiction of friendly wrestling matches that took place back in those days."

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Others don't exactly see it that way. "The first thought that anyone has of this image is, 'There's some white guy killing an Indian, strangling an Indian,' director of the Redhawk Native American Arts Council Cliff Matias said in July. "It's utterly ridiculous that a town would have pride in a symbol like that in this day and age."