Massachusetts sued over state seal

Indians are still protesting the Massachusetts state seal. Here's the latest:

Suit a seal of disapproval for Bay State’s emblem

By Christine McConvilleA Cambridge activist who says he’s sick and tired of living in a state whose official seal depicts a sword hanging over a Native American’s head has launched the most aggressive effort to date to force the Bay State to redo the 132-year-old image—but Indians and other advocates are distancing themselves from his audacious $24 million lawsuit.

“It’s unfair to the native peoples,” Daniel DeGuglielmo said about the Great Seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He wants a judge to force the state to stop using the seal on its flags, buildings and papers.

A Suffolk Superior Court judge on Jan. 5 dismissed his request for a temporary restraining order to force the state to remove the seal, and the flag that displays it, after the Attorney General’s Office successfully argued that DeGuglielmo failed to show he’s been significantly harmed by it.

But the judge hasn’t dismissed the lawsuit.Comment:  I agree that Massachusetts should change its stereotypical state seal. But this lawsuit isn't the way to do it. It's bound to fail for several reasons, especially the issue of harm.

True, each stereotype hurts a little bit. But the seal isn't even a direct slur against Indians. It's only a vaguely implied threat.

I'd love to see DeGuglielmo prove the harm of that. With hard evidence, not a couple of Indians saying the seal "upset" them. I've got a large sum of money that says he can't do it.

In short, this lawsuit is frivolous. Try again with some other form of protest, DeGuglielmo.

For more on the subject, see Massachusetts Towns with Bad Seals.