Ossining village edges closer to replace Native American head seal

Ossining will no longer have a Native American head as its village seal, but its replacement is still undecided.

A year in the making, the switch follows a village board debate between upholding village tradition and tossing away a symbol that's been deemed antiquated and offensive to Native tribes.

During their Wednesday meeting, trustees appeared to favor some version of a design that encompasses part of the village's main street, the Hudson River, Hook Mountain, the Double Arch Bridge and an "O" for Ossining.

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An artist contracted for the project, Brian Sheridan, of Hothouse Design, will return with variations of that design at a future meeting before the change is completed.

The village board agreed last April that the Native American head should be removed, and trustees have since gone forward with a process to change it.

"I do not want to belittle the importance, because I have gotten many phone calls, the importance that history has for people," Mayor Rika Levin said at an April 14 meeting. "The attachment that . . . people who live in this community have to the thing that they believe is theirs and they're very rooted to."

As a trustee, Levin opposed a new seal – a design of the Double Arch Bridge and Tunnel – in December 2020, that was proposed by former mayor Victoria Gearity, because she said the process was rushed and lacked community input. Levin and two other trustees tabled the topic to 2021.

The call for a new seal comes at a time when entities around the country have grappled with retiring Native American mascots and symbols. Major League Baseball's Cleveland Guardians dropped their former mascot, the Indians, at the end of the 2021 baseball season. The Washington Football team tossed its former nickname, the Redskins, in 2020.

Ossining High School’s nickname for decades was the Indians, but the school system changed it during the early 2000s after a contentious battle. The school nickname today is the Pride.

Trustee Dana White said in April a new seal would be a "fresh start."

"Some might call this woke culture, but I call it just respecting people not ourselves," she said.

Other prospective village seal replacements included a few variations of the Double Arch Bridge, a hawk and variations of the letter "O." The new logo would be affixed to municipal buildings and vehicles, as well as village stationery.

Of the 533 people who participated in a 2021 survey, 60% chose the Double Arch Bridge for the new seal, 42% preferred the downtown, and 37% wanted the Hudson River, White said Wednesday. A majority of respondents also favored removing the Native American head.

Trustee Robert Fritsche said he didn't want the Double Arch Bridge as part of the village's symbol because it would be too closely associated with the town of Ossining.

"I think we should segregate ourselves from that," he said. "I don't want to be like the town, we are the village."

Trustee Omar Lopez, who voted in December 2020 to change the seal, said during the meeting he believes the Double Arch Bridge is the most iconic part of the village, even if the town already has it as its seal.

Lopez, in an interview prior to the meeting, said while picking a new logo shouldn't have taken this much time, he conceded the village has dealt with an array of priorities that were more time-sensitive.

Lopez noted a conversation in the village about the Native American seal began after the murder of George Floyd.

"Having people as mascots, particularly when those are groups of people that don't even make up people that currently live there just didn't feel right," Lopez said, adding. "We are in a new place in our village's history and we should have a seal that reflects where we are and where we are going."

David Propper covers Westchester County. Reach him at dpropper@lohud.com and follow him on Twitter: dg_props. Our local coverage is only possible with support from our readers.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Native American seal out in Ossining, but its replacement undecided