Proponents of Salem's current city seal claim that local leaders have rushed the review process and have not given the public enough time to express their views. The reality is this process has already taken over two years. It was instigated by AAPI residents who have explained clearly why the seal is offensive to them. The review process has entailed multiple City Council and Racial Equity Commission meetings. A special task force established by City Council has recommended that the seal be changed. And hopefully Salem City Council will vote to change the seal in early September. During each step in this review process, the public has been invited to provide feedback. It is patently false to claim this process has been rushed. Below I document this review process in chronological order.
May 23, 2024, 5:30 PM
At the 2024 AAPI Flag Raising Ceremony, Salem resident Miyabe Shields and North Shore AAPI Coalition Assistant Director Flora TonThat both spoke openly about how offensive the current seal is to them personally and to their community.
May 23, 2024, 7 PM
Moved by the speeches he heard at the flag raising ceremony, Ward 7 Councillor Andrew Varela introduced Order 257 directly to the Council requesting that the Committee on Government Services (along with members of the Committee of the Whole) meet to discuss the current city seal. The Council adopted the order by unanimous vote. Councillor Varela also referred the matter to the Race Equity Commission.
June 20, 2024
The Racial Equity Commission (REC) began reviewing the city seal at its June 2024 meeting. Miyabe Shields submitted to the Commission their statement that she had read at the Salem AAPI Flag Raising the previous month, which REC Vice Chair Alphonse Wright read into the public record. During this meeting, Flora TonThat gave a presentation about the harmful impacts about the city seal.
Although a vote had not been taken, every member present acknowledged that the current seal is harmful and should be changed. They discussed the process for changing the seal at a high level, and concurred that a rigorous public input process was necessary to ensure that the new seal causes no unintentional harm. They agreed to discuss the matter further at the next meeting, and encouraged residents to share their thoughts about the current seal before then.
August 1, 2024
The REC received no public comments advocating for keeping current seal. The commission voted unanimously in favor of changing the seal and sent its recommendation to City Council.
September 12, 2024
Salem City Council considered Order 428 submitted by Mayor Pangallo that would establish a Task Force to "engage in research, community conversations, and design and historical review for the purposes of evaluating the City of Salem City Seal and developing recommendations for potential modifications to said Seal."
The order stipulated that the Task Force be comprised of 11 members that would be nominated by the Mayor and confirmed by City Council. It needed to include:
- five Salem residents at least two of whom are members of the AAPI community and one of whom is under the age of 18;
- two credentialed historians;
- a designee of the Race Equity Commission selected by that Commission’s membership;
- a designee of the City Council selected by that Council’s membership;
- a member of the Public Art Commission selected by that Commission’s membership;
- and a designee of the Mayor.
During his remarks, Ward 7 Councillor Andrew Varela emphasized that this discussion was initiated by residents of Salem and not by city leaders. He also indicated that it would be beneficial for the city to investigate the impact the current seal has on Salem's AAPI community. He noted that this community was non-existent in the 1800s when the current seal was adopted.
Councillors referred the order to the Committee on Government Services after a roll call vote of 10 yeas, 0 nays, 1 present and 0 absent. Then Ward 5 Councillor Jeff Cohen was recorded as present.
September 17th, 2024
The Committee on Government Services met to consider the Mayor's order for establishing a task force. Councillor at Large Conrad Prosniewski was absent from this meeting.
Additional meeting attendees included: Councillor Cohen and Councillor at Large Ty Hapworth (from the Committee of the Whole), DEI Director Regina Zaragoza Frey and Lisa Peterson, Chief of Staff for the Mayor. At this meeting, the committee voted to return a slightly amended version of the order for a full Council vote. During public comment at this meeting residents spoke in favor of creating a task force and changing the seal. One resident was opposed to changing the seal.
During the meeting, Salem DEI Director Regina Zaragoza Frey recommended redesigning the seal:
"I think it's crucial to remember our history, but we also must view it through a critical lens. Throughout American history we have often perpetuated violence and oppression against historically underrepresented and systematically excluded communities so by changing the seal we are taking a stance for equity and amplifying the voices of those most negatively impacted by the seal, particularly members of the AAPI community. This change is about acknowledging and rectifying the harm while leading our city to a more inclusive future."
Committee members amended the order to add the City Clerk (or their designee) to the Task Force. By a 4-0 vote, they approved the motion to recommend the passage of the amended order by the full Council.
September 26, 2024
The full Council adopted the amended Order with an 8-3 vote. Councillors opposed to the creation of the task force were: Cindy Jerzylo (Ward 1), Conrad Prosniewski, and John Harvey (Ward 4).
September 30, 2024
Mayor Pangallo approved the amended order adopted by the City Council.
January 9, 2025
Mayor Pangallo appointed the following members to the task force: Aditi Ahlawat, Suzanne Barnes, Pui Chi Wong, R. Michael Feener, Vijay Joyce, Rachel TonThat.
Additional task force members were: DEI Director Regina Zaragoza Frey, Race Equity Commission representative Dakota Russell*, Salem Arts Commission Appointee Norene Gachignard, and City Clerk Ilene Simons. There was no youth member on the task force.
*Alphonse Wright was initially the designated REC representative on the task force but he was replaced by Russell in late June.
January 23, 2025
Salem City Council confirmed the Mayor's appointments to the City Seal Task Force with a term that was set to expire on January 8, 2027. Ward 5 Councillor Jeff Cohen recused himself on the matter to confirm Rachel Tonthat to the City Seal Task Force. Rachel Tonthat was confirmed by a roll call vote of 10 yeas, 0 nays, and 1 absent. The remaining appointees were confirmed by a roll call vote of 11 yeas and 0 nays.
March-October, 2025
During this period, the City Seal Task Force convened for 17 public meetings, hosted three public listening sessions and considered written feedback from residents, civic groups, and organizations across Massachusetts and globally. More than 400 comments were submitted through online forms. The listening sessions drew over 40 speakers, including Salem residents and individuals from Indonesia.
The Task Force also received letters of support for changing the seal from several civil rights organizations, including:
- Asian Pacific Islanders Civic Action Network Massachusetts
- Latino Leadership Coalition
- Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag
- Massachusetts Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Commission,
- NAACP North Shore Branch and
- North Shore Alliance for LGBTQ+ Youth (NAGLY).
October 23, 2025
The City Seal Task Force voted 5 to 1 to recommend changing the current seal. The meeting can be viewed here using q^C2V&R& as the passcode.
November 2025
On November 10th, the City Seal Task Force submitted its final report to City Council. Endnotes to the report were submitted on November 18th.
December 4, 2025
At their final meeting for the year, the City Council accepted the report from the Salem City Seal Task Force. Rule 29B was suspended to permit the matter to carry over to next year. The matter was referred to next year's Committee of the Whole.
August 4, 2026
The Committee of the Whole met to consider whether to approve the City of Salem City Seal Task Force's recommendation to replace the current seal with imagery that is not hurtful to the local Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.
In a 7-2 vote, the committee agreed with this recommendation. Councillor at Large Ty Hapworth and Ward 3 Councillor Jason Sydoriak were the dissenting votes. Councillor at Large Conrad Prosniewski and Ward 4 Councillor Timothy Flynn were absent.
The Committee of the Whole meeting that was scheduled for August 25th to continue discussions about the City Seal Task Force report was cancelled.
Next Steps
We are still awaiting the date for the City Council meeting at which the City Seal Task Force's recommendations will be voted upon. It will likely occur at the September 10th meeting, but agendas have not yet been published for September's City Council meetings.
Even if City Council votes to change the seal in September, it will be at least another year–likely much longer–before Salem has a new official seal. At the August 4th Committee of the Whole meeting, Ward 7 Councillor Andrew Varela indicated that the next step will be submit an order that creates an ad hoc committee that determines the process for redesigning and deploying the new seal. This committee will consist of the City Clerk, City Solicitor and some City Councillors.
Once a plan is agreed upon, the City Council will likely establish another task force whose mandate is to solicit and evaluate designs for the new seal. The public will no doubt have multiple opportunities to provide feedback throughout this process.
Even after this task force agrees upon a new seal, City Council still needs to approve it. In order for the City to replace the seal, City Council must repeal the ordinance that defines the current seal and replace it with an ordinance that designates the new seal.
Special Election Petition
Seal proponents are also currently gathering signatures for a special election to decide the seal's fate. (It's funny how they are unconcerned about the cost of a special election yet they often complain that changing the seal will be too costly for the city.)
I am sickened by this push for a special election, especially since it is being driven largely by white residents. Civil rights and racial justice issues should never be decided by a popular vote. The sad reality is that progress in this country has generally been the result of unpopular decisions made by principled Supreme Court Justices or political leaders. Samir Junejo, the Director of Policy & Strategy for the City of Seattle, wrote the following about the harmful impact ballot measures can have on the rights of minority populations:
"No question exists that voters have used the (ballot) initiative process to make substantial changes in the law, including legalizing recreational marijuana, legalizing physician-assisted suicide, and making major changes in the administration of primary elections. But the initiative process, which is democracy at its most pure, can be and has been used by society to impose its will upon minority populations who simply cannot bring together enough votes to have an impact."
Only 3.5% of Salem residents are members of the AAPI community according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In contrast, approximately 66% of Salem residents identify as solely white without Hispanic or Latino ethnicity. The decision of whether to change our seal absolutely should not be decided at the ballot box.