In my experience, people that say things like this tend to mean “I believe in some sort of otherworldly voodoo nonsense, but nothing that fits into a particular organized religion”
As for the seal in question - at first glance, it does indeed look like the Native American is being strangled. But if you look at it for more than 2 seconds you can see that the hands are on the shoulders. I still don’t really see wrestling, it definitely looks like some sort of assault is going on (the old seal better depicts “wrestling”, I think)… But I always look at it this way: if you’re offending Native Americans with it, no amount of whitesplaining is going to make it any better. Change the damn seal.
Thanks, but the symbolism of symbols can overtake their origins. Do you also run around the net explaining that Indian mascots actually “honor” the people they represent?
NOO! It’s worsener than I previously thought. It’s fairly obvious this is some kind of TANGO! A base attack on the indigenous dancing practices by some sexy southern sophisticates. Damn you thrice Piazzolla and your melancholic yet complex musical creations.
Still, it gets points for portraying a male-male couple.
Which explains the town song: Hugh So White, you started a town called Whitesboro. Hugh So White, you wrestle Indians to the ground. Hugh So White, the police never even stop you. Hugh So White, you’re the whitest guy around!
Jesus Christ! That episode was the first thing that came to mind. I thought that South Park usually was totally over the top, and that that episode only referred to South Carolina’s continued use of the Confederate flag. I never imagined that anyone would still use as blatant symbols as that today.
I agree that the town seal is pretty stupid looking, whatever it’s supposed to represent. To me, the position of the legs indicates they were doing what we as kids (in the 1950s) used to call “Indian wrestling.” Two kids would stand so that each would have the inside of his right foot positioned against the inside of the other kid’s right foot. Then they would grab each other by the shoulders and try by pushing and pulling to unbalance the other kid enough so that he would have to move that foot. You could move every other part of your body, but if you moved your right foot you lost.
Kind of like sumo wrestling, but a lot less violent.
Lest anyone think the name itself had racist origins (and I see by the comments here that many have immediately done so), the place was named “Whitesboro” after the first permanent settlement there founded by Hugh White and 14 other members of his family on the banks of Sauquoit Creek in 1784-85. Hugh White was quite popular among the local Oneida People, who adopted him into their tribe.
According to an 1885 publication of the Transactions of the Oneida Historical Society, when the town was incorporated under that name in 1813 the engraving of the seal was supposed to represent a friendly wrestling match that was said to have taken place between Hugh White and an Oneida chief.
Since there was never any animosity between Hugh White and the Oneida people, and in fact they had adopted him into their tribe, the Oneida people of that time would no doubt have been quite surprised to learn that some 230 years later both the name of the town and the depiction of the wrestling match would be used as evidence of the town’s racism against them.
