JACKSON, MI — An effort to change the city’s official seal is moving forward after the Jackson City Council asked an arts commission to begin public discussions for a new seal.
The council voted unanimously at its Tuesday, July 14 virtual meeting, to have the Jackson Public Arts Commission engage in a redesign of the seal that features former U.S. President Andrew Jackson waving his hat in the air while riding a rearing horse much like the Jackson Monument near the White House.
Jackson, the nation’s seventh president, is one of several historical figures for which criticism has come into public discussions of systemic racism and treatment of minorities in the U.S., sparked by the nationwide George Floyd protests in May and June.
Andrew Jackson’s history raises questions about Jackson’s official city seal
Some Jackson residents wonder if the former president’s representation in the city’s seal is appropriate based on Jackson being a slave owner and signer of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which led to the forced western relocation of multiple Native American tribes along the “Trail of Tears” from the southeastern U.S.
City Council directed the arts commission to get public input on a potential redesign. The commission will begin discussions at its 5:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday, July 21, city spokesman Aaron Dimick said.
Mayor Derek Dobies said he is open to having a different city logo and a city seal for more official documents like proclamations and ordinances. The city has used a new logo for its website, social media and other communications for about five years, Dimick has said.
The logo Jackson City Council picked to grace two raised water towers within the city in 2014.Courtesy of City of Jackson
Some have suggested the seal could depict an image that is more specifically about the city, such as an Oak tree to reference the historical site of the founding of the Republican Party in July 1854 or former Michigan Governor Austin Blair, a Jacksonian, Dobies said.
“I don’t have any particular affinity for a statue that exists in a different district,” he said, referring to the Jackson statue in Washington, D.C.
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Jackson moving forward with potential redesign of official city seal - MLive.com
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