Update: Cancel Culture in California. Father Junipero Serra, the Latest Target.

New Ventura County Seal

Last November I wrote about the Ventura County Board of Supervisors' subcommittee tasked with redesigning its county seal (cancel-culture-in-california-father-junipero-serra-the-latest-target.html). The current seal included an image of the Mission San Buenaventura and its controversial founder, Father Junípero Serra. A faction within the community favored the removal of these images since, in their view, they represent symbols of oppression of the native peoples.

On May 24th the Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a new county seal which did not include the images of Father Serra or the local mission, https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/2022/05/25/new-ventura-county-seal-features-channel-island-no-mission/9857829002/
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Interestingly, the new seal doesn’t depict images of the original inhabitants to the area or any other images on the previous seal. The removal of the controversial images seemed to have been a foregone conclusion from the start.

There was no clear consensus within the subcommittee or among the public about the county seal’s redesign. The new county seal shows an image of the Channel Islands along the coast of Ventura County. It appears that the County Board of Supervisors took the easy way out and adopted a new seal which wouldn’t offend anyone. This won’t end the controversy surrounding Father Junípero Serra or the Spanish Mission system in Ventura County. They are important features of California history and should not be erased. We need to own our history, for better or worse, learn from it, and bring in the perspectives of all those impacted by it.  

Old Ventura County Seal

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Armchair American