WENDELL — The people walking across Massachusetts to demand the state change its flag and seal will have a place to lay their heads and camp when they enter Wendell on Sunday.
Jonathan von Ranson is making his property available as an overnight location for the marchers, who are expected to range in number from six to 20.
“I’m partial toward their purpose,” he said.
The Walk for a New Dawn departed from Williamstown, which touches the New York state line, on July 24 to begin a trek to the state capital, with plans to arrive at Boston Common and the State House no later than Aug. 13.
Calls have steadily increased in recent years to alter the state flag and seal. The seal portrays an Indigenous person on a shield. The crest above it, which is also the state’s military crest, features an arm holding a sword. The motto is roughly translated from Latin as “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.”
According to Massachusetts Peace Action, walkers will travel in the spirit of nonviolence, carrying banners, signs and literature urging the state flag and seal to be changed. Supporters are encouraged to bring letters to Gov. Maura Healey expressing their desire for change. The letters will be collected along the route and hand-delivered to the governor.
Walkers are expected to arrive in Turners Falls in time to join the 13th annual Pocumtuck Homelands Festival, an annual event organized by the Nolumbeka Project that honors the living culture, art and history of regional Indigenous nations on Saturday, Aug. 1, and Sunday, Aug. 2.
“I’ve been aghast at how Natives have been treated since the time the colonialists arrived,” von Ranson said.
He mentioned he was approached about offering his property by longtime friend David Detmold, a Montague resident who is participating in the walk.
“I was glad to say yes,” von Ranson said.
Detmold mentioned von Ranson’s offer at the Wendell Selectboard meeting on Wednesday, two weeks after he and Wendell resident Laurel Facey broached the subject of possibly using the town common as an overnight campsite. This will likely now be unnecessary.
At the Selectboard meeting on July 15, Facey mentioned she is a member of the Wendell State Forest Alliance, which she said voted to support the effort to change the flag and seal.
“And the reason is we have had a disgraceful history of treating Native peoples disrespectfully,” she said.
Greenfield resident Dorothea Melnicoff is also participating in the walk. She described the participants as “a group … dedicated to amplifying the voices of our Indigenous community to push for steps toward reconciliation and reparations.”
“We understand at our core that we walk on the grounds of great Indigenous ancestors that continue to call the commonwealth home,” she wrote in an email.
Melnicoff described how she had “walked a few miles down the steep graded hill toward Williamstown, and later from Ashfield to Shelburne,” with Greenfield coming up. While walking, she said she has been thinking about the Indigenous people who lived here.
“These paths shaped by hills and alongside rivers may very well have been where they walked,” she wrote.
The walk itinerary, which is subject to change, is available at tinyurl.com/MassWalkRoute. A registration form can be completed at tinyurl.com/WalkForANewDawn.
