Worcesteria: Of stolen campaign signs and torn down Pride flags

A political campaign in someone’s yard, a flag representing a social cause hanging off a building: They’re innocuous enough, but sometimes they have a way of getting under people’s skin. 

Perhaps it’s best if we start with something almost insignificant … a nuisance, really. Twitter and Facebook have been abuzz with reports that some of Mayor Joe Petty’s candidate signs have been stolen or ripped in half. Petty is in a race right now to replace state Sen. Harriette L. Chandler, who is not running for re-election in the 1st Worcester District. His opponent in the Democratic primary is Robyn K. Kennedy, an executive for YWCA of Central Mass. 

While at least one media source has alleged that 100 signs had been stolen or destroyed, Petty isn’t getting riled up about the matter.  

“You always lose signs,” says Petty, in a phone conversation. “Every election. We deliberated on putting them out, so we made the decision to put more signs up over the next month or so.” He added that his campaign team re-evaluate their effectiveness afterward, and decide how many more to put out.  

Do they work?    

“That’s the question everybody asks,” says Petty. “It shows commitment, I think, and good organization. It shows that a candidate’s serious.” That said, Petty doesn’t think they’re the be-all or end-all of a campaign. “Some people put up a lot of signs and don’t win elections. I believe a candidate wins because of the combination of everything they're doing.” 

Clearly, though, campaign signs – whether they be for Petty or Donald Trump – can touch a nerve with some people. Still, ultimately, they’re just campaign signs, so let’s look at something at least a little more serious: The curious case of the disappearing Pride flags on an Uxbridge bridge.  

“In an effort to observe the federally recognized pride month here in Uxbridge,” says Stephen Mandile, "we wanted to put up a display of flags to show our support in helping (the LGBTQ community) feel visible and supported in Uxbridge.” 

Mandile, a disabled veteran of the Iraq War who serves as a member of the Uxbridge Select Board, worked with other members of the group Uxbridge for Change to post the flags, including, according to Mandile, getting permission from the town manager’s office. According to Uxbridge for Change member Saige Frazier, a recent graduate of Uxbridge High School, the flags went up shortly after a community “Pride Picnic” on the Common, where – according to Mandile – many wrote personal messages on the flags. According to Frazier, they lasted about a week. 

“They were ripped down,” says Frazier. “We found them in the river, but we weren’t going to let that get in the way.” Frazier, who says she is a member of the LGBTQ community and will be attending Nichols College in the autumn, says that the intervals between putting up new flags and then having them be pulled down has gotten shorter and shorter. Uxbridge Police Chief Marc Montminy confirmed in a phone conversation that there have been two complaints about the flags being torn down, although he’s certain it’s happened more than that. Clearly, the flags are getting under someone’s skin. Montminy, for his part, discourages people from pulling down flags, saying, “Free speech is free to everyone. Not just people who agree with you.” 

But still, they’re only flags. Let’s step away from Uxbridge for a moment to a discussion I came across on Facebook, where two friends from my youth were discussing Worcester Bishop Robert McManus’ declaring that Nativity School couldn’t refer to itself as a Catholic School anymore because of its refusal to take down the Pride and Black Lives Matter flags it was flying. The discussion itself wasn’t surprising – the whole city was talking about the incident, after all – but the people conversing lived on the other side of the country, and have no real connections to Worcester at all. (One, deep into the discussion, wrote, “isn’t Woster where Victor lives?” The spelling tells you how removed from Worcester politics they are: An ostensibly local conflict resonated clear across the country, to people who had never set foot here.)  

Symbols are powerful. Campaign signs are symbols of a politician – and politics – that someone may love or hate. According to Mandile, the Pride flag, “represents people. It’s not just pretty colors that look nice. Those are people who for decades had to hide, and literally be in a closet, who now get to be seen. It’s about visibility: To be able to drive through a place, and now see that you’re welcome there.” 

Evidently, not welcome by everyone. Still, Frazier expressed a modicum of sympathy for people who feel threatened by the Pride flags, saying she understands their views on sexuality. “Seeing it face to face as you walk around town can be uncomfortable,” says Frazier. “It can feel like you're being threatened for some reason. I wouldn’t understand why someone would feel threatened, but I mean in today’s day and age there are a lot of things floating around that can be very polarizing. I don’t see anything disgusting or offensive to religion, but it can be scary for something to be put right in front of you.” 

Mandile still is disturbed by the vandalism. “It really bothers me,” he says. “I’m someone who survived war, survived addiction to opioids. I understand a little of the societal views, and having to fight other people’s opinions of who you are. Everyone deserves to love who they love.”