Village Board approves new ‘Skokie Spirit' village seal
The new seal, with elements of a red flame, the Potawatomi word Wabskoki and cattails in a stained glass window style will replace the village's current seal of an Indigenous man that some, including members of a village seal committee, saw as insensitive and not fairly representative of the Indigenous people native to present-day Skokie.
The approved seal differs slightly from the proposed variant unveiled to the public in October 2023. The new seal does not include the village's year of incorporation, has a different color flame and a different spelling for the Potawatomi word for marsh, Wabskoki, for which Skokie is named.
The committee found the former seal could be seen as an offensive and inaccurate depiction of the Indigenous people that lived in Skokie. A 2022 review of the village's former seal found that 'people are not meant to be mascots,' according to Jasmine Gurneau, the co-chair of the Village Seal Committee.
The seal committee hired Skokie artist Mary Fedorowski of Overbite Studio and Marne Smiley, the founder and CEO of Bumper Lanes, a Native American-owned marketing firm, to work with the committee to design the new seal.
'It's not really great for society to see characters of someone. It kind of implies that there's less respect for other folks that don't look like you,' Smiley said. She added that Potawatomi chiefs who lived in the Skokie area did not wear the type of headdresses depicted on the former seal.
The seal's flame has several meanings. The Potawatomi are known as the Keepers of the Fire, and The Council of Three Fires – Ojibwe (Chippewa), Odawa (Ottawa) and Potawatomi are indigenous to the Skokie area, according to Smiley.
The flame also represents a decades-long initiative to assuage many residents' feelings when the village was reeling from a neo-Nazi group's attempt to march in the village in 1977. The group targeted Skokie for its sizable Jewish population, which at the time also had a significant number of Holocaust survivors.
The neo-Nazi group ultimately marched in Marquette Park and the Loop, and were heavily outnumbered by counter protestors when they did.
With the prospect of a neo-Nazi march averted, individuals in Skokie sought to create a campaign to foster civic pride titled the 'Skokie Spirit.'
In the 1980's, a remodel of village hall created an opportunity to create and install a stained glass window facing Oakton Street. Joe Folise, a former village employee and artist, designed a stained glass window with a flame in homage to the Potawatomi and added the words 'Skokie Spirit' to it.
'The eternal flame shows that something has been around, that something important was there,' Folise said in a video uploaded to the village's website. 'I love that concept of Skokie Spirit. It's made up of individuals. It's people… past employees… past government officials… volunteers (and) people that wanted to add something to the community,' he said.
Additional details on the seal include cattails, an Indigenous plant native to the Skokie area and the intentional spelling of Wabskoki, which under the previous spelling was Wabskoke. According to the village's website, the spelling translates to marsh and 'reflects a place where medicine is produced.'
The added definition of medicine and healing then also pays homage to Illinois Science + Technology Park, the Skokie Hospital, the Illinois Holocaust Museum and 'a community that welcomes everyone and combats hate,' according to the village.
The village seal will not replace the village logo. In an email to Pioneer Press, Patrick Deignan, the village's communications and community engagement director, said, 'Village and City seals are typically used for authoritative and ceremonial uses, including proclamations; code and policies; legislation and legal documents; plaques, awards and recognitions; and permits, licenses and certificates.'
'The Village logo, a separate image, typically serves as the primary identifier for Village programs and services. The Village's current logo, which has been used since 2022, features the Skokie Village Hall cupola (dome), along with the words 'Village of Skokie.''
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