MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. (AP) — New York is discriminating against a school district that refuses to get rid of its Native American chief mascot and could face a Justice Department investigation or risk losing federal funding, President Donald Trump’s top education official said Friday.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, on a visit to Massapequa High School on Long Island, said an investigation by her agency has determined that state education officials violated Title VI of the federal civil rights law by banning the use of Native American mascots and logos statewide.
The department’s civil rights office found the state ban is discriminatory because names and mascots derived from other racial or ethnic groups, such as the “Dutchmen” and the “Huguenots,” are still permitted.
McMahon described Massapequa’s chiefs mascot as an “incredible” representation of Native American leadership as she made the announcement backed by dozens of students and local officials in the high school gymnasium.
“The Trump Administration will not stand idly by as state leaders attempt to eliminate the history and culture of Native American tribes,” the former longtime CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment said.
McMahon said her department will be asking the state to voluntarily sign a resolution rescinding its Native American mascot ban and allowing districts to continue using the mascot of their choosing.
The resolution would also include an apology to tribes, acknowledging that the state discriminated against Native Americans and “attempted to erase Native American history,” the department said.
JP O’Hare, a spokesperson for the New York education department, dismissed McMahon’s visit as “political theater” that disrupted students’ class time.
He also said Massapequa is doing a “grave disservice” to its students by ignoring facts and refusing to consult with local tribes about their concerns over the mascot.
“These representatives will tell them, as they have told us, that certain Native American names and images perpetuate negative stereotypes and are demonstrably harmful to children,” O’Hare said in a statement. “If we truly wish to honor our Native American people, we will teach our students the true history of the area’s Indigenous people and how they advanced our civilization – rather than perpetuating outdated and disproven myths.”
Trump ordered the federal education department, which he has moved to dismantle, to launch an inquiry into the dispute last month. The move has made the coastal suburb an unlikely flashpoint in the enduring debate over the place of Indigenous imagery in American sports.
Massapequa, which is about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Manhattan, has for years fought a state mandate to retire Native American sports names and mascots.
But its lawsuit challenging the state’s 2023 ban on constitutional grounds was dismissed by a federal judge earlier this year.
State education officials, who have been trying to remove offending mascots and team names for more than two decades, gave districts until the end of this school year to commit to replacing them or risk losing education funding.
Schools could be exempt from the mandate if they gained approval from a local Native American tribe, but Massapequa never sought such permission, state officials have said.
Residents who support keeping the mascot have argued the image has been a part of the community’s identity for generations and is meant to honor its Native American past.
The town is named after the Massapequa, who were part of the broader Lenape, or Delaware, people who inhabited the woodlands of the Northeastern U.S. and Canada for thousands of years before being decimated by European colonization.
But indigenous residents on Long Island and elsewhere in New York have called Massapequa’s mascot problematic as it depicts a Native American man wearing a headdress that was typically worn by tribes in the American Midwest, but not in the Northeast.
The cheery mascot also obscures Massapequa’s legacy of violence against Native Americans, which includes the site of a massacre in which scores of Native men, women and children were killed by Europeans in the 1600s, Native American activists have said.
Massapequa, which is roughly 90% white, has long been a conservative bastion popular with New York City police and firefighters.
Trump visited the town last year to attend the wake of a New York City police officer and has made frequent visits to Long Island as it has shifted Republican.
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld, Hollywood’s Baldwin brothers and the Long Island’s alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer are also among Massapequa High’s notable alums.
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Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.
