New York’s federal face off over native imagery in school
ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — New York’s ban on Native American mascots violates federal civil rights law, according to a formal finding released by the U.S. Department of Education last week. But even though Education Secretary Linda McMahon ordered the state to reverse the ban, education officials rejected their findings on Thursday, calling their reasoning legally flawed and inconsistent.
McMahon delivered the findings during a visit to Massapequa High School on Long Island , home of the “Chiefs,” on May 30. She said her Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights concluded that the New York State Education Department and Board of Regents violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, banning race-based discrimination in federally funded education programs. OCR said the state singled out Native American culture for removal while greenlighting other racial or ethnic mascots like “Dutchmen,” “Fighting Irish,” or “Huguenots.”
“Rather than focus on learning outcomes,” McMahon said, “the New York Department of Education and Board of Regents has set its sights on erasing Massapequa’s history.”
That unequal application of the ban—targeting Native mascots while allowing others—represents discrimination, federal officials said. That’s why the state will lose federal funding unless it rescinds the policy requiring public schools to retire Indigenous names, logos, and imagery by June 30. On May 30, the feds gave the state 10 days to comply or face referral to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“The U.S. Department of Education will not stand by as the state of New York attempts to rewrite history and deny the town of Massapequa the right to celebrate its heritage in its schools,” McMahon said in Massapequa, also on May 30. She added that her department “will stand with the people of Massapequa until common sense is restored and justice is served.”
Massapequa School Board President Kerry Wachter welcomed McMahon’s visit and praised the federal findings. “We thank the Department of Education and the Trump Administration for standing with Massapequa,” she said. “Attempts to erase Native American imagery do not advance learning.”
The OCR’s proposed resolution requires the state to withdraw its mascot ban, send new guidance to all school districts, and issue apology letters to Indigenous tribes. But according to New York State Education Department Counsel and Deputy Commissioner Daniel Morton-Bentley, a federal court already upheld the policy, ruling in favor of the state’s “substantial public interest” in schools free from discrimination and stereotypes.
NYSED also criticized the OCR for contradicting itself. “On the one hand,” Morton-Bentley wrote in a letter to the office, OCR claimed the mascot ban discriminated against Native Americans. “On the other hand,” the office implied that the ban would be OK were the state to outlaw other racial and ethnic mascots.
The ban comes from a 2022 order for public schools to eliminate Indigenous mascots, names, and logos by June 30, 2025 or lose state funding, with exceptions depending on local tribal approval. Most districts already phased out their mascots , though a handful, including Massapequa, resisted.
Morton-Bentley pointed to a March 27 ruling from U.S. District Judge Margo Brodie, who dismissed a lawsuit filed by Massapequa and three other districts. She found that schools lacked standing and agreed with the state’s interest in protecting students from discrimination. He added that OCR ignored a similar law in Colorado, where a judge rejected a similar legal challenge from the Native American Guardians Association.
The Board of Regents had approved the mascot rule in April 2023 after years of appeals from tribal leaders, civil rights groups, and educators. The regulation in question—Part 123 of the Commissioner’s regulations—centers on Indigenous mascots only. According to the state, that narrow focus is legally sound.
According to NYSED, the regulation only covers imagery related to Indigenous people because research shows those depictions most often perpetuate the most damaging stereotypes while undercutting student safety. The state cited a previous ruling from Education Commissioner Betty Rosa wherein a district using the name “Indians” published a “Lil’ Indians” newspaper and let staff wear feathered headdresses. That use, the state concluded, “inhibits the creation of a safe and supportive environment.”
“State legislative reform by way of classification is not to be invalidated merely because the legislature moves one step at a time,” Morton-Bentley wrote. Either way, he suggested that the state could expand the rule to cover all such mascots to resolve the dispute.
Still, some Indigenous people, like NAGA vice president Frank Blackcloud, dislike the policy. “Preserving Native themes and imagery in New York public schools is not only a matter of cultural dignity but a fundamental civil right for all students,” he said in a statement released by OCR in April, when they began investigating. “Maintaining a respectable presence in NY State schools is vital to educational equity, historical truth, and the civil rights of all American Indians.”
OCR’s probe came in response to a NAGA complaint over the requirement that Massapequa High School, like all others in the state, drop its controversial “Chiefs” mascot. But the state maintained that eliminating mascots meets civil rights law requirements. “Stigmatizing students who belong to particular racial groups based on crude racial stereotypes” is exactly the sort of discrimination Title VI is supposed to prevent, Morton-Bentley said.
Take a look at the letter from NYSED to OCR below:
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