Trump admin: NYS Native American school mascot ban violated federal civil rights law

The state's ban on Native American imagery in public schools violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said during a press conference at Massapequa High School on Friday.

The state can choose to accept the findings, or the matter could be sent to the U.S. Department of Justice, McMahon said. Penalties could include a loss of federal funding, according to a news release from the U.S. Education Department.

The state Board of Regents in 2023 banned the use of Native American mascots, team names and logos in public schools. The regulation affected 13 districts on Long Island, including Massapequa; nine have taken steps to retire their mascots and names. The state has said school districts that do not comply with the ban by June 30 risk losing state aid or facing the removal of school officers.

The federal education department launched a probe in April to determine if the state's threat of withholding funds from the Massapequa district, which has a Native American mascot and goes by the nickname "Chiefs," violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The department initiated the investigation after President Donald Trump publicly expressed support for the district.

"I think you have to treat everybody equally, and this is a racist environment, where we are saying that this emblem or mascot has to be removed," McMahon said, speaking from the Massapequa High School gym.

But the New York State Education Department shot back forcefully Friday, calling the federal action a “sham” and a stunt of “political theater.”

“On March 20, 2025, Secretary McMahon emphatically declared that she was ‘sending education back to the states where it so rightly belongs.’ It is therefore shocking, but not at all surprising, to see the secretary completely reverse course by inserting herself and the federal government into this local matter,” J.P. O’Hare, state education communications director, said in a statement. “Equally troubling is the fact that a U.S. Secretary of Education would take time out of her schedule to disrupt student learning in the name of political theater.”

Further, New York officials said they sent a 4,500-word response to federal officials on May 12, after the investigation was announced — and received no response before Friday’s event or details of any “substantive investigation,” which they say shows this “effort has always been a sham.”

A federal judge in March ruled against Massapequa and three other Long Island districts — Connetquot, Wyandanch and Wantagh — that had sought to either keep their names or nullify the state regulation, Newsday has reported.

The Massapequa school district filed an amended complaint last week in its ongoing challenge to the ban.

Massapequa school board President Kerry Wachter said at Friday’s news conference that the district has had to divert time and energy away from focusing on “rigorous academics, robust CTE programs, award-winning arts and music, championship athletics and true civic education” to defend its name and heritage.

“We know others gave up and others chose the easier path, but we chose to fight. And we chose what was right because being a Massapequa Chief isn’t a slogan, it’s a standard,” she said on Friday. “It means being a leader and embodying bravery, strength, honor and truth.”

McMahon was also joined by Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who expressed support for Massapequa's fight.

"We don't want the Board of Regents and Gov. Hochul dictating how local government, how local schools, should be teaching their children and educating their children," he said. "We want local control to continue."

Title VI violation alleged

The federal education department's Office for Civil Rights found that "the Board of Regents implemented a statewide prohibition on names, mascots or logos based on Native American race and national origin, but allowed names, mascots and logos that appear to have been derived from other racial or ethnic groups, such as the 'Dutchmen' and the 'Huguenots.' Accordingly, OCR determined that the Board’s policy was discriminatory, and therefore violating Title VI," the agency said in a release Friday.

Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in programs receiving federal financial assistance.

McMahon announced a proposed agreement that would require the state education department to rescind the mascot ban regulation; issue a memorandum informing schools that they may adopt a name, mascot and logo consistent with Title VI; and issue letters of apology to Native American tribes. If the state fails to do so, it risks "possible referral to the U.S. Department of Justice for enforcement proceedings," the federal agency said in a release.

O'Hare said the state education department would "respond to the U.S. Department of Education in due course."

The federal education department does hold financial leverage over its state counterpart and can use it, said Vincent Bonventre, an Albany Law School professor who studies state and federal courts.

“The feds can say, ‘If you violate federal law or cannot follow federal law, we can withdraw or rescind funding.' They can do that on all types of matters,” Bonventre told Newsday. “Then you end up fighting it in the courts.”

But he added that he thinks the federal claim in this matter is “just a lot of nonsense.”

“New York State is preventing mascots and nicknames that are pejorative of Native Americans, that are mocking Native Americans,” Bonventre said. “And the examples (the federal department) gives — Dutchmen, Huguenots — I don’t know that those people are complaining. But (Native American) people are complaining.”

Protest and support

While local Native American leaders have expressed support for the state's mascot ban, Massapequa school officials said last week that they had entered into a partnership with the Native American Guardian's Association, which describes itself as a group of American Indian-enrolled members and tribal descendants who support "Native identifiers in sports and the mainstream."

Members of the organization were in attendance at Friday's news conference.

"The removal of such historically significant names and imagery, often under the guise of offensiveness, is not only an affront to the heritage of the Massapequa community, but also serves to erase positive and visible presence of American Indian Culture," said the group's vice president, Frank Blackcloud.

But Sandi Brewster-walker, executive director and government affairs officer for the Montaukett Indian Nation, said the Massapequa mascot perpetuates offensive and inaccurate depictions of local Native Americans.

Brewster-walker was among about two dozen protesters who gathered outside the high school during McMahon's visit. 

She said in an interview that the district’s mascot is “a stereotype” that actually depicts a member of a tribe located west of the Mississippi River.

“It’s not an honor -- how can that be an honor when it’s clip art?” said Brewster-walker, a former social studies teacher who wore traditional Native American jewelry to the protest, including a blue and black Pequot medallion on a cord around her neck.

Nancy Winkler, 66, a retired school counselor who lives in North Babylon, joined Brewster-walker and other protesters Friday.

“When a school discovers that a mascot is offensive to a group of people, they should take that to heart and do the right thing and find a mascot that doesn’t denigrate other people,” she said.

A few yards away, several Trump supporters gathered, with one holding a large Trump 2024 flag and another holding an American flag. Two large pickup trucks festooned with pro-Trump slogans and bearing American flags sat in a parking lot along with a third vehicle, a Jeep occupied by a man wearing a jacket with an American flag on it. 

Among the pro-Trump group was Vincent Franco, 65, a general contractor who lives in Amityville.

Franco said he was there to express his support for the high school keeping its mascot. He said he believes Native Americans “don’t have any problems with anybody’s logos.”

McMahon also toured Massapequa High School during her visit. During her speech, McMahon said she visited the school's courtroom, woodshop and the wrestling room. 

With Yancey Roy and Andrew Ehinger