New York State Proposes Banning All Ethnic School Mascots

The New York State Education Department is doubling down on its ban on Native American-themed sports team names and mascots in public schools, in defiance of the federal government’s order to overturn the policy.

In response to federal accusations that the statewide mandate is itself discriminatory—by singling out teams bearing Native American-related names and imagery while allowing others to compete as “Dutchmen,” “Vikings,” and “Huguenots”—state officials on Thursday proposed extending the ban to all mascots connected to any race or ethnicity.

The proposal was made in a letter to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which last week gave New York 10 days to either rescind the Native American mascot ban or face the potential loss of federal funding.

In the letter, Counsel and Deputy Commissioner Daniel Morton-Bentley offered to resolve the alleged civil rights violation by prohibiting “all mascots that are derived from or connected to racial or ethnic groups used by schools and districts in the state of New York.”

“This presupposes that it is permissible to eradicate harmful stereotypes used as school mascots so long as the regulatory scope is sufficiently broad,” Morton-Bentley said.

New York education officials have given public school districts until the end of the 2024-2025 school year to replace “indigenous names, mascots and logos” unless they have “express consent of such peoples.” Dozens of schools have phased out Native American themes from their names and mascots.

A group of three Long Island school districts, spearheaded by Massapequa School District, sued the state in 2023 on First Amendment grounds, alleging that their uses of indigenous imagery are in honor of Native American peoples, as opposed to demeaning them. A federal judge dismissed the case in March, ruling that the districts failed to show that the school officials’ actions, carried out in their official capacity, qualify for First Amendment protection.

In April, President Donald Trump publicly sided with Massapequa and directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to intervene.

“I agree with the people in Massapequa, Long Island, who are fighting furiously to keep the Massapequa Chiefs logo on their teams and school,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

McMahon visited Massapequa High School on May 30 and declared that the state violated Title VI, the law prohibiting race-based discrimination in federally-funded education programs, when it tried to ban the school’s longtime “Chiefs” nickname and feathered headdress logo.

In addition to demanding that the policy be rescinded, McMahon called on the state to issue a formal apology to indigenous tribes for what she described as attempts to silence their voices and erase their culture.

In his letter, Morton-Bentley pushed back against the federal involvement, arguing that OCR was overstepping its role by revisiting an issue already dismissed in court.

“OCR is not a court of last resort for unsuccessful litigants,” he wrote.

The U.S. Department of Education didn’t respond to a request for comments.

Meanwhile, Massapequa’s use of the “Chiefs” name and logo has received the endorsement of the Native American Guardians Association (NAGA), a North Dakota-based group of enrolled tribal members and descendants promoting Native American cultural representation.

The organization praised the OCR’s stance in the New York mascot dispute.

“The preservation of Native themes in New York public schools is not only a matter of cultural dignity, but a fundamental civil right for all students,” the organization said in a statement to The Epoch Times. “The impact of this Indian removal extends beyond a name or logo as it impacts the spirit of a community and the future of cultural understanding.”