Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Friday that New York state is discriminating against a Long Island school district because it refuses to comply with an order to retire its Native American mascot.
While visiting Massapequa High School, McMahon said an investigation revealed that state education officials are in violation of federal civil rights law, according to the Independent.
She said her department will ask state officials to sign a resolution that apologizes to Massapequa and allows it and other districts in the state to continue using their preferred mascot.
If the state refuses to sign, McMahon said the case may be turned over to the Department of Justice.
"That's how serious we are," McMahon said.
President Donald Trump's top education official reportedly made her remarks in Massapequa's gymnasium after touring the school.
Last month, Trump ordered the Department of Education to investigate the long-running dispute over the mascot, and the coastal suburb has since become a flash point in the broader national debate about the use of Native American imagery in U.S. sports.
State education officials have reportedly been attempting to discontinue what they deem offensive sports team names and mascots for more than 20 years. According to the Independent, they set a deadline for the end of the 2024-2025 school year to commit to retiring them or face a loss of funding.
Schools could receive an exemption from the mandate if they received approval from a local Native American tribe, but Massapequa has sought no such permission, according to state officials.
Those in the community who support keeping the mascot say the image has been a part of Massapequa identity for generations and is intended to honor the area's past Native American inhabitants.
The school is named for the Massapequa, a Native American group that was part of the Lenape people who lived in the northeastern U.S. and Canada until they were decimated by the effects of European colonization.
In his Truth Social post calling for a federal inquiry, Trump challenged the reasoning behind making the school change its name and mascot.
"I agree with the people in Massapequa, Long Island, who are fighting furiously to keep the Massapequa Chiefs logo on their Teams and School," the president wrote. "Forcing them to change the name, after all of these years, is ridiculous and, in actuality, an affront to our great Indian population.
"The School Board, and virtually everyone in the area, are demanding the name be kept. It has become the School's identity and, what could be wrong with using the name, 'Chief'? I don't see the Kansas City Chiefs changing their name anytime soon!"
Residents who are looking to do away with the mascot say it is not historically accurate because it depicts a Native American man wearing a headdress that was more typical of Midwestern tribes than Northeastern ones.
The Independent reported that Native American activists also object to the mascot because it obscures Massapequa's legacy of violence against Indigenous peoples, including a massacre in the 1600s.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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