The U.S. Department of Education said on Friday that it will look into whether education officials in New York are engaging in discriminatory practices by threatening to withhold funding from a school district on Long Island if they don’t stop using a logo with a Native American theme.
The Native American Guardian’s Association, a nonprofit organization that promotes “the beautiful artistry of native identifiers in sports and the mainstream,” according to its website, filed a complaint that prompted the agency’s civil rights office to launch an investigation.
The group claims that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act is being violated by the financial threat.
A few days prior, President Donald Trump intervened in a local dispute over the Massapequa school district’s long-standing “Chief” emblem, calling it “ridiculous” and “an affront to our great Indian population.” He then ordered the Long Island district to alter the image. This probe was also announced.
Trump claimed to have instructed his education secretary to “fight for the people of Massapequa on this very important issue” in his Truth Social post. The Department of Education mentioned the appointment in its announcement on Friday.
“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,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon stated.
The state has singled out Native American history and not mascots associated with other groups, McMahon said, and he accused New York officials of choosing to “prioritize erasing Native Americans, their rich history, and their deep connection the state.” She bases her claim on instances from “the Vikings, Fighting Irish, (and) the Cowboys.”
“We will investigate this matter fully,” she stated.
New York State Education Department spokesperson JP O’Hare stated in an email Friday night that the department was not yet aware of any inquiry.
“However, the U.S. Department of Education’s attempt to interfere with a state law concerning school district mascots is inconsistent with Secretary McMahon’s March 20, 2025 statement that she is ‘sending education back to the states where it so rightly belongs,’” he stated.
He added that the state had urged the district to confer with local Indigenous representatives, stating that Massapequa had already filed and lost a lawsuit over this matter.
The state’s Board of Regents in April 2023 adopted regulations “to end the demeaning Indigenous names and mascots in New York’s public schools,” according to an earlier statement from O’Hare, who also noted that “certain Native American names and images have been shown to perpetuate negative stereotypes that are demonstrably harmful to children.”
“Disrespecting entire groups of people is wrong in any context, but especially in our schools, where all students should feel welcome and supported,” he stated.
Additionally, “the preservation of 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,” according to a statement from Frank Blackcloud, vice president of the Native American Guardian’s Association, based in North Dakota.
The Massapequa Board of Education’s president, Kerry Wachter, expressed gratitude to the Trump administration for “standing with Massapequa in our effort to preserve the Chiefs name and honor our community’s proud history.”
“It is ironic that a town that has a history of killing the local Indigenous population should now claim as a tradition a fake image of those very same people,” said Harry Wallace, chief of the state-recognized Unkechaug Indian Nation, which owns a reservation on Long Island.
