The Education Department has jumped into New York's effort to eliminate the use of Native American-themed names and mascots by the state's high schools—in opposition. More than two years after New York's Education Department told schools they risk losing funding if they keep tribal mascots, the Trump administration has announced that policy violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the Washington Post reports. "The Trump administration will not stand idly by as state leaders attempt to eliminate the history and culture of Native American tribes," Secretary Linda McMahon said Friday at Massapequa High School on Long Island, home of the Chiefs.
The state has 10 days to sign an agreement rescinding the mascot ban and apologizing to Indigenous tribes if it doesn't want to risk Justice Department enforcement proceedings or a loss of federal funding, McMahon said. A spokesperson for the state department said it will provide an answer "in due course" while calling the federal demands "political theater." Massapequa is one of four New York districts fighting the state ban in court. Civil rights leaders and the American Psychological Association support replacing such mascots and logos.
At McMahon's appearance, a member of a tribe in South Dakota said he doesn't find American Indian imagery offensive and wants it kept. "The impact of this removal extends beyond a name, it impacts the spirit of a community and the future of cultural understandings," Frank Blackcloud said. No representative of the nine Indigenous tribes in the area agreed with him. "It's a caricature," said the chief of the Unkechaug Nation, per WABC. "A grotesque fictitious image of living people and does nothing to remind people of those who lived on Long Island prior to European contact." (More New York state stories.)
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