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Trump backs Long Island schools in fight to keep Native American mascots
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Apr 22, 2025
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Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday RM via Getty Images
By
Giulia Heyward
Published Apr 22, 2025
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President Donald Trump is siding with a Long Island school district in its attempt to keep its Chiefs iconography after New York state banned schools from using Native American mascots and team names.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump announced that he had asked U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to intervene in the conflict in Massapequa, which is about 36 miles east of Manhattan.
“Forcing them to change the name, after all of these years, is ridiculous and, in actuality, an affront to our great Indian population,” Trump wrote. “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?’”
Trump also pointed to the Kansas City Chiefs as a precedent, saying, “I don’t see the Kansas City Chiefs changing their name anytime soon!”
The president’s involvement in the standoff comes two years after the state Board of Regents voted to require public schools to retire Native American-themed mascots and team names unless the schools had written consent from a recognized tribal nation in New York.
The regulation set a compliance deadline of June 30, 2025. School boards were required to pass resolutions committing to those changes by mid-2023.
State education officials have warned that non-compliant districts could face serious consequences, including loss of state funding or removal of school board members.
Massapequa became one of several school districts, including Wantagh and Connetquot, that attempted to fight the ban in court. But a federal judge dismissed the case earlier this spring, ruling that the districts lacked standing and failed to show their constitutional rights had been violated.
The Massapequa school district did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Gothamist. But in a statement last month after the court ruling, the district said it remained “steadfast in our advocacy” and would continue exploring “all available options” to preserve the Chiefs identity.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman applauded Trump’s comments Monday.
“Thank you President Trump,” he wrote on X, “for supporting our culture, our history, and our identity.”
Blakeman has previously criticized the state’s rule as government overreach, aligning himself with local school boards seeking to keep their mascots.
A spokesperson for the state Education Department pushed back Monday, saying the regulation is meant to end “demeaning” imagery in schools.
“Disrespecting entire groups of people is wrong in any context,” said spokesperson JP O’Hare, “but especially in our schools, where all students should feel welcome and supported.”
Tagged
education
new york state
long island
donald trump
Politics
Giulia Heyward
Giulia Heyward is a breaking news reporter on the Day-Of desk. She previously worked at NPR, as a breaking news reporter, and the New York Times, as a reporting fellow on the national desk. Her work has also appeared in CNN, The Atlantic and Politico. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or more securely on signal at 917-715-1458.
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