A Lengthy Island college aggressively combating to maintain its “Chiefs” group title and mascot is making an attempt to show the tables on a congressman who needs to ban Native American-themed logos nationwide.
The Massapequa college board ripped Rep. Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey) for introducing a decision “pushing again on the Trump administration’s current efforts” to maintain the Chiefs and different group names — and drafted its personal counter laws it hopes it is going to make to the Capitol.
College board president Kerry Wachter advised The Publish that the district “will proceed combating for the Chiefs and for the preservation of our Native American historical past” with the proposed laws.
Wachter and colleagues despatched their proposed invoice to native Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R). The draft invoice is backed by the conservative Native American Guardians Affiliation, a bunch readying for a Supreme Courtroom combat on the difficulty.
“This decision protects our city’s identification and spares taxpayers roughly $1 million that might in any other case be spent eradicating the Chiefs title and brand district-wide,” added Wachter, who’s eyeing a run for state Senate.
Garbarino didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The board’s counter-resolution pushes that “safety of Native expression is per the First Modification to america Structure.”
It argues that “many faculties, universities, and athletic organizations have adopted Native-themed names or symbols to honor braveness, management, and historic legacy.”
Wachter and the board’s proposal additionally seeks to provide “Native American nations, teams, and people — and never the federal authorities or state governments” — extra autonomy over how imagery is used.
Massapequa has develop into a battleground district since New York State in 2023 introduced a ban on Native American names and logos in public colleges. The district referred to as on President Trump tto step in and assist final Spring.
“I agree with the folks in Massapequa, Lengthy Island, who’re combating furiously to maintain the Massapequa Chiefs brand on their Groups and College,” Trump responded on Fact Social.
In early 2025, the president ordered Training Secretary Linda McMahon to analyze the difficulty affecting a number of college districts on Lengthy Island and elsewhere.
McMahon visited Massapequa Excessive College in Might and blasted the state for hypocrisy as a result of its ban solely targeted on Native American-themed groups.
“You’ve bought the Huguenots, we’ve bought the Highlanders, we’ve bought the Scotsmen,” she mentioned inside Massapequa’s fitness center, surrounded by college students and members of NAGA. “Why is that not thought of in any approach racist?”
The federal authorities later decided that forcing colleges to vary logos solely based mostly on Indigenous affiliation was a civil rights violation as a result of it discriminated in opposition to a single ethnic group.
Lengthy Island’s Connetquot district, which took a state compromise to shorten its title from Thunderbirds to the already-in-use slogan “T-Birds,” was present in violation of federal steering by McMahon in January.
Pallone, the New Jersey Congress member, mentioned his decision got here in response the federal motion.
“It’s absurd to see the Trump administration twist civil rights legislation to defend offensive imagery as an alternative of defending the scholars these legal guidelines have been meant to serve,” mentioned Pallone, who represents the Jersey Shore and areas west of Staten Island.
However Massapequa lawyer Oliver Roberts referred to as Pallone’s decision “unconstitutional and finally dangerous to Native American tradition.”
“The Massapequa decision corrects these constitutional defects and misguided insurance policies by defending native authority, respecting Native historical past, and making certain choices are made lawfully and responsibly.”
