The Massapequa Chiefs emblem on a ladies lacrosse pullover on April 22, 2023.
Credit score: Peter Frutkoff
The Massapequa faculty district filed a lawsuit towards the New York State Board of Regents Thursday claiming the company violated its constitutional rights when it banned using Native American mascots, staff names and imagery in public colleges.
The ban, which was codified in Could, said that affected colleges needed to resolve to put off the staff names and imagery by June 2022, and eradicate all references to the identify and imagery by the tip of the 2024-2025 faculty yr.
Massapequa goes by “Chiefs” and is considered one of 13 Lengthy Island districts affected by the statute.
“The Chief is greater than a emblem to our colleges and neighborhood,” the board of schooling wrote in a letter on its web site. “It’s our historical past and our heritage. After we communicate of the Massapequa ‘Chief,’ we accomplish that with satisfaction and respect. As a Board, we’re united in our efforts to face up for our neighborhood and years of custom.”
WHAT TO KNOW
- Massapequa, which makes use of the “Chiefs” nickname, had vowed to struggle towards the state’s Native American mascot ban and filed a lawsuit on Thursday claiming it is unconstitutional.
- There are 13 Lengthy Island faculty districts affected by the ban that was handed unanimously by the Board of Regents in April.
- The state has stated that colleges that do not comply threat dropping state support and the elimination of faculty officers.
State schooling division spokesman JP O’Hare stated it doesn’t touch upon pending litigation. The state beforehand stated the statute is allowed beneath the Dignity For All College students Act, which intends to create a non-hostile studying setting for college kids.
A duplicate of the grievance, filed in federal district courtroom and obtained by Newsday, alleges that the board of regents:
- Violated customary process to primarily fast-track the ban.
- Exceeded its scope of authority by making a “blanket prohibition” that didn’t specify which colleges must make the change.
- As an administrative physique working throughout the govt department, infringed on the governmental separation of powers; the swimsuit alleges that although it’s being termed a “statute,” the ban features as a regulation, and creation of regulation is a legislative responsibility.
- Was “impermissibly… [and] unconstitutionally obscure” in violation of the 14th Modification defending the suitable to due course of.
- Violates the primary modification when banning faculty officers and officers from sporting “Chiefs” attire, each on faculty property and when attending faculty features like athletic occasions.
A message left with the district’s lawyer was not returned.
The state has stated that colleges that do not comply threat dropping state support and the elimination of faculty officers, although the state stated it is a final resort.
Different Lengthy Island colleges have signaled an intent to problem the ban.
Amityville, Comsewogue, Wyandanch, Wantagh, all of which go by “Warriors,” and Sachem (“Flaming Arrows”) adopted the decision to vary their names whereas stipulating that they keep the proper to push again towards the state’s regulation. A few of these colleges stated they had been open to eradicating their mascot whereas preserving their staff names.
The state, although, stated names resembling “Warriors” should go in the event that they had been ever related to Indigenous imagery. The remaining affected districts are Brentwood, Manhasset and Sewanhaka (“Indians”), Half Hole Hills’ East Excessive College and Connetquot (“Thunderbirds”), Syosset (“Braves”), and East Islip (Redmen).
Colleges did have a window to acquire an exemption from federally or state-recognized tribes, however no Lengthy Island faculty was capable of safe one earlier than a Could 3 deadline.
The grievance noticed difficulty with the exemption course of as properly.
Tribes “can’t be the only real decision-makers on whether or not a faculty district’s use of an Indigenous identify, emblem, or mascot is authorized,” it reads. “They don’t seem to be elected officers accountable to constituents…”
Massapequa beforehand reached out to the Shinnecock, in accordance with Rainbow Chavis, who works for the tribe’s human sources division. These conversations stalled, with Chavis noting that the Chiefs’ emblem isn’t traditionally correct because it depicts a Western tribal member, and never a Native American indigenous to Lengthy Island.
“It’s offensive whenever you say you’re making an attempt to honor us,” Shinnecock chairman Bryan Well mannered stated earlier this yr. “That’s hogwash. If that had been true, speak to somebody [from the local tribe]. You honor us by incorporating our historical past into the curriculum, having a cultural trade, having the [students] come to a pow wow and writing a paper over the summer time.”
With Jim Baumbach
