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Public school teams in New York will soon be barred from calling themselves names like the Warriors, Chiefs, Redmen or Braves following a Tuesday ruling by Albany education honchos.
The Board of Regents, which presides over the state’s education department, voted to phase out Native American-related nicknames as part of a politically correct national effort to scrub racially insensitive imagery from sports teams.
Nearly 60 school districts will be required to “eliminate” all use of Indigenous-related mascots and imagery by the end of the 2024-2025 school year, or risk losing state aide, board members unanimously ruled.
The new ban, supported by the Shinnecock Indian Nation and Oneida Indian Nation, does not apply to tribal schools, education officials said.
“It’s the right thing to do. Our desire is to elevate people, not diminish them. We want to elevate all people,” Regent Kathleen Cashin told The Post over the phone.
“The Department does not anticipate that any team names, logos, or mascots that contain vestiges of prohibited team names, logos, or mascots will be considered acceptable,” New York State Department of Education spokesperson JP O’Hare wrote in an email.
Groundwork for the new changes had been laid out long before the NFL’s Washington Redskins and MLB’s Cleveland Indians changed their names to the Commanders and Guardians respectively in 2022.
The state’s former education commissioner Richard Mills asked schools “to end the use of Native American mascots as soon as practical” back in 2001.
However, at least 133 schools in 55 districts still had native-themed mascots as of March 2022, according to a report by the National Congress of American Indians.
Mills claimed the mascots “can become a barrier to building a safe and nurturing school community and
improving academic achievement for all students.”
Some schools voluntarily heeded his request and retired their mascots, while others schools declined.
Many parents and students in some districts feel like their team’s nicknames pay homage to the rich Native American heritage of the state and the Iroquois tribal confederacy from which countless town names are derived.
Multiple residents of Mahopac in Putnam County had told the board that their school’s “Indian name came about to honor those people[,] not deride them,” according to the proposal that was approved Tuesday.
Regents officials countered that the name “Indian” was an inaccurate historical term derived from Christopher Columbus’ failure to distinguish North America from the West Indies.
Mahopac reportedly moved to change the nickname earlier this year as West Islip officials in Suffolk County had reportedly removed controversial logos portraying their Redman mascots from the exterior of the high school, but had thus far resisted a name change.
At Mohonasen High School in Schenectady County, one alumni and parent told The New York Times Monday she was “praying we don’t lose our Warrior name, because Warrior can have so many meanings.”
“We shouldn’t be erasing history, we should be learning from it,” Danielle Ciampino reportedly said, adding, “I know I am in the vast majority when I say we want to keep our Warrior name and should be allowed to do so. I will forever be a Mohonasen Warrior.”
Ciampino pointed the word’s double meaning and noted that few take issue with the name of San Francisco’s pro-basketball team of the same name.
Other pro and high-profile teams like the Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Blackhawks and Florida State Seminoles have resisted changing their names.
New York follows 20 other states which have moved to restrict Indigenous-related monikers at the high school level.
Upstate Rep. Elise Stefanik blasted the ban on tribal nicknames as wokeness run amok.
In her district, this ruling would impact Native American symbols at Cambridge Central School District, Fonda-Fultonville Central School District, and Glens Falls City School.
“Upstate New York and the North Country take pride in our history and forcing them to replace these historical mascots is prioritizing the Far Left mob at the expense of our students’ education,” Stefanik said.
“Schools should be focused on education, and, while our local teachers and administrators are working tirelessly to educate our students after pandemic lockdowns deprived them of educational and developmental opportunities, the Hochul Administration’s priorities are entirely misplaced. As New York’s most senior member on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, I will stand against the Far Left woke agenda and provide critical oversight to ensure schools in New York’s 21st District have the funds to equip our next generation.”
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