ALBANY, N.Y.-This fall, the stadiums and playing fields will start to look different at many New York schools. Last April, the state Board of Regents adopted regulations prohibiting public schools from using names, mascots or logos inspired by Indigenous people. The mandate affects 60 public school districts
A year before the mandate, at least 133 schools in 55 New York districts still had native-themed mascots, according to a report by the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI).
New York school districts were given until the end of June to submit a plan to the Board of Regents of how they will remove the inappropriate names and mascots, and they must do so by the beginning of the 2024-25 school year. Districts and schools that do not comply may lose funding. The new ban, supported by the Shinnecock Indian Nation and Oneida Indian Nation, does not apply to tribal schools. And schools may keep the Indigenous images and monikers if they have approval from a recognized Native American tribe to keep them.
"The mascot imagery just continues to perpetrate and reinforce colonial white supremacist ideas and [stands] as a barrier for new opportunities for dialogue and education," said Michael Johnson, chief strategy officer of IllumiNative, a national, racial and social justice organization based in Tulsa, Okla., upon the New York announcement.
While a high number of U.S. high schools continue to use Native American themes, according to the NCAI, New York follows 21 other states that have moved to restrict Indigenous-related monikers at the high school level or are considering such mandates. The latest, before New York, was Kansas, which, in 2022, approved a non-binding resolution encouraging the elimination of Native mascots within the next five years. Other states that have participated in the ban include California (2015), Colorado (2021), Michigan (2012), Nevada (2021), Oregon (2012), and Washington (2021).
According to a 2020 study involving the University of Michigan and the University of California, a high rate of Native Americans oppose not only the use of gestures and chants in professional sports, but also to Native American mascots and team names.
Roughly two-thirds of Native Americans who frequently engage in tribal and cultural practices take offense at behaviors such as the tomahawk chop and war chant by fans of the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.
The study found that about half of the respondents in the sample of 1,000 Native Americans-the largest of its kind to date-are offended by the behavior. But those who most strongly identify with being Native American disapprove of the cultural appropriation even more.
For example, among Native Americans who frequently engage in tribal or cultural practices, 67 percent find the Redskins team name offensive; 70 percent find sports fans wearing chief headdresses offensive; 65 percent find sports fans chanting the tomahawk chop offensive; and 73 percent find sports fans imitating Native American dances offensive.
The responses to the logos, names, and behavior in the professional sports world are being reflected in many school districts.
However, some schools do not support the bans. For instance, a school in the community of Warroad, Minnesota, just across the border from Canada, says the school's mascot is respectful and that the local First Nations Anishinaabe people "gifted land to found the first school and alongside that requested that the Warrior name and logo be used for athletic competitions."
The logo was created by an Indigenous artist and was intended to honor Indigenous people-and a portion of every sale of logo-themed school merchandise supports specific programming for Indigenous youth. School officials say it would cost around $500,000 to change school sports uniforms, signs, and other items.
School districts in New York also point out that upgrades to uniforms, fields, equipment and school buildings will cost districts hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, as it stands now, schools will not receive any state funds to help them make the changes in such a tight timeframe. Some superintendents say they will fight for financial assistance.
However, the state education department counters that they have opposed public schools using Native American materials for 20 years. They cite a 2001 directive to districts about phasing out Native American mascots that many schools and districts ignored.
"The use of these Indigenous names and mascots is negative for all students-not just students from Indigenous communities," Senate Education Committee chair Shelley Mayer said. "It has been shown through repeated studies that the use of these names is in the negative context and it creates a very unfortunate experience for students to think of Indigenous people."
So as the school year has begun, many New York students will see the last season that Warriors, Chiefs, Indians, Braves, Redmen, and other such names are used in their schools and on their playing fields. Meanwhile, their parents, school officials, and district leaders are working to brainstorm new names and choose new logos and come up with funding to transform their teams and mascots.
This is the last year that schools in New York will be able allowed to use names or mascots appropriated from or reflecting Indigenous culture.
