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A Native American advocacy group is urging a Long Island school district to resist New York’s crackdown on indigenous imagery, arguing that efforts to erase logos like the “Thunderbirds” amount to cultural censorship.
“It’s just a slap in the face to all of us,” Frank Black Cloud, vice president of the Native American Guardians Association (NAGA), told “Fox & Friends First” Wednesday.
Black Cloud, whose organization is dedicated to promoting Native American history and preservation, said only a minority of Native Americans oppose such logos and the fight to protect indigenous names and mascots has been going on for decades.
“We don’t know what it is, but they segregate the American Indian and tell us that we need to be ashamed of who we are, what we stand for, and what our heritage and culture stand for. Why are they doing that? I don’t know,” he added.
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The battle surrounds Connetquot High School in Bohemia, N.Y., which is located on Long Island.
At the center of the controversy is a statewide regulation adopted in 2023 that bans Native American imagery and references in school team names and logos, including names like the Chiefs, Indians, Braves and more.
Connetquot’s “T-Bird” or “Thunderbirds” moniker has garnered attention for being used in a school context while the mythical creature is closely tied to some Native American cultures as a symbol of “power, protection, and strength.”
According to a July 8, 2024, press release, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights launched an investigation into the Connetquot Central School District for reportedly working to erase its “Thunderbirds” mascot, to determine whether the district is violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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Education Secretary Linda McMahon said those in the Native American community expressed “deep pride” in the local mascots during her visit to New York at the time.
“Images like the ‘Thunderbirds’ and Chiefs are seen as symbols of strength, honor and identity – not of disrespect,” she said.
“The Department of Education has been clear with the state of New York: it is neither legal nor right to prohibit Native American mascots and logos while celebrating European and other cultural imagery in schools. New York’s patronizing attitude toward Native Americans must end,” she added.
In a letter to the district, NAGA argued that “compliance with this [New York state’s] regulation is not ‘progress’; it is cultural censorship and systemic racism.”
But New York State Department of Education spokesperson JP O’Hare defended the ban, according to The New York Post.
“Disrespecting entire groups of people is wrong in any context, but especially in our schools, where all students should feel welcome and supported,” O’Hare said.
The Connetquot School District also released a statement addressing the issue, announcing that the district has been presented with a proposed settlement that would “allow [them] to retain all images, logos, and use of the name ‘T-Birds.’”
“Such an agreement would also allow the District the flexibility to revert back to ‘Thunderbirds’ if there is a change in current state law,” the statement added.
Some critics have accused the arrangement of being a “backroom deal.”
While NAGA is critical of crackdowns on such monikers, some other Native American advocacy groups – including the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) – maintain a stance against such imagery.
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