{"id":91770,"date":"2025-04-30T08:50:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T12:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=91770"},"modified":"2025-04-30T08:50:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T12:50:18","slug":"a-town-refuses-to-give-up-the-schools-native-american-mascot-and-gets-trumps-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/30\/a-town-refuses-to-give-up-the-schools-native-american-mascot-and-gets-trumps-support\/","title":{"rendered":"A town refuses to give up the school’s Native American mascot – and gets Trump’s support"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Philip Marcelo MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 As a high school hockey player, Adam Drexler wore his Massapequa Chiefs jersey with pride. But as the Chickasaw Nation member grew up and learned about his Indigenous roots, he came to see the school’s mascot \u2014 a stereotypical Native American man wearing a headdress \u2014 as problematic. Now his Long Island hometown has become the latest flashpoint in the enduring debate over the place of Indigenous imagery in American sports: The Trump administration launched an investigation Friday into whether New York officials are discriminating against Massapequa by threatening to withhold funding. The town has refused to comply with a state mandate to retire Native American sports names and mascots. \u201cThere was no tribe east of the Mississippi that ever wore a headdress… <\/p>\n

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By Philip Marcelo MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. (AP) \u2014 As a high school hockey player, Adam Drexler wore his Massapequa Chiefs jersey with pride. But as the Chickasaw Nation member grew up and learned about his Indigenous roots, he came to see the school’s mascot \u2014 a stereotypical Native American man wearing a headdress \u2014 as problematic. Now his Long Island hometown has become the latest flashpoint in the enduring debate over the place of Indigenous imagery in American sports: The Trump administration launched an investigation Friday into whether New York officials are discriminating against Massapequa by threatening to withhold funding. The town has refused to comply with a state mandate to retire Native American sports names and mascots. \u201cThere was no tribe east of the Mississippi that ever wore a headdress... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nA town refuses to give up the school's Native American mascot - and gets Trump's support - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/30\/a-town-refuses-to-give-up-the-schools-native-american-mascot-and-gets-trumps-support\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A town refuses to give up the school's Native American mascot - and gets Trump's support - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Philip Marcelo MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. 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