Brian Laird on WNYC.

A little background on this Massapeequake case.

In 2023, the New York State Board of Regents issued guidance banning the use of Native American

mascots, team names, and logos in public schools or risk losing state funding.

The ban led to backlash in a long legal battle in the public school district of Massapequa.

Those of you don't know, Massape it's on the south shore of Long Island,

where the name the chiefs, evoking an 18th century depiction of a Native American is used across the district, including at Masspequa High School, and even at the fire department, I have read.

Well, now President Donald Trump has weighed in in a post on his true social social media

platform, the president asked U.S. Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, to intervene in defense

of the Massapequa School District. And on Friday, McMahon heeded the call. She wrote in a statement,

the U.S. Department of Education will not stand by as the state of New York

attempts to rewrite history and deny the town of Massapequa the right to celebrate its

heritage in schools, unquote. That's from the Education Department. I've also read now

that the Justice Department is looking into whether it's legal for New York State to deny

those state funds. If they don't change the name, is the state being discriminatory as it's

accusing the school district of being discriminatory? Seems to be the question the Justice

Department wants to ask.

Joining us now with the latest is Darwin Janus, education reporter at Newsday, which of course

is Long Island's newspaper.

Darwin, thanks for coming on.

Welcome to WNYC.

Thanks for having me, Brian.

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