Massapequa pledged to continue the “fight” to keep Chiefs as its school team name after a judge tossed a lawsuit looking to dissolve a state ban on indigenous mascots.
The school district and the Native American Guardians Association sued the state Board of Regents over its controversial 2023 mandate that required all public schools to remove indigenous imagery and team names or face funding cuts.
But a Long Island judge dismissed the suit and refused an injunction on the ban — with school officials now pledging to appeal the “incorrect decision.”
Massapequa school district vowed to continue to “fight” after a judge tossed an attempt to overturn New York state’s ban on Native American school mascots. Heather Khalifa for the NY Post
“We will continue to fight to preserve the Chiefs’ name,” the Massapequa Board of Education said in a statement to The Post Tuesday.
The non-profit NAGA, which is heavily for the use of Native American mascots in sports culture, contracted with Massapequa to permit and support its use of the Chiefs’ logo, in addition to having the group teach supplementary indigenous educational curriculum.
“You’re talking about strength, talking about being something that people uphold,” NAGA member Frank Black Cloud previously told The Post of the Chiefs and related names.
“People want to emulate you.”
The guardians argued in court that forcing the town to remove its longtime Chiefs name interfered with NAGA’s right to contract — but Judge Sanket Bulsara shot down that stance in a ruling last month.
The Massapequa Board of Education sued the state Board of Regents over the 2023 mandate on indigenous imagery at public schools. Heather Khalifa for the NY Post
Massapequa softball players posing in front of a Chiefs mural at the high school on May 28, 2025. Heather Khalifa for the NY Post
“NAGA has no right to the Chiefs mascot. It does not own it or have a trademark on it,” Bulsara wrote in court papers. “NAGA has no greater right to license the Chiefs mascot than a random member of the public.”
Bulsara was also critical of the state, writing that New York’s Native mascot and logo ban “may have serious constitutional defects.”
“It appears to enact a legal classification based on race or ancestry, which subjects it to the most demanding form of judicial scrutiny,” the judge added.
“The law may also abridge the First Amendment free speech rights of Massapequa School Board members and District employees. These difficult questions, however, are not the subject of this opinion.”
The New York State Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Black Cloud and more members of NAGA joined Secretary of Education Linda McMahon at Massapequa High School’s gym last May as she spoke to students and vowed federal support for the conservative town.
“It is a top priority of this administration to protect Massapequa,” McMahon reiterated to The Post in August.
President Trump holding up a Massapequa Chiefs shirt in the Oval Office. Instagram/realdonaldtrump
President Trump has also been vocal for months on the matter, and last summer told Fox News host and Massapequa native Brian Kilmeade, “We’ve got to get the name back to the Chiefs.”
“It has become the School’s identity and, what could be wrong with using the name, “Chief”? I don’t see the Kansas City Chiefs changing their name anytime soon!” Trump posted on Truth Social in April.
NAGA has until Dec. 29 to file an amended complaint.