Some New York public schools will need to rename their sports teams. The New York Board of Regents unanimously voted on Tuesday to ban the use of Native American mascots, team names, and logos in the state’s public schools. It’s a vote that the board saw as long overdue, but that some parents view as an unwelcome change. “I just think we are trying to erase something that doesn’t need to be erased,” Joe Kennedy, parent of four Syosset “Braves” in Long Island, told CBS News. “It’s something of honor. It’s a sense of pride we have in our team.” Others worry that New York’s 55 schools with Native American-themed mascots will struggle to finance the new uniforms, turf, and scoreboards they need to make the name swaps. But the Shinnecock and Unkechaug Indian Nations on Long Island are relieved that their concerns are finally being heard. “The mascot has been demonstrated both emotionally and medically to be damaging to Native children, who see that as a humiliation of their culture and their way of life,” said Chief Harry Wallace of the Unkechaug Indian Nation.
