Native American Guardians Association

In February 2019, the Skowhegan Area High School board voted to retire its mascot, the "Indians", in favor of the "River Hawks", being the last school in Maine with a Native American themed mascot.

Prior to the vote, NAGA contacted one of the School Board members opposed to the name change, Jennifer Poirir, offering its assistance. A private, invitation-only event was scheduled in February 2019 for only those supporting keeping the name. Maulian Dana, a tribal ambassador for the Penobscot Nation and supporter of changing the name, called it a "racist echo chamber." On Facebook, Sherri Mitchell, an indigenous-rights attorney in Maine, called NAGA "fake Indians" being paid by the Washington Football Team to promote native mascots. However, the leadership of NAGA includes several members of Native American tribes.^[17]

Local members of the Wabanaki Confederacy protested the presentations that NAGA gave to the school board, stating that the presence of Indians from other tribes breaks an "oral tradition" of Native Americans only "speak[ing] for your own nation."^[4] The Wabanaki protesters also said that NAGA had "an aggressive reputation" and that "they have no right to be here."^[18]

In June 2019, the board of education of Killingly High School in Connecticut retired their mascot, the Redman, citing concerns that it was racist and offensive to Native Americans. In the subsequent election that November, a Republican majority was elected and subsequently voted 5–4 to reinstate the mascot (one Republican voted with the Democrats against the measure). Several members closed their statements with the motto of NAGA, "Education, not eradication." However, critics said that the organization is a fringe group that does not represent the views of most Native Americans. Two members of the youth council of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, 30 miles away from Killingly, told the board "Redmen" is a slur that does not honor them.^[3]

In 2021, the State of Colorado passed a law banning the use of references to Native Americans in any way as a mascot for any school, public, private, or charter, unless the school had entered an agreement with a specific Native American tribe prior to the laws passing. NAGA sued the state of Colorado and would be represented by the Mountain States Legal Foundation.^[19]

A member of the governor's commission, Darius Smith (Navajo), says that NAGA does not have credibility or represent the way many American Indians feel about the issue.^[20] In May 2022, the judge dismissed the suit on the basis of NAGA having failed to establish standing to bring the case.^[21]

Eric Descheenie (Navajo) was asked in 2021 if he would favor a bill that would be similar to those in Nevada and Colorado banning Native mascots in schools. In 2018, as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives, Descheenie had introduced a bill to outlaw the display of team names that tribes deemed disparaging in publicly funded facilities, but that bill was never assigned to a committee, and stated that such legislation had no chance in the Republican-dominated Arizona legislature in 2021. Members of NAGA were also asked about legislation eliminating mascots, and replied that it is an erasure of Native American culture and legacy within the state. Descheenie replied that Native culture is not substantiated by representation in contemporary society such as mascots, but by history that precedes the existence of the United States. ^[22]

NAGA has been cited by those opposed to the New York State law requiring high schools to change their mascots or lose state funding. US Education Secretary Linda McMahon has stated that if the ban on Native mascots is not lifted, she will ask the DOJ to investigate the State of New York for a civil rights violation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.^[23] McMahon cites NAGA as an indicator of Native American support for these mascots, but local Long Island tribal leaders from the Shinnecock and Poospatuck-Unkechaug who support the ban said they feel hurt by NAGA's intrusion. "If you want to learn about the true history of the Native people here, talk to us," said Chief Harry Wallace, of the Unkechaug Indian Nation.^[24]

Eunice Davidson, the then-President of Native American Guardian's Association wrote a guest editorial in the Italian-American Herald in 2024 in support of Columbus Day.^[25] There have been efforts by Indigenous activists to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.^[26] NAGA also collaborated with the Civic Committee of Italian Americans in 2024 in support of the Chicago Columbus Parade. NAGA's participation in the parade received a rebuke from the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative, made up of 16 Indigenous organizations in Illinois, saying, "The collaboration of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans and the Native American Guardian Association (NAGA) gives an erroneous impression that the Native American Community of Chicago and Illinois are in support of Columbus Day. Nothing can be further from the truth," "The Chicago and Illinois Native American community does not support the recognition of Columbus Day nor the work of the Native American Guardian Association in representing our local interests. Many of their members are simply individuals who do not have the authority to speak on behalf of their tribal nation and certainly not the Chicago and Illinois Native American Community." "Our Native American community celebrates all Italian Americans and their contributions to our country, but we cannot support the negative impact and legacy of Christopher Columbus."^[27]