Are You Serious?

So this happened, and I'm a little mad:


The Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse team plays in the World Lacrosse Championships every few years, not as a US Team, but as their own sovereign nation because we are just that, OUR OWN SOVEREIGN NATION, with a government and everything.

Let me pause here... I should tell you if you didn't already know that I am Iroquois. I am Seneca, which is one of the six nations that makes up the Iroquois Nation. We invented Lacrosse, no joke. It is in our blood from birth and an integral part to our culture. It is played to strengthen us, to heal us, to bring us together... and I feel very strongly about my culture and Lacrosse.

Continuing...

How are we our own nation and not technically governed by the US? I'll tell you: We were made to move to reservations after we helped pilgrims and settlers survive (hunt, farm, build shelters, navigate the land) and our own government and political structure was used as a model for the United States government and Constitution. When we moved to reservations we signed treaties with the US Government stating that we had sovereignty and thusly we would govern ourselves.

Since then there have been tests and trials to the treaties and agreements we have made. This week we are being pushed again.

The Iroquois Nation has their own version of passports which, up to this time have been declared perfectly valid by the US Government as well as numerous other countries. The reason this document exists is that some Nation members do not want to have US Passports or US Government issued IDs because they don't consider themselves to be governed or a part of the US Government, but really only governed a part of the Nation. It's a culture thing and it's sort of hard to explain. If we are our own sovereign nation, able to elect and sustain our own government and run our own nation, then why would we need to identification from another outside nation? It's almost like living in Austria but having to go through Germany to get your driver's license, if that makes sense. You border each other, but you don't really govern each other and mostly should coexist peacefully.

Anyhow, the Iroquois Nationals team participates in international games as their own nation, and not as a US team... makes sense. So they were invited as they always are to participate in the World Lacrosse Championships this week which is being hosted in Manchester, England. They applied for their travel visas and were denied this year, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, because the US Government will not let them back into the US to return to the reservation without US issued passports...

OK, so this team and other Nation members have traveled using the Iroquois passport since the 1980's without any issue. People have gone not only to Mexico and Canada, but Japan and most recently Australia using these passports and NOT US issued ones.

So because the US Government won't allow the team back without US issued passports, the British Government cannot approve their visas. Why won't the US Gov let them back without US passports? Apparently this past year the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative went into effect which changed the documentation necessary to enter back into the United States.

That is great, if you are technically a citizen governed by the US.

Letters have been written by govenors and other US officials to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as well as Janet Napolitano to urge them to have the necessary letters sent so that the team can travel to compete in the championships of a sport that their ancestors created. The team showed up to the airport today, despite knowing that they would be denied access to the plane hoping that the necessary letters would arrive to allow their visas to be approved.

Last I heard (from NPR) the team was still waiting at the airport and the World Lacrosse Championships officials have stated that they hold out hope that the team will make it to England to compete.


This is completely messed up. I am disgusted with the US Government for once again trying to impose rules on a Nation that is not governed by it. Not only did you push these people, MY PEOPLE, from the villages and lives they founded, but you tried to make it impossible for the culture to thrive. Despite all of these things the Iroquois Nation has grown and thrived. It has taken years to build back up the culture and it's people and now we have to fight to play a simple game; a game that we created and is built into the very fiber of our Nation.

They are athletes... not politicians, not dangerous criminals being transported... just let them play and then let them come back home.