Ah the message begins to change. If you can't get out of catch 22. Carve the smelly fish up and make fertilizer for the future. This is from Indian Country Today Newspaper. You may give up a dream but don't ever give in. Good message. I learned that one too. REH
Iroquois Nationals stance rooted in identity and sovereignty Originally printed at http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/Iroquois-Nationals-stance-rooted-i n-identity-and-sovereignty-98601164.html A Native American lacrosse team's principled stand this week on behalf of their tribe's sovereignty should make government officials in two countries blush and embolden other tribes to stand up for their own sovereignty. The Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team had sought to travel to the United Kingdom to compete against England in the opening game of the 2010 World Lacrosse Championships in Manchester on July 15. The U.S. State Department initially refused to allow the team to travel out of the country because the tribal passports they carried didn't have security features required after Sept. 11. While the U.S. State Department eventually approved a one-time travel waiver to the team on July 14, the British government refused to accept the team's Haudenosaunee Confederacy passports just hours after the State Department announced its decision. The British government told the team it needed U.S passports in order to enter the country, but the team refused to use U.S. passports because they see that as a strike against their sovereignty. The British government's decision may cost the Iroquois the chance to participate in the world championships of a game that the Haudenosaunee helped invent. "They're telling us: 'Go get U.S. passports or Canadian passports,'" Tonya Gonnella Frichner, the team's attorney, told the Associated Press on July 14 shortly after getting the news. "It's pretty devastating." The Federation of International Lacrosse - the governing body of the world championships - announced that England would play Germany in an exhibition match July 15 that wouldn't affect the championship standings. The British government's decision may cost the Iroquois the chance to participate in the world championships of a game that the Haudenosaunee helped invent. However, the Iroquois team can still compete in their remaining games if they are granted entry into England, according to the federation. The Iroquois team, ranked fourth in the world, was scheduled to play each day of the tournament through July 20, when the finals were set to begin for the team's division. The tournament ends July 24. The controversy over the team's passports marked the first in 33 years for the team, according to the British newspaper The Independent. The team even traveled to the United Kingdom to attend the World Lacrosse Championships in 1994, the last time the event was held in Manchester. "It might seem like we're just fighting a point of principle, but it's an important one," Ansley Jemison, the team's general manager, told The Independent. "We are recognized as a sovereign nation by the (Federation of International Lacrosse) and have always traveled on our own passports. That's a line we don't want to cross." It is indeed an important point the Iroquois team is making. To some outsiders, the team's obstinance in the face of government pressure on two continents may seem foolhardy. For Native people in America, the team's stand represents centuries of struggles to maintain sovereignty. It also represents the Iroquois team's own history with the game of lacrosse, an ancient Native American game once played throughout the northeast on fields as long as several miles. Unlike the game today, which is played over the course of an hour, the Iroquois would sometimes spend days playing lacrosse. The Mohawks introduced the game to French Canadians at Montreal in 1750, and by 1874 the Iroquois had toured England and Australia promoting the game. For Native people in America, the team's stand represents centuries of struggles to maintain sovereignty. It didn't take long to catch on, and today the World Lacrosse Championships is expecting its largest gathering of teams at 30 (29 if the Iroquois aren't allowed into England). The Iroquois team's debacle has generated support for the team from across the world, as well as massive media attention. Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, addressed the issue of the Iroquois' sovereignty in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. "The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is also a sovereign nation with the same rights as any other nation that plays the game," he wrote. "The Haudenosaunee Confederacy issues legitimate and valid transportation documents and for years the United States has not interfered with that right. . It is an embarrassment that the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department have failed to address this situation adequately." Those who have stood up for the team are to be commended. And regardless of whether it is allowed into the tournament, the Iroquois team especially should be praised for fighting for its tribal rights, as well as for all tribes struggling to secure their sovereignty. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ray Harrell Sent: Friday, July 16, 2010 5:16 PM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Futurework] Lacrosse <http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2010/07/12/iroquois-nationals-visa-issues-co ntinue-immigration-cowboys-refuse-entry-team> http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2010/07/12/iroquois-nationals-visa-issues-con tinue-immigration-cowboys-refuse-entry-team Iroquois Nationals Visa Issues Continue: Immigration Cowboys Refuse Entry to Team July 12th, 2010 21 <http://insidelacrosse.com/news/2010/07/12/iroquois-nationals-visa-issues-co ntinue-immigration-cowboys-refuse-entry-team#comment_head> The Iroquois National Team has been denied entrance into the UK as the British consulate refused to acknowledge the team's passports. The Iroquois National Lacrosse team who are scheduled to play the opening game in the 2010 World Lacrosse Championships in Manchester, England this Thursday have been rejected from entering the UK, as the British consulate refused to acknowledge the team's Haudenosaunee passports and has delayed issuing travel visas while awaiting assurance from the U.S. State Department that the group will be allowed back into the United States. The 23 man squad and their entourage of family members, supporters, and fans, around 50 people altogether were to be fingerprinted for visas at the British Consulate in New York this morning but this never happened because the visas weren't approved. The team was due to depart for England that evening to start immediate preparation for their first fixture of the world championships, facing off, as part of the opening ceremony on July 15 - a match to symbolise national and sporting pride with the Iroquois Nationals, the creators of the sport, challenging England the host nation. The Team had sent their Haudenosaunee passports to the British Consulate in New York and were told they needed to use U.S. or Canadian passports, even though team members have been traveling to World Championships including to England, Australia, Japan and Canada and has never had a problem returning home on Haudenosaunee passports for more than two decades.The team are now waiting their fate in New York City but spirits remain high. "We said we cannot do that. We're our own people. We are a sovereign nation. We already have travel documents and we're participating in an international tournament, and to participate in an international tournament you have to be a country. We've been recognized by this organization as a country with our own citizens, our own sovereignty, our own land, and flag and anthem and we've belonged to this organization since around 1990 and we've been sending teams out since that time," Waterman said. The Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois) Confederacy is comprised of six nations: Onondaga, Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Tuscarora, and Cayuga. While each nation is a separate entity, they share a collective identity as Haudenosaunee and are issued Haudenosaunee passports, rather than individual nation passports. The group's representatives met with the British Consulate and were told the consulate needed assurance from the State Department that the team would be allowed to reenter the U.S. through the immigration service when they return from England July 25. "You know, our people are doing something really good and positive and we're doing it at the highest levels. Our athletes are excellent and such positive models for our younger children. We're still optimistic that we'll be leaving on Monday, but there are still hurdles to overcome. There isn't anyone more proud about this country. This is our home and we would never endanger it. If we had a phone call from the State Department just to reaffirm, 'Yes, we're proud of them, we'll welcome them back,' it would be nice to know they'd be supportive of us," Waterman said. The British wanted the team to travel on U.S. and Canadian documents because there is no category for Haudenosaunee in their visa process, Gonnella Frichner said. But the Nationals will be competing against U.S. and Canadian teams. "The Iroquois Nationals represent the Iroquois and are going to travel on Haudenosaunee credentials since that's who we're representing. It wouldn't make sense to be asked to travel on the passports of our competitors." "It's just not going to happen that the indigenous people of North American are going to be blocked from returning to our own territory," Gonnella Frichner said. She also pointed out that lacrosse, which is called "the Creator's game" on the Iroquois <http://www.iroquoisnationals.org> Nationals' Web site, was founded in Iroquois territory. "When you talk about lacrosse, you talk about the lifeblood of the Six Nations. The game is ingrained into our culture our system and our lives," said Oren Lyons, Onondaga Faithkeeper and a former All-American Lacrosse Goalie. "This is our game and this is our gift to the world," Gonnella Frichner said. The 2010 FIL Men's World Lacrosse Championships take place between the 15th and 24th of July in Manchester, England and promises to be the biggest Championships in Lacrosse history. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick Sent: Friday, July 16, 2010 3:26 PM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: [Futurework] Lacrosse Here's how the Globe and Mail sees the Iroquois lacrosse issue. Lacrosse, incidentally, can be a very exciting game to watch. I remember seeing one in New Westminster, B.C. when I was a teenage kid. The experience was heightened by a little old lady sitting in the stands behind me. All through the game she kept shouting "Kill on the baster, kill on him!!" Ed _____ Low-tech passports ground Iroquois lacrosse team Simple blue booklets, accepted for 33 years, cited as security concerns and prevent native team from flying to Britain for tournament . Hayley Mick >From Thursday's Globe and Mail Published on Wednesday, Jul. 14, 2010 9:33PM EDTLast updated on Thursday, Jul. 15, 2010 11:42AM EDT The passport of the Iroquois Confederacy is a simple blue booklet, without the bar codes or electronic chips of its modern Canadian equivalent. Yet for 33 years, customs officials around the world have quietly given it a nod, acknowledging its power for the people who carry it. Goodwill, it turns out, is no match for a post-9/11 world. On Wednesday, for the second time in two days, the 4 p.m. Delta Air Lines flight out of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York took off without members of the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team. The 47-member delegation, including nine players and a coach from Canada, were supposed to be bound for Britain, where the team is scheduled to play on Thursday night in the kick-off game of their sport's world championships. Instead, they remained stranded in New York as of Wednesday night, embroiled in a diplomatic dispute over the validity of the low-tech passports issued by the Iroquois Confederacy. The dispute has made its way to the United Nations and drawn in U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose last-minute effort to vouch for the team's U.S.-born players did not placate British officials. "It's frustrating," said Delby Powless, from the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ont., as the team travelled to the airport. "We've been driving around on a bus for three days, staying at different hotels. We just want to be getting ready to play lacrosse." At stake is more than a tournament. Since 1977, the passports have been issued as a symbol of the Iroquois Confederacy's desire to be recognized as a sovereign nation. For many Iroquois, who refer to themselves as Haudenosaunee and whose traditional territory includes parts of Southern Ontario, Quebec, and New York State, carrying a U.S. or Canadian passport is an option they're entitled to, but one they won't accept. "I refuse to get a Canadian passport," said Thomas Deer, a Mohawk living near Montreal. "That means I'm not Canadian . just like our brothers and sisters in the United States. They may live in the territory otherwise known as the United States or Canada, but we were Haudenosaunee before Canada was invented, and we prefer to remain Haudenosaunee." Mr. Deer is part of a committee that has been lobbying the Canadian and U.S. governments to accept a new version of the Iroquois passport that meets international security standards, which he expects will debut later this year. Iroquois travellers have long been able to cross international borders with the existing version of the passport, as a courtesy extended by the country they are visiting. But since the terrorist attacks in New York, Mr. Deer said passport holders have been coming up against greater resistance from immigration officials. British officials refused this week to issue visas to Iroquois Nationals players, making it impossible for them to travel to Manchester for the tournament where they had planned to represent the Iroquois Confederacy playing a game their ancestors invented. "We've just been rejected by the consulate. They're not going to accept our travel documents," Percy Abrams, executive chairman of the Iroquois Nationals, said Wednesday evening. A spokeswoman for the British consulate told the Associated Press that the team would be able to travel only with documents Britain considers valid, such as a U.S. passport. According to team officials, they were informed by the British consulate on Friday that they would not be granted visas unless the U.S. State Department could confirm that players would be allowed back into the United States on their Iroquois passports. On Tuesday, they were turned away as they tried to check in for their flight. And hours before their rescheduled flight on Wednesday, the team was feeling optimistic after Ms. Clinton agreed that, on this occasion only, players born in the United States would be allowed into the country using the Iroquois passport. The team was seeking similar assurances from Ottawa regarding Canadian-born players when they were told Britain was refusing to issue the visas despite the U.S. waiver. The team has received e-mails and messages of support from around the world. Hollywood director James Cameron made a $50,000 donation to help the team defray the additional expenses they have incurred in New York. As of Wednesday night, the team was camped out in a hotel near Kennedy Airport, trying to remain positive and still hoping for a change. "2010 is the best chance we have to win the first medal for the Iroquois," Mr. Powless said in an e-mail. "Having a medal taken away from us by an opposing team is one thing. Having it taken away by somebody in a suit is something completely different."
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