Iroquois Team Raises Profile in ID Fight

(CBS)  The World Lacrosse Championships are currently underway in Britain minus the North American team that's one of the best in the world in a collision of age-old principles of pride and sovereignty with modern-day security demands.

Lacrosse players representing the Iroquois Confederacy are the pride of a nation, CBS News Correspondent Jeff Glor reports. They represent a council of six Native American tribes living in upstate New York and Canada, 125,000 people in all who consider themselves a nation apart from the United States.

With a host of former collegiate stars, including Syracuse's Sid Smith, the Iroquois Nationals are the No. 4 ranked team in the world.

They were supposed to be playing in the World Lacrosse Championships in Manchester, England, against 30 other countries, including the U.S., England and Canada.

"We're trying to stay positive, trying to stay as positive as we can and just stay focused," Nationals goalie Spencer Lyons said.

Last week both the U.S. and the U.K. said they would not honor Iroquois-issued passports, which have been used by the tribe since the mid-1970s, because they did not meet new post 9/11 security standards.

"We've been traveling on this for 30 years," Nationals executive director Percy Abrams said.

The State Department offered to expedite U.S. passports, but the Abrams and players said no, calling it an affront to their national heritage.

"It's a matter of national identity at this point," Abrams said. "We're traveling as the Iraquois Nationals."

Hopes were raised when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally intervened Thursday and issued a one-time travel waiver.

But officials in Britain rejected the compromise, and the Nationals were left in limbo. The closest they got to real competition was a scrimmage on Long Island.

All of it highlights a still-simmering standoff between the United States and 526 recognized native tribes over identification documents. Many have issued their own for decades that are no longer valid.

"This will be an ongoing discussion," said Tonya Frichner, United Nations representative for North American Indians. "There is no end to it, so it will continue."

After forfeiting two games and getting turned down again Saturday by the U.K., the Nationals have head home, but Scott Price of Sports Illustrated says even though didn't play, they still won.

"Mission accomplished for the Iroquois," said Price. "They wanted to show the world they were still here. That was the point of the Iroquois Nationals in the first place."

The Nationals hope to have their passport issues resolved in time for the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships in the Czech Republic next year.

More Iroquois Coverage

Iroquois Lacrosse Team Bows Out of U.K. Tourney
Iroquois Lacrosse Team Defaults on First UK Game
British Government Refuses Iroquois Passports
Iroquois Team Barred from Boarding U.K. Flight
Iroquois Lacrosse Team Trapped in U.S.?

[thomderr1]

I do not doubt their status as a sovereign nation to hold and control their own passports. Status as a member of a Native America tribe is often documented farther past any other type of documentation.

So then, why can't the Department of the Interior/Bureau of Indian Affairs work with Native American Nations to bring their passports up to the "post 911 standards"? Certainly, this would have to involve Canada and to be complete, Mexico also. But these Native American Nations knew not Canada, the United States or Mexico. Only their own respective tribal nation.

Why not give them the dignity they deserve?

[wyodutch]

It's disgusting... How yellow-spined America and Europe have become.
.
Kudos to the Iroquois for having the guts that the rest of us lack... The guts to say "We refuse to live on our knees."

[kickingant]

Unfortunately, their concerns are valid. The article says their passports were designed 30 years ago. Acknowledging these passports would be a golden ticket for terrorists to travel as it would be very easy to forge a new identity with a cheap laptop and printer. I don't see this as a question of their sovereignty, but one of security. The Iroquois need to step up to today's standards before they can address any national pride issues.

[darwufche]

Evidently, both countries are afraid of them, on the field and off.

[porcine_aviator]

Somehow I think it's only the native americans and the Amish that will have their acts together enough to survive the coming chaos.

[ToolMangler1]

by Ms_enza July 18, 2010 9:46 AM EDT
"If the Native Americans had really had their acts together, they would have slaughtered the Europeans... not at lacross, but in 1607."


The details are in the 'numbers' involved. (The number of firearms vs the number arrows) Having your act together avails nothing if you are out numbered a million to one.

[taxedmore]

They don't mind loading up on government giveaways at American taxpayer expense. Yes, they can get the giveaways - for example food stamps - ?Members of Indian tribes under section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(e)).

[newsterI]

by taxedmore July 17, 2010 10:33 PM EDT
They don't mind loading up on government giveaways at American taxpayer expense. Yes, they can get the giveaways - for example food stamps - ?Members of Indian tribes under section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(e))."

Considering we STOLE their lands and all their raw materials, gold, silver, slaughtered the buffalo they needed to survive, we OWE then food stamps at the very LEAST!
What we didnt STEAL from them by force, usually deadly force, we SWINDLED. This country should be totally ASHAMED and shocked at what was done!

[kastner64]

Those stupid security pretexts are another way of winning a Lacrosse tournament. Boot the fourth-ranked team by not recognizing their passports. Why didn't anybody before the British think of it before? (And it is a pretext - after all, I am sure, these players pass all the required security checks.)

[Solarrays247]

I agree. What a shame!

[KeithDrippingSprings]

I never thought of it that way. That is what is going on, no one wants to face the best team in the world.

[melbech]

If they aren't USA people then do they still get services/support/monies etc. fro the USA Gov? Hope England holds out under pressure to not let them travel to there.

[KeithDrippingSprings]

They get support because the United States is guilty of genocide against native peoples. They owe America nothing and deserve everything they can get.