Honor the treaties. Oppose the US blocking tactics. Allow the Iroquois Nationals to travel!

The Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team is being prevented from traveling on Haudenosaunee passports to the Lacrosse World Championship for the first time since they joined the league in 1983. Please see below for a letter explaining the situation by Oren Lyons.

-according to Lindsay Speer this morning:

I've got the board of directors for the Iroquois Nationals on speed-dial. THIS is where you'll hear most directly what needs to be done. As of late last night, the word from Denise Waterman was that there was no change in the official stance of Homeland Security and the State Department, but that so many people had called and emailed that a difference was being made. "There are a lot of ears open and hearts opening within key places trying to find common ground. It's not a done deal either way. The more people who call, the better.

Please email the U.S. White House to ensure the team can travel ASAP. If this decision is not changed TODAY, the Iroquois Nationals will not be able to participate in the 2010 Lacrosse World Championship.

Send email to Kimberly_K._TeeHee@who.eop.gov; Jodi_A._Gillette@who.eop.gov; miltonkm@state.gov; sicadelm@state.gov;

You can call the White House at 202-456-4771 to express your support for their clearance to leave and return to participate in the World LaCrosse Championships in Manchester, England, Today.

Let them know you did it by emailing tsadeyohdi@gmail.com

Suggested email (please feel free to personalize):
I am writing in support of the Iroquois Nationals' right to travel on their Haudenosaunee passports. The Haudenosaunee passport has been in use since 1977, when Haudenosaunee leaders traveled to Geneva to address the United Nations. The Iroquois Nationals have been traveling on the Haudenosaunee passport since 1983.
If not rectified today, the United States' delay in guaranteeing that the Iroquois Nationals will be allowed to return to their homelands while traveling on the Haudenosaunee passport will prevent the Iroquois Nationals from playing in the championship. I urge you to do everything you can to allow this team to compete. It is only right that they be allowed to travel on the passport of the nation they represent at this international championship.
Sincerely,
Your name here

Dear Friends,

The Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team's travel documents were declared unacceptable for travel by the U.S. Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security at 4 pm, July 8, 2010. This is traumatic to the Iroquois Nationals' travel schedule and budget. The Board of Directors, Travel Committee, Coaches, Staff and Team of almost 50 people are struggling to convince the Department of State and Homeland Security to accept our travel documents so that our All-American team can compete as a nation against team Canada, team USA, team England, team Australia and team Japan in the premiere Blue Division of the Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) at the FIL World Lacrosse Championships hosted by England at Manchester from July 15 to 24, 2010.

The game of De-hon-tshi-gwa' ehs (Lacrosse) has become an inspiration to a third of the world's youth – 109 countries in all. The long-stick game is a gift to the world from the Haudenosaunee, the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. It would be strange – beyond strange, indeed – if the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team, the national team of the Haudenosaunee were denied participation in the World Lacrosse Championships by agencies of the United States. We are perplexed by this position taken by the Obama Administration.

Brett Bucktooth of the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team

Since the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team's admittance to the Federation of International Lacrosse in 1983, the team has participated in every world competition as a member nation, flying our own colors, singing our own anthem and traveling on our own Haudenosaunee passports to England (1985, 1994), Australia and Japan. As citizens we have traveled internationally on our own passports since 1977. We do not take this issue of passports lightly. We have traversed our request with the utmost respect for the sovereignty of the nations involved. As Indigenous Peoples of North America, we have over 200 years of treaties and international relations with our brother, the United States.

We need your support to help convince the U.S. to accommodate our travel to Manchester, England. The Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team and Team England are scheduled to open the World Lacrosse Championships at 7:00 pm Thursday July 15th.

This is a call for support. We want to ensure that Native Peoples should not be told they cannot leave or cannot return to their homelands.

Please contact the White House at 202.456.4771 to express your support for our clearance to leave and return to participate in the World Lacrosse Championships in Manchester, England, as soon as possible. Let us know you did so by emailing tsadeyohdi@gmail.com

Please also email White House Indian Affairs senior staff Kimberly TeeHee at Kimberly_K._TeeHee@who.eop.gov and two State Department officials, Kathleen Milton at miltonkm@state.gov and Lynn Sicade at sicadelm@state.gov.

Thank you for your support. When we win, you win.

Day na to,

Joagquisho, Oren R. Lyons

Honorary Chairman

Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team

News Coverage:
Syracuse Post-Standard: Passport dispute halts Iroquois lacrosse team's trip to world competition in England
Indian Country Today: Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse team delayed for World Games by Homeland Security passport fiasco & The Haudenosaunee ‘right of return’
AP: US rule could keep Iroquois from lacrosse tourney

-thanks to the Syracuse Peace Council