Posted on 07/14/2010 7:05:29 PM PDT by rivercat
After a four-day faceoff with the U.S. government ended Wednesday, the Iroquois Nationals encountered another obstacle: the British government. As a result, the team must forfeit its Federation of International Lacrosse (FIL) World Championships opener against host England in Manchester on Thursday.
(Excerpt) Read more at laxmagazine.com ...
Just when you think governments can’t possibly get anymore stupid...
This little fuss happened at a rather inopportune time. It would have been better for the Iroquois to have waited for the implementation of their independent passports, until the world at large got the issue sorted out. Not pressing the issue right when it was going to screw up something of importance to them.
Perhaps the players should have thought about that before making their political statement. If you want to be your own country, then be your own country, and accept all the responsibility that comes with that - like negotiating visitation and immigration treaties with sovereign nations.
Are these guys from the reserve near Brantford, Ontario?
Official acceptance of such divisionalism/exceptionalism tells me: America was a great idea, but didn't last.
It's dead, Jim. Toast.
Stick a fork in it.
It's gone.
They wouldn’t take my Kingdom of Jones passport either, the bastards!!
Rivercat, I have mixed thoughts on it, but when it gets right down to it, this could have been hashed out some time ago, or later on. Making a stand when it’s going to cost your youth is rotten.
It bothers me these kids had to forfeit a game. It’s double that for me because these people invented the sport. It also bothers me we are being gamed on this issue right now.
Who was stupid here? Our government or the Iroquois for picking this moment to demand something on short notice?
I’m going to have to come down on the side of the Iroquois being stupid at this moment in time.
It will be easier when we all get our passports from the UN
As an identified FReeper, you will never get a passport.
However, they need one for international travel. That should have been fixed along time ago if they wanted international competition.
Somehow I find it difficult to believe that the US didn’t warn the Iroquois about this hazard. With terrorists waltzing around in London every day, England has to be a bit more careful when hit with a request from an “ex-American” like them and can surely be pardoned for taking the time to investigate the situation.
We will get them from the Nation of Freep, whose president is Jim Robinson and undersecretary is John Robinson.
This is the tip of an iceberg. A stealth problem that has been building up for nigh on 200 years.
The US Indian tribes have antiquated and often irrational treaties with the US that are in crying need for renegotiation. This is why reservations are often surrounded by development but have nothing other than meager welfare handouts for their infrastructure.
That is, most people assume that Indians are lazy or stupid, when in fact reservations are “black holes” of business law. Corporations would be lined up dozens deep to make deals with tribes *if they could*.
And the tribes are ticked off at the stupidity, inconvenience, and expense of having to do everything through the US government.
Granted, wanting their own passports seems on the surface to indicate that they are just being “uppity”, but the truth is more complicated.
The tribal lands are in both the US and Canada. So are the Iroquois Canadian or American? Yet both US and Canadian federal authorities feel free to go on their lands and mess with them, at least on *their* side of the border. Which isn’t a border, yet it is.
There is probably a solution here, somewhere. But whether it will be used is another matter.
The Iroquois have been using “their” passports for decades—never had a problem. They’ve even used them to go to England before.
Now, after 911, the world is different; but OTOH bureaucracy
can be carried to unnecessary extremes, too.
They have spent over 1.5 million dollars trying to get this resolved. They’ve traveled without hassle for over 20 years.
By accepting US or Canadian Passports and acquiescing to this solution would essentially have ceded the issue of sovereign recognition on a very significant level.
They are NOT part of the US or Canada, they have their own sovereign nation and should be recognized and accepted as such!
So the Iriquois have already seceeded. Can we join?
While I personally remain mostly happy with my maternal grandparents decision to “leave the reservation”, I am not going to make snap judgements without all the facts, regarding the people who decided to retain their full tribal rights.
It is a messed up situation.
The fact remains that certain recognized tribes have legally negotiated treaty rights within the USA. I understand there are many people who are entirely ignorant regarding these tribes, and the problems they continue to have with various levels of state and federal government agencies. It seems to me that the BIA and the State Department could have easily issued waiver documents,had they wanted to do so. Tribal members identities are generally more thoroughly documented than that of our current POTUS.
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