July 15, 2010 – So the Iroquois Nation will not being showing up in Manchester, England for the FIL World Championships, the every-four-years Olympics for lacrosse. It seems that they took a stand about their identity and didn’t want to travel to England on U.S. passports. Apparently, a Iroquois graphic designer laid out a new passport, to demonstrate the uniqueness and heritage of the Native Americans. Trouble is part of it was handwritten and it didn’t pass muster at customs.

You gotta know this is grandstand play. Like I said above, the World Championships are every four years. The Iroquois knew in 2006 back in London, Ontario where they won the Bronze behind the Silver U.S. and the Gold medalist Canadians, that they were going to England in 2010. So they let it go to the deadline by insisting that their paper, not back-up U.S. and Canadian passports, which are universally recognized, admit them into the United Kingdom.

Forget the fact that passports have holograms, computer chips and other identifiable markings that make them difficult to counterfeit. Forget that law enforcement and customs officials use them as the key element to identify and track who crosses their borders and enters their country. Forget that countries regard the integrity of their borders as one of their foundations of security. Forget September 11th. The Iroquois Nation has a need to be recognized by it’s heritage. It’s the only thing that will make them feel better. Not reservations, not tax relief, not casinos, not their own police and governing officials. It wasn’t enough for Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to grant them special one-time approval to travel on their passports.

This is reminiscent of when Michael Vick declared that he wanted to be going forward, referred to and be known as “Mike.” He wouldn’t answer questions to people who called him Michael. Something happened along the way where he lost his leverage to demand the world to conform to him. The Iroquois wanted to be known in the world as Iroquois. Mother England said no.

This could have been resolved intelligently. The Iroquois passports could have been put in nice little holders with their legal passports. Some time after the World Championships, the Iroquois could have figured out what it would take to gain its sovereignty and issue it’s own passports that conform to the world standard. That might include putting an embassy in every country in the world.

Trouble is that this process will open a lot of other cans of worms. It’s not enough to walk among their home country with their own set of rules. Now they want to walk this way through the world. So as the Iroquois screams, 30 players will be denied their chance to compete. Thousands more will be shorted their chance to watch and who is going to figure out how to honor their treaties, and give them their subsidies, while they declare their independence?