The Rejection of Sovereignty
This is going to make you uncomfortable.
The lacrosse world was set ablaze by the news that the Iroquois Nation will not be allowed to compete in the World Games. Again. World Lacrosse then issued the following statement:
Emotions ran sky-high on social media once this hit. Attacks were made, blame was placed and for a few hours, the lacrosse world was all on the same side against the enemy that is...international lacrosse? How does that work, exactly?
This is where I tell you that I don’t like Olympic lacrosse. I think the rules are stupid. Oh, I get why they had to change them to be more accessible to nations across the world. Playing a full field NCAA or Pro version of the game would increase the cost to, well - if you play now you already know this - an untenable, nay, unsustainable level. “But what if they just played box?” Have you ever seen someone that doesn’t know how to play box lacrosse try to play box lacrosse? I did and they left the arena in an ambulance. If you take the physicality out of box lacrosse all you have left is men’s league pick up hockey with no checking but the ball is in the air. Is that fun to play? Yeah, but I wouldn’t want that to be representative of the game of lacrosse.
Why change the game (for both genders) to find a middle ground so the sport can MAYBE be accepted by the rest of the world? Rugby 7’s is fun! They say. Handball is really taking off in the southern hemisphere, man! We have to change it! Get the fuck out of my face with that logic. I don’t believe you.
What I do believe, and this is somewhat contradictory to the previous points, is that international lacrosse is important to the future of the sport. The more people that have the opportunity to play the game, the more the game will grow. That applies to men and women alike even though they play two different versions of the game. Where was the outrage in 2017 when the Iroquois women’s team was excluded from the World Games competition? It’s not okay, but now we know that you care way more about the men’s team than the women’s team. Have a seat.
The great lie of lacrosse is that it is the sport of the future! Every organization, every company, every person on earth with any vested interest in the sport at all will say that to you. They will believe it as they believe in their own religion. I know because I used to believe it, too. Part of me still does. For the moment, that notion remains a tantalizing possibility. Because the goalposts keep moving. Get lacrosse in the Olympics and it will blow up! You’ll see!
Except, there’s way more to it than that. There is way more to this issue of exclusion than that. We are all (hopefully) taught by our coaches and mentors that Native Americans (and First Nations) created the sport that we all love so much. That it is a medicine game. It is a sacred thing. And what have we done with it? Commodified it. Commercialized it.
Colonized it.
And now that it’s been co-opted and repackaged so it can be sold to the world...the move is to exclude them from that process? That’s not taking your ball and going home; that’s taking the ball and going to play with an entirely new friend group. When you look at the situation like that in a black and white way, it makes things so clear. But we aren’t dealing with simple matters with simple solutions. We are dealing with complex international relations, committees, and money.
Let me get this out of the way: I’m so white I’ve been gluten-free for 3 years and tried to make chickpea pizza crust last week. I’m so white I didn’t know Will and Jada broke up - or why. I’m so white I had to text two different people to find out what the Verzuz collab with DMX and Snoop Dogg was and then text two more people to find out where I could find it on the internet. I’m so white I know all the lyrics to “Hamilton”, but understand none of the modern contexts. It is embarrassing, but the point is that none of us are as woke as we think we are.
The issue of sovereignty here is very real. Essentially, the message that is being conveyed here is not “you’re not good enough to play” it’s “you’re not a real nation.” Let that sink in for a second. Stay in the pocket with that anger and feel 1/1,000,000th what it must feel like to wake up with even the notion of that echoing in your head. How does that change?
Here is the thing about social movements not becoming moments - they need dedicated people to run and support them. I used to think that it was perfectly fine to be a silent ally. My logic was “Well, I don’t treat different people differently or badly, so it’s okay.” The truth is, most white people feel that way. And yes, it is most. In fact, it’s probably you and if you’re upset with that assertion it’s BECAUSE that’s how you feel. I honestly don’t know how you still feel that way after the last three months, but on a long enough timeline, people come around to their own hypocrisy. Unless they’re racists. The thing is that contributing to a movement means not making it about you. It’s about using your platform for something else. Someone else.
At the same time, it’s hard to try to pull back on the instinct to attack. To try to harness your anger for something more constructive. If it were easy everyone would be friends. It’s hard to learn as much as you can about the situation and then applying that knowledge to construct a cogent argument. People, en masse, are the only force that can correct the oversight of not including the Iroquois Nationals - the Haudenosaunee Nation - in international play. This message will not reach that many people, but the hope is that the people it does reach will take action and encourage others to follow suit. That’s how a community works.
We’ve seen so much beautiful unity in the Black Lives Matter movement, we have seen it create change and set right some, but certainly not all, injustices. Don’t be a person that is content or comfortable. Don’t just dismiss this as an empty bureaucracy that can’t be changed; be an agent of change. Don’t scream into the void of social media. Petitioning the International Olympic Committee to include the Haudenosaunee Nation is a necessary first step in a long long line of steps that need to be taken. Maybe you aren’t a lawyer, but you probably know one. Maybe they can help. Maybe you can explain how integral this issue is, and should be, to the sport’s community as a whole. If you’re a professional player for the United States or Canada, consider putting pressure on your country’s sporting organization by saying publicly that you won’t play for the National team until this issue is resolved. If you’re a coach, refuse to coach the team. If you’re a sponsor…
Consider ripping up the check.
If you’ve somehow gotten this far and you’re not convinced, I implore you to read this statement from Lyle Thompson:
This is all connected. This issue matters. Indigenous people matter. Black Lives Matter. #MeToo matters. LGBTQ peoples matter. Your voice matters. It’d be a shame if you did nothing at all.
Kyle, eloquently said and apropos text. You hit on the crux of the issue: At stake is sovereignty of the Iroquois which the the USA has granted by treaty. This needs to be honored internationally and enforced by America. It's their game, and it's sacred, bo way they should be deprived their nation and their cultural heritage by the colonial powers that continue to bleed them.
Very proud of you!