Dear England,
I am sorry.
I wrote an error-filled post last week where I got a number of facts wrong, and for that, I received a solid amount of backlash, some of which was likely well-deserved. I can own up to my mistakes, and I do sincerely apologize for the things I got wrong. These errors did a disservice to readers, and obfuscated the valid point I was trying to get across. We all make mistakes, and this one was mine. I vilified England as a whole, and would like to apologize to all of English Lacrosse in particular.
My assertion that England had not gotten their passports stamped at the 2015 WILC was false. They were the first country to actually get stamped, and they played in the first ever game at the new Pavilion at Onondaga. The players were gracious, involved, and respectful, and their program did not deserve my scorn. This was inexcusable, and a bad miss on my part. I am truly sorry for this mistake.
While the Iroquois did play hard against the English, they always play hard, and I may have looked far too deeply into that.
[fvplayer src=”https://youtube.com/watch?v=PC_z2TZqNBQ” splash=”https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PC_z2TZqNBQ/hqdefault.jpg” caption=”England Vs Iroquois Box Lacrosse: WILC 2015″]
There was also backlash about whether England really forced the issue of passports in the first place back in 1921, and while some of my wording may have been sloppy there, both Canada and England did impose travel restrictions on Native people at that time, and that is still an important point in history where this issue stems from.
Some have asked that the post be taken down, but it will remain up, because it is important to leave a record of one’s mistakes. While the post has been corrected, strikethrough portions of original text have been left in, to remind me to be MUCH better. Leaving all of my mistakes out there is meant as a lasting apology.
Of course there are things I won’t apologize for, because I’m like that. And I won’t apologize for the call to action.
A commenter stated that the 2012 U19 Iroquois team traveled on US and Canadian passports, and that since precedent was set, the onus was purely on the Iroquois to use either correct passports or US/Canadian passports. Maybe what the commenter said is true, meaning that perhaps the Iroquois do need to use modernized passports… But if that is the case, should we not try to help the Iroquois accomplish this?
We often hear cries from the democratic West (US, Canada, England included) that we should support people around the world who want the right to self-determine. We fight wars abroad to accomplish this, and no one bats an eye. But when a native people on our land want the same, the reaction is very different.
When I got feedback to my last post, even after I made numerous corrections and changes, it came in the following positive to negative ratio: A LOT to ONE. I got ONE response that looked past my many mistakes and offered to make positive change. And I got A LOT of small corrections, and angry responses. If I were a regular blogger, I wouldn’t be surprised, but coming from the lacrosse community, I was actually a little shocked. Only one person could look past the mistakes I’d made and look to making this situation better. Only one.
So I will apologize for the above as well. I am sorry that I wrote something that made people so angry. I’m sorry that the real message was destroyed. I’m sorry that I crushed all ability to think with my post, and that it only incited defensive anger. This is not me being sarcastic either. I am truly sorry I did this. I let my bias take over, and while I cited it, I did a disservice to all with my overzealous pursuit, and only got negativity in return. I did that to myself.
Reporters, journalists, and writers try to convey the truth. That doesn’t mean blindly spewing “facts”, and opinion always comes into play. If a source tells you their news is only facts, they are lying, because that is impossible. Admitting bias is key to readers getting the full picture. At the same time, sources must be as honest as they can be, so I will tell you that my bias here remains to a certain extent. I can not deny this, so instead I will try to make it clear.
My goal is to see the Iroquois Nationals compete in EVERY significant world lacrosse championships, whether they be run by the FIL, World Games, Olympics, or anything else. This is the Iroquois’ sport, and they deserve to play their game in front of the world if it is going to be on that stage. If the Iroquois continue to use it as a political tool, then who can truly blame them? They are fighting for their rights peacefully, using what they can. Should I not, as a peaceful and democratic person, support that? I can see no way around it.
That does not change he fact that I was wrong to focus so much on the past in my last post. And I was wrong to get so much wrong. The future is what we can change, and I truly hope that the US, Canadian, and English lacrosse communities will all make every effort to make sure the Iroquois Nationals can play in Manchester in 2018, to the satisfaction of all parties. I clearly don’t have the answers, but hopefully someone out there does. From here on out, I will simply push for the Iroquois playing, and put any pressure I can on my elected officials to make sure it happens. I’ll leave the details up to them.
I am sorry, England. I put you down where you didn’t deserve it. I hope you accept my apology and we can move forward together towards a superb 2018 and beyond.
