President
Joe Biden
believes the Haudenosaunee Confederacy should compete at the 2028 Summer
Olympics
in Los Angeles under its own flag.
“Their ancestors invented [lacrosse], they perfected it for millennia, their circumstances are unique, and they should be granted an exception to field their own team at the Olympics,” Biden
said
this month at the Tribal Nations Summit
hosted
by the
White House
.
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The
Native American
group may want to be its own country, but it does not act like one. The confederacy is included in both the United States and Canada and protected by the militaries of both countries. It has no problem taking
federal funding
from U.S. taxpayers.
It is true that the confederacy has a great team; its men’s team ranks in the
top five
in different lacrosse categories.
“For over 30 years, the Haudenosaunee — formerly known as the Iroquois Nationals — have sent a team to the World Lacrosse Championship and other tournaments under their own flag,” Sports Illustrated
reported
.
“Competing independently of the United States and Canada, the Great Lakes-based Native American and First Nations tribe has won bronze medals at each of the three most recent world championships,” the sports news outlet said. “They’re currently ranked third in the world, behind only the American and Canadian teams.”
That does not mean the Olympics should let it compete separately.
Descendants of the tribes that make up the confederacy can look back to their ancestral history and see mistreatment from American settlers; that is true. But the descendants are not the victims of these past atrocities, and sports are not a good form of reparations. (
Reparations
are also not a good form of reparations.) The confederacy’s players went to private schools, attended American universities, and now play professionally.
The roster includes Kyle Jackson, who lived in Ontario, went to a private sports high school, and then played at the University of Michigan. He is now a professional lacrosse player for the
Carolina Chaos
. He plays for the confederacy, but he does not appear to have grown up within its boundaries. Teammate Warren Hill
plays professionally
after a career at Syracuse University.
They are given these opportunities by Canada and the United States. These players are not oppressed. Hundreds of years ago their ancestors may have been, but many descendants are evidently doing just fine.
Their circumstances are not unique, either — human geography is the frequent shifting of national boundaries, even if brought about by bloodshed, deceit, and theft. Furthermore, the International Olympic Committee should not approve the request unless it wants to reopen historical maps and let descendants of shifting boundaries form their own teams.
The 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles, California. Teams will include the U.S., Canada, and Italy. There will not be a Mayan team or an Aztec team. Texas won’t compete as its own country, and the Papal States won’t be sending representatives either. Neither should the Haudenosaunee.
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Matt Lamb is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is an associate editor for the College Fix and has previously worked for Students for Life of America and Turning Point USA.
