Iroquois Ponder Meaning of Nationhood: ; Passport Controversy Stirs Up Questions
Sunday Gazette-Mail › August 02, 2010
Linked as:
Summary
ONONDAGA NATION, N.Y. - A group of young men have gathered in the longhouse for the feather dance, and the sounds of their singing filter outside, where Mohawk Chief Howard Thompson sits.
His people call him Onerekowa, the name his predecessors have borne for a thousand years. Each month, when he gathers with the 49 other chiefs from the six Haudenosaunee nations, he stands to speak in the language of his ancestors. And when the 50 come to a decision, they don't take a majority vote. Instead, as it has for a millennium, the leaders of the Iroquois Confederacy decide by consensus.See the full content of this document
Extract
Iroquois Ponder Meaning of Nationhood: ; Passport Controversy Stirs Up Questions
Today Thompson awaits the start of a meeting of the Haudenosaunee Peace and Trade Committee, where tradition will grapple with the outside world. The issue is passports.
Last month, the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team missed their world championship in Britain rather than travel overseas under U.S. or Canadian passports. Their Haudenosaunee passports were deemed inadequate in a post-9/11 world - partly handwritten, lacking in high-tech security features.Haudenosaunee Documentation Committee chairman Karl Hill peers fier...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
