Lacrosse was played by Native American nations across North America long before it was colonized by Europeans. But despite Native people’s historical and cultural connection to the game, they were periodically banned from playing before the 1973 American Indian Religious Freedom Act restored Native peoples’ right to practice religious and cultural ceremonies. Native Americans who play and coach lacrosse today have recent ancestors who were forced to play in secret.
Jeremiah Moreno, who coaches the 7 Flames youth lacrosse team in the Dakota Premier Lacrosse League (DPLL), says he views instilling a reverence for lacrosse and its history as a part of his job. “The game is a ceremony to us. I tell the kids, this game our ancestors played was a ceremony, so you have to respect it,” he said. “The Creator is the one looking down on you watching you play, with a good happy heart. So no matter what happens, no matter who says what to you, you always remember that.”
Until a few weeks ago, Moreno’s team was one of a few majority-Native lacrosse teams playing in the DPLL, the only lacrosse league in the Dakotas, which includes players from age 11 through high school. 7 Flames draws most of its players from two Lakota reservations, while two other Native-majority teams in the league, Susbeca (which means dragonfly in the Dakota language) and Lightning Stick Society, field mostly players from Dakota reservations.
Last month, these three Native American teams were suddenly expelled from the DPLL by league administrator Corey Mitchell, for reasons players and coaches say they still do not understand. Members of all three teams say they have experienced severe racial abuse from other DPLL players, parents, and referees, and they allege they were kicked out of the league because Mitchell was uninterested in addressing their allegations of racial abuse.
On March 8, Cody Hall, director of 7 Flames Lacrosse, called Mitchell to discuss allegations of racism that have plagued the DPLL from its inception. According to Hall, Mitchell responded by acknowledging that racism against Native American players was an issue in the league, but said he couldn’t do anything about it. Then, Hall says, Mitchell informed him that he was expelling 7 Flames and the two other Native teams from the league.
Registration for the upcoming season was only a week away, leaving the teams no time to fight Mitchell’s decision. Lightning Stick Society director and head coach Franky Jackson was never notified of the expulsion by Mitchell, and only noticed something was amiss when he found he had been locked out of the DPLL registration web page. “My take on that is, [Mitchell] wanted to give them as little time as possible to fight this,” said Michael Butler, a former DPLL official. “He did everything in his power to make sure these teams would not be able to come back this year. Which is totally unprofessional and frankly, evil.”
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