Hi, I'm Dan Pramak, host of Axios Recap.

Today is Saturday, March 20th, and we're bringing you the latest episode of Hard Truths,

Axios's special series on structural racism.

Here's my Axios today colleague, Nailabudu.

Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. I'm Naila Boodoo.

We're here on a Saturday with another episode of our Hard Truth series, a year-long project examining systemic racism in the U.S.

Today, we're looking at sports and lacrosse.

The game was actually invented and played by Native Americans as far back as the 12th century.

The Erequois people called it a medicine game.

It was spiritual, which isn't the predominant image of lacrosse today.

People view the game as this rich, white, preppy sport that if you play, you belong to this club.

You have these privileges, not so much the individual,

but just how we're viewing the game and who's participated in the game over the past decade or so, even longer. That's Lyle Thompson. You might not think of lacrosse players as

huge sports stars, but if there's one, it's Lyle. The Native American star

plays for the Iroquois Nationals. He holds several NCAA records, was just signed to the

lacrosse Premier League. He even has a Nike sponsorship. At the age of 28, Lyle is considered

one of the best players in the world. And the Iroquois Nationals are one of the best teams in the

world. But despite all of this, he and his Iroquois Nationals are one of the best teams in the world. But despite all of this,

he and his Iroquois teammates have been blocked from some of the sports' biggest global tournaments.

That's why he's fighting to get lacrosse and his team recognized at the 2028 Olympics.

A lot of people don't even know that this is a Native American game.

There are still places I go and people sign up for my events.

...