Sept. 8, 2004

One Olympian's quest not over; U.S. State Department wrestling
with Nathaniel Mills in his effort to renounce U.S. nationality

State Department officials hesitant to honor renunciation, fearing Mills
would become "stateless" while still in the U.K.

London, Sept. 8 - The Olympic Games aren't over just yet for three time
Olympic speedskater Nathaniel Lincoln Mills. His event?
Self-determination. Representing the "human family," Mills is a peace
educator who left his residence in Washington, DC, and went to Athens -and now London- to
"advance dialogue about the philosophy of Olympism and one-worldism"
during the Olympic Games. His current textbook: himself.
Mills, who possesses no other national citizenship, is renouncing
because he finds the nation-state system "an unnecessary system of
segregation, disrupting natural connections between members of our one
human family." As a lawyer who attended a top U.S. law school before
voluntarily resigning his law license, Mills asserts that consular officials
in Athens and London and the U.S. State Department are abusing U.S. law and
established international human rights principles in refusing to honor his
desire to renounce.
Mills went to Athens on his own at the invitation of humanitarian
organizations affiliated with the Olympic Movement, including the
World Olympians Association and Right to Play. He is a faithful
supporter of Ekecheiria, the Olympic Truce, and expresses
confidence that "once planted, the seed of a pacific idea
has no choice but to grow." He recently arrived in London, hoping consular officials there would reconsider his request to renounce U.S. nationality.
Just two years ago, Mills traveled to the 2002 Winter Games in Salt
Lake City with the U.S. delegation as a member of the US Olympic
Committee athlete commission. This year he arrived at the Games in Greece
carrying a World Passport issued by the World Service Authority
along with his US passport. The World Passport derives its legal authority
largely from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, of which Great Britain is a signatory.
One part of the dialogue Mills has been advancing came in the form
of a provocative article calling for the IOC to "de-politicize its
century-long practice of featuring national flags and anthems during the
Olympic medal ceremony, replacing these with the Olympic flag
and anthem." As he sees it, realizing this idea would be a "daring but
sensible action by the IOC to promote world peace through sport, the
Olympics' primary purpose."
To underscore his own principles, on Monday, August 23, he visited
the U.S. Embassy in Athens in order to legally expatriate himself from
the United States, a right for U.S. citizens according to laws dating from
mid-18th century.
The US Consul General Kathryn Berck denied his request, claiming it was
U.S. State Department policy not to issue Certificates of Loss of
Nationality to those who:
1) do not possess another nation's citizenship, and
2) express an intent to return to the U.S.
Mills rejects this reasoning, citing U.S. and international
laws defining the human right of expatriation, beginning with an Act of
Congress of July 27, 1868.
In the wake of Secretary of State Colin Powell's
aborted visit to the Olympic Games in the midst of
anti-war demonstrations on the U.S. Embassy in Athens, State Department
officials still haven't honored Mills' desire. He is now in London seeking a new audience with U.S. consular officials at Grovesnor Square.
Citing his philosophical emigration toward world citizenship,
Mills remains resolute. After making an Affirmation of Renunciation he
intends to relinquish his U.S. passport to consular officials,
though doing so may take an Olympian will.
Mills hails from an active and athletic family; sister Phoebe is an
Olympic bronze medalist in gymnastics (Seoul 1988), sister Hilary
and brother Lucas were elite speedskaters, sister Jessica was a
Junior World Champion figure skater (1989), and brother Whitaker is an
accomplished Opera singer. Mills accomplishments are not limited to sport.
Before attending Georgetown Law he trained as an actor at Northwestern
University. He now teaches peace and coaches youth at the
"Kids on Ice" speedskating program at the Friends of Fort Dupont Ice Arena
in a low-income neighborhood in his home town of Washington
DC. He can be reached by email at  nathaniel.mills@olympian.org

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Olympian's Letter to US Consulate Renouncing US Nationality:

********************
August 23, 2004

U.S. Consulate
Bureau of Citizenship & Immigration Services
Embassy of the United States
91 Vassilisis Sophias Avenue
Athens 10160, Greece


Dear U.S. Consulate:

This letter memorializes my voluntary and conscientious
relinquishment of United States nationality.

Dissolution of the political bond of national citizenship is not done for
light or transient causes. I find the nation-state system to be an
unnecessary system of segregation, disrupting natural connections between
members of our one human family, and exercising unwarranted control over
the lives of freeborn beings otherwise created equal and endowed with the
same inalienable natural rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.

My intention in renouncing U.S. nationality is not to denounce the nation
that will continue to exercise a degree of jurisdiction over aspects of my
existence, circumstantially born and settled as I have been within its
political borders. Withdrawal from the U.S. polity can be accomplished
while simultaneously acknowledging the progressive political rights and
privileges that inure to those born within it. Rather, my emigration
toward living as a citizen of the World - philosophically and
geographically - is to honor my natural rights as a human being and to
personally witness Trust as the only true guardian of security in a candid
world.

I trust this appeal to consanguinity will inspire others to hear the voice
of native justice, including officials sworn to uphold the nation-state
system.

Artificial separation is a debilitating problem; we are all part of the
solution.


Interdependently,

Nathaniel Lincoln Mills
World Olympian & World Citizen