Oklahoma City (AP) Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris courted a state-recognized tribe in North Carolina during their campaigns, whose 55,000 members might have helped tilt the state in their favor.
In September, Trump pledged to sign legislation giving the Lumbee Tribe federal recognition, which would allow them to access federal monies. In the end, he won North Carolina by almost 3 percentage points, partly because Lumbee people continued to back him.
The promise will now be tested as Trump gets ready to retake the White House in January. The Lumbee and tribal nations around the nation are now closely observing what happens next, and he has Republican allies in Congress on the matter.
For many years, the Lumbee have been attempting to get around the Department of the Interior’s application process for federal recognition by applying to Congress instead. Chairman John Lowery criticized the application process at the Department of Interior for being too drawn out and flawed, and he said that Congress should be in charge of correcting what he describes as a historic mistake.
“I have to admit that I am real in 2024, and it’s just crazy that we’re sitting here fighting this battle,” Lowery added.
The Lumbee expect that their cause will gain momentum after the presidential election, but they are up against strong opposition from tribal nations all around the nation.
There are concerns regarding Trump’s next course of action.
A number of tribes, notably North Carolina’s sole federally recognized tribe, contend that the Lumbee Tribe should follow the Department of the Interior’s formal procedures if it wishes to receive federal recognition. The president-elect will demand that the Lumbee Tribe do just that, according to a source familiar with Trump’s thinking, and he will not sign a law recognizing them. Since they were not permitted to discuss Trump’s opinions in public, the individual asked to remain anonymous.
Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s spokesperson, stated that no policy should be considered official unless it originates from the president himself.
The opportunity to establish a land base, such as reservations, through the land-to-trust process and access resources, such as healthcare through Indian Health Services, are two major benefits of federal recognition. However, a tribal country must first submit a successful application to the Interior Department’s Office of Federal Acknowledgment.
The Lumbee Tribe’s application for federal recognition was turned down in 1985 because it was unable to prove the group’s cultural, political, or genealogical ancestry to any of the historically present local tribes.
The Interior overturned a 2016 ruling that prevented the Lumbee Tribe from reapplying, but the Lumbee have chosen to go through Congress instead.
Legislation to obtain federal recognition is an uncommon but not unheard-of route. However, the Lumbees’ strategy has fueled a long-simmering discussion about Indigenous identity and tribal nationhood in Congress and Indian Country.
Members of both parties have shown support for the Lumbee.
Members of Congress from both parties have supported recognizing the Lumbee through legislation, including Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a member of the Cherokee Nation whocampaigned for Trump in North Carolinaand backed the legislation.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina who is seeking reelection in 2026, is arguably the state-recognized tribe’s most fervent ally in Congress.
Tillis has been an outspoken advocate for the Lumbee and introduced the Lumbee Fairness Act last year. In interviews with The Associated Press, several tribal leaders, lobbyists, and advocates said they were told by Tillis directly or by his staff that the senator is currently and will continue to block certain bills backed by tribal nations unless the leaders of those tribes support the Lumbee.
One of the bills he s promised to block, according to those interviewed by the AP, is a land transfer that would allow the Tennessee Valley Authority to return 70 acres of land to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the only federally recognized tribal nation in Tillis s state. It would allow the tribe to put the land in Monroe County, Tennessee into trust. The plot is part of the tribal nation s homelands and contains the birthplace of Sequoyah.
It s appalling to me. It s disgraceful, Principal Chief of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Michell Hicks said. He said that Tillis told him earlier this year that he would stop any legislation dealing with the Eastern Band unless Hicks pledged his support.
Hicks is among the tribal leaders who question the validity of the Lumbee s historical claims, and he said that is out of the question. The Lumbee were formerly known as the Cherokee Indians of Robeson County approximately a century ago. For many years, the three Cherokee tribes—the Eastern Band, the Cherokee Nation, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians—have condemned this and have been outspoken in their opposition to the Lumbee receiving federal recognition.
Representatives for Tillis declined to comment.
Tillis held up legislation last week that would have allowed for thepreservation of the site of the Wounded Knee massacre. While doing so, he singled out the heads of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, who have backed the preservation measure, for not supporting his efforts to federally recognize the Lumbee.
This is not about you, Tillis said to the two tribal nations, who he acknowledged had been trying for a century to preserve the site of the massacre. But you need to know that your leadership is playing a game that will ultimately force me to take a position.
Tillis suggested it was a casino cartel in part driven by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and an Osage attorney named Wilson Pipestem working for the tribe, that is trying to keep the Lumbee from gaining recognition, which could one day lead to the Lumbee opening their own casinos. Tillis threatened to continue publicly naming tribal leaders and their employees who he felt were standing in the way of his bill.
In a statement to the AP, Pipestem said Tillis should apologize to the Tribal leaders for his false allegations and unscrupulous tactics.
Lowery acknowledged that Tillis has held up both pieces of legislation, but he said that Tillis has not done so at the direction of the Lumbee.
If he s put a hold on the bill it s because he reached out to tribal leaders to see where they stand on his bill, and they apparently have told him that they re not in support, Lowery said. So, he said well, if you can t be supportive of my bill, I can t be supportive of your bill.
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Graham Lee Brewer is an Oklahoma City-based member of the AP s Race and Ethnicity team.
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