Why are so many Native American tribes (especially the Cherokee) united in opposition to full federal Lumbee recognition?
The Lumbee are among the eight Native American tribes in North Carolina recognized by the federal government. They inhabit the southern side of the Robeson County and draw their name from the Lumber River. The Lumbee were recognized as Croatan Indians in 1885 in the State of North Carolina. They have been trying unsuccessful to get federal recognition for the last 130 years. The only federally recognized Native tribe is the Cherokee Indians who have continually opposed the recognition of the Lumbee tribe2.
The Lumbee community is not considered as a Native American tribe despite their efforts to prove that they are. There are claims that the Lumbee community is not a pure race and have no Indian roots. The Cherokee especially claim that the Lumbee do not exhibit any characteristics of the Native American Indian tribes. They are descended from inter racial marriages between the Indians and European and non European communities. At one time, the Lumbee were considered to be more black than Indians. This was a key point of the other native Indian communities to fight hard to ensure that the Lumbee community was not federally recognized1.
The other possible reason why the federal government continually rejects the proposal of this community of federal recognition could be its size. Federal recognition means that the federal government would be responsible of providing social and economic services to the community. These include but are not limited to education, healthcare and trust protection among others. The federal government considers this as a heavy burden to undertake.
In essence, the Lumbee deserve the right to be fully recognized by the federal government. No native tribe in the modern world can claim to be so pure free from other races blood. That therefore should not be a basis of whether or not a tribe should be fully recognized by the federal government.
Bibliography
Karen, I., Blu. The Lumbee Problem: The Making of an American Indian People. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001.
Locklear, Lawrence T. “Down by the Ol’ Lumbee: An Investigation into the Origin and Use of the Word ‘Lumbee’ Prior to 1952.” Native South 3, 2010: 103-117.
