Blocking Wounded Knee Bill for Lumbee recognition support undermines fairness

A recent objection by US Senator Thom Tillis from North Carolina against the Wounded Knee Memorial bill introduced by Senator Mike Rounds from South Dakota demonstrates the inability to understand fairness.

When addressing his objection, Senator Tillis claimed that the fault for his position originates from the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes’ leadership disagreeing with the path the Lumbee Tribe used to seek federal recognition. A report from Axios on the matter misrepresented the number of citizens claimed by the Lumbee, swelling it to ten times that found in the tribal census data enumerated by the State in 2020.

Previously, Tillis aimed to halt the flow of potential housing monies for Native Hawaiians in favor of funding the Lumbee Bill. According to Tillis, his previous role as NC Speaker of the House allowed him to renegotiate the gaming compact the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) have with the State. In return, Tillis stated that the EBCI took their fortune and began sabotaging the Lumbee Bill he sponsored by lobbying against it. Tillis has threatened the EBCI to block a bill to transfer ancestral land from Tennessee to the nation, pending support for the Lumbee Bill.

The EBCI and coalitions of federally recognized tribes across the western US banded together to spread awareness of the impact blocking the Wounded Knee bill would have. The Coalition of Large Tribes (COLT) stated, “The Lumbee’s silence is tacit support.” In 1978, the Tuscarora Nation helped the representatives of the NC Commission of Indian Affairs reinstate Lumbee and Haliwa state tribal recognition.

Despite this aid from the Tuscarora, in 2019, now House of Representatives member and Lumbee citizen, Jarrod Lowry, asked the Indian Commission to prohibit any new petitions by the Tuscarora permanently. Mr. Lowry went a step further and misidentified the Tuscarora Nation as a “splinter group” of the Lumbee.

Research provided by a Lumbee scholar said that “at the time of first European contact, there was no tribal nation identified as the Lumbee Tribe.” Speaker of the House Tim Moore was featured earlier in the year, stating that Tuscarora legislation would more than likely not pass because of interference by the Lumbees and Mr. Lowry. Representative Ed Goodwin, the sponsor of the Tuscarora legislation, clarified that he believed the Tuscarora would have to go to court to find justice because of the Lumbee’s opposition through the Commission. In an interview, Rep. Goodwin further explained that the Tuscarora were an ancient tribe with treaties with the State.

Unlike the Lumbee, the Tuscarora supported the activism of the American Indian Movement during the Wounded Knee Occupation on Pine Ridge in 1973. The Tuscarora, like the Oglala and Cheyenne River Sioux, deserve justice, healing, and reconciliation despite Sen. Tillis’s objections. The Tuscarora Treaties demand that all NC lawmakers fulfill their obligations to honor the relationship our ancestors entered with the Assembly centuries ago. Forcing support of the Lumbee Bill while blocking legislation for authentic Native nations undermines justice and democracy.

Editor’s Note: The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Laurinburg Exchange.