North Carolina's two U.S. senators have teamed up on a bill to finally give this state's Lumbee Indian tribe the full federal recognition for which it has long fought. Let's hope this is the year that Congress finally approves this crucial legislation.
Sen. Richard Burr of Winston-Salem, a Republican, and Sen. Kay Hagan of Greensboro, a Democrat, introduced the bill. "I hope that the Senate will fulfill its commitment to achieve fairness and justice for the Lumbees," Burr said recently in a prepared statement.
Full recognition would entitle the Lumbees to federal benefits for housing, health care and education that other tribes have long received. Recognition would also encourage economic development in the Robeson County area, where most of the 55,000 members of the tribe live. The tribe has worked hard on development throughout the last decade.
Congress approved legislation acknowledging the tribe in 1956. An unfair caveat, however, denied the Lumbees the benefits given to other federally recognized tribes. This year, the House again approved recognition for the Lumbee tribe. Now, Burr and Hagan should push the action through the Senate.
The timing is right. President Obama, who campaigned heavily in North Carolina last fall on his way to the White House, promised full recognition for the tribe. His Interior Department is now supporting that recognition.
The Lumbees, in the interest of winning their fight, didn't oppose the House bill's ban on the tribe operating a casino. That, clearly, was one reason the Cherokee tribe fought Lumbee recognition.
Some Cherokees have questioned whether the Lumbees are true Indians. But Rep. Mike McIntyre, a Lumberton Democrat who sponsored the bill in the House, has called those questions "a weak attempt to try and confuse the issue of federal recognition."
The Lumbees, descendants principally of the Cheraw Tribe, have remained a distinct community in the Robeson County area since the 1700s. They have been recognized by the state of North Carolina since 1885.
Other tribes are concerned that recognizing one more tribe may lessen their federal dollars. But Congress should be able to recognize the Lumbees without reductions to other tribes.
Full recognition for this tribe is overdue.
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