Tribal legitimacy debates far from settled in Indian Country

Artist Doug Hyde’s sculpture of Little Turtle, a leader of the Miami people who was known as Michikinikwa and lived from the mid-1700s through the early 1800s, is seen in Suitland, Maryland, between the Smithsonian National Anthropological Archives and the Cultural Resources Center of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Concerns about legitimacy continue to be a significant source of contention within the nation’s largest inter-tribal organization.

At its annual convention last week, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) announced that 14 groups were not renewed for membership. According to an October 30 news release, the groups in question must submit additional information if they want to belong to an advocacy organization that was established in 1944 to defend tribal sovereignty.

“It is the responsibility of the leadership of NCAI to execute its fiduciary duties as mandated by its constitution and bylaws — which includes a faithful application of our membership criteria,” NCAI President Mark Macarro said.

“… Earlier this year, the NCAI Executive Committee established a task force of elected leaders from Tribal Nations throughout the United States in order to address membership integrity, education, and healing…”

Read the full statement: https://t.co/Y681DIVxws. pic.twitter.com/VaguAxCyBW

— National Congress of American Indians (@NCAI1944) October 31, 2024

According to the release, the 14 groups represent the “initial findings” of a task force that Macarro established after winning the NCAI presidency a year ago. At the 2023 annual convention, tribes debated — and eventually rejected — proposed amendments that would have limited membership to federally-recognized Indian nations and their citizens, leaving state-recognized groups out of the fold.

But as the release indicates, the work of the Membership Integrity, Education, and Healing Task Force is far from over. The group, which consists of 10 leaders from across Indian Country, plus two co-chairs, is continuing to review how NCAI addresses issues of legitimacy that have arisen within the ranks.

“We look forward to the task force’s continued work and our further shared goals of education and healing,” Macarro said in the release, which did not identify the groups whose memberships in NCAI are pending.

NCAI’s commitment to integrity was in fact put to the test during the convention. A day prior, the organization issued an apology to the Lumbee Tribe, a state-recognized group based in North Carolina, over “inflammatory materials” that were distributed at the gathering in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The October 29 statement did not describe the nature or content of the materials. But attendees said a flyer placed on tables and chairs at the convention contained a link to a tribally-developed website that opposes federal recognition for the Lumbees.

“This is a violation of the code of conduct by which all members are bound,” NCAI said in the statement. “It is an unacceptable breach of the standards and spirit of community, consensus, and inclusion that NCAI works hard to promote and safeguard. We regret and apologize for the divisiveness this unethical action has caused.”

“We also apologize to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina for this insult,” read the statement, which cincluded a copy of the code of conduct.

NCAI condemns the unauthorized distribution of inflammatory materials at #NCAI81 today. This violates our code of conduct and the standards we uphold. We apologize to our attendees and to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina for this great insult.

https://t.co/IT2ZB7PBWg pic.twitter.com/ZGV9sucYac

— National Congress of American Indians (@NCAI1944) October 29, 2024

The United Indian Nations of Oklahoma, the inter-tribal organization that developed the flyer and website, and the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association hosted a session of their own in Las Vegas that focused on opposition to legislation in the U.S. Congress that would extend federal recognition to the Lumbees. The gathering took place on Tuesday morning, the day before the NCAI apology.

The two controversies indicate that last year’s debate about the presence of state-level groups at NCAI is far from settled. The host of the organization’s mid-year convention in June, for example, was the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, whose leadership warned before and after the event of “fake groups” that claim to be Cherokee.

“We also learned how much harder we are going to have to work to defeat fake groups identifying as Tribe and/or Tribal government,” Principal Chief Michell Hicks said at the conclusion of the convention at the Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in North Carolina.

A handful of groups claiming to be Cherokee in fact are among the initial 14 whose membership was not renewed in NCAI, according to an attendee of the Las Vegas conference. A number of these groups lack formal recognition by a state government and instead are merely chartered or incorporated under state law, which goes against the organization’s existing by-laws.

“We’re not reinventing the wheel here. We’re executing previous policy that’s
been voted on by the executive council,” NCAI President Macarro said when asked about the developments at a lengthy tribal caucus in Las Vegas, during which both the membership renewals and the Lumbee apology were discussed.

NCAI’s 81st Annual Convention and Marketplace kicked off this past weekend with special pre-conference events to bring together tribal leaders, sponsors, and philanthropic partners. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/250S7wXzQ6

— National Congress of American Indians (@NCAI1944) October 30, 2024

But some tribal leaders were taken aback by the membership renewals issue. One representative of a Southeast Region tribe that gained federal recognition after being state-recognized said the issue has caused considerable controversy among his peers.

“It’s not good for us, it’s not good for our caucus,” the tribal leader told Macarro. “It’s not good for NCAI.”

Representatives from the Northeast Region also voiced concerns about the membership renewals and how it affects the larger debate about state recognition. Nearly every tribe from the region — notably those in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts — didn’t gain federal recognition until the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, but all had long been recognized by state governments, even going back to colonial times.

One prominent leader from the Northeast told Indianz.Com that the ongoing debate has “equated state recognition with fake tribes.” “That’s despicable,” the person said.

During the tribal caucus, which lasted about three hours, Geoffrey Blackwell, NCAI’s general counsel and chief of staff, said that the Membership Integrity, Education, and Healing Task Force has reviewed as many as 27 applicants. He indicated that the groups hail from “multiple regions” of the United States, after some at the meeting questioned whether the Northeast and the Southeast were being singled out.

“The effort here is not to try to expel or kick out,” said Blackwell, contrasting it with last year’s debate, which would have resulted in state-level groups being outright denied membership in NCAI.

Many thanks to our participants from this past weekend’s NCAI 81st Annual Convention Fundraiser Golf Tournament! It was a wonderful time for our community to come together in support of the NCAI Foundation’s Empowering Leaders Initiative! Stay tuned for more updates from #NCAI81. pic.twitter.com/2eM6xcciCa

— National Congress of American Indians (@NCAI1944) October 28, 2024

Macarro also pointed out that NCAI’s existing by-laws do not appear to allow for the organization to “expel” any members. He said every member must renew its application every year — which typically happens right before the annual convention.

And while Macarro, during the debate last year, supported the proposal to restrict membership in NCAI to federally-recognized tribes, he was adamant that the organization does not “determine who’s an Indian, who’s not an Indian.”

“That is outside the provenance of NCAI,” said Macarro, who has served as chair of his tribe, the Pechanga Band of Indians in southern California, for more than 28 years.

He further noted that NCAI does not take on “issues that are tribe versus tribe.” That’s why he said the organization issued the apology to the Lumbee Tribe for the materials that were distributed at the convention in Las Vegas.

The rebuke from NCAI, however, is not stopping the efforts of tribes who oppose legislative recognition for the Lumbees. As Congress returns to work following the November 5 election, they will be lobbying lawmakers against the bill, known as the Lumbee Fairness Act. [S.521 | H.R.1101]

“The Eastern Band of Cherokee has repeatedly stated that federal acknowledgment of groups claiming to be tribes is a serious matter,” Principal Chief Hicks said in a November 1 statement in support of the research conducted by the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma.

According to Hicks, the Lumbees should seek federal recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, rather than going to Congress. In 1987, the Lumbees attempted to do just that, submitting a petition that outlined their claims of descent from the Cheraw people that were historically based in North and South Carolina.

But the lengthy petition — copies of which are available at the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian National Anthropological Archives — was never processed by the BIA. In 1989, the Department of the Interior concluded that a federal law known as the Lumbee Act of 1956 precluded its consideration. The law has been viewed as “terminating” or “forbidding” a federal relationship with the “Lumbee Indians of North Carolina.”

The Barack Obama administration reversed course and issued a legal opinion in 2016 that opened the door for the Lumbees to pursue recognition through the BIA, a process that can take decades to complete. However, the tribe has continued its push for an act of Congress, attracting support from president-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to “take care of it” once he enters the White House in January 2025.

“We’ll take care of it right at the beginning,” Trump said at a rally in North Carolina, one of the battleground states he won as part of his successful presidential campaign.

Even vice president-elect, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who derided Indigenous Peoples Day as a “fake holiday” joined the effort. Though he will soon be leaving his legislative office for the executive branch, he signed onto the Senate version of the Lumbee Fairness Act on September 25 — just a few days after Trump made his promise to the Lumbees.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton, left, poses with Lumbee Tribe Chairman John L. Lowery at the Museum of the Southeast American Indian at UNC Pembroke in Pembroke, North Carolina, on October 18, 2024. Photo: Lumbee Tribe

The Lumbee Tribe has spotlighted the attention. A month after Trump’s pledge, Chairman John L. Lowery welcomed former Democratic president Bill Clinton to Lumbee territory in North Carolina. He also took a phone call from Vice President Kamala Harris, who vowed her support for federal recognition as the Democratic nominee for president before she lost the race.

“It is time that both parties uphold their promises to us, and it’s time to put action behind their words,” Lowery said in an October 23 news release.

So far, neither the U.S. Senate nor the U.S. House of Representatives have advanced the Lumbee Fairness Act. No hearings have been held in either chamber since the bills were introduced in February 2023, near the start of the 118th Congress, which is the current session.

But Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) has attempted to include the Lumbee Fairness Act in other legislative packages. In July, he submitted a proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is considered a “must pass” bill, in order to recognize the tribe. He attempted the same during the 117th Congress but was unable to get the language into the prior version of the NDAA.

URGENT:
The Lumbee group in North Carolina is actively working to stop federal legislation that would return sacred and historical lands to tribal nations, all to create leverage for their federal recognition bill.
1/

— United Indian Nations of Oklahoma (@IndianNationsOK) October 30, 2024

According to multiple advocates who work on Indian issues on Capitol Hill, Tillis has even put holds on other tribal bills, preventing them from passing unless he sees action on the Lumbee Fairness Act. When asked about such tactics, which have occurred in the 117th and 118th sessions of Congress, his office did not respond.

The Lumbee Tribe also has not responded to inquiries about its legislative strategy.
But in his recent message, Chairman Lowery reiterated his support for Tillis and other sponsors of the federal recognition bill.

“Senator Tillis and other NC Lawmakers are working hard on the Lumbee Fairness Act,” said Lowery.

A copy of the Lumbee Tribe Petition for Federal Acknowledgment, submitted in 1987 on behalf of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, is seen at the Smithsonian National Anthropological Archives in Suitland, Maryland. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

In pursuing legislative recognition, the Lumbees have not publicly discussed the petition that was submitted on their behalf in 1987. The document consists of three volumes outlining the ways in which the group believes it meets the mandatory criteria for federal acknowledgment as an Indian tribe — from its identification as an “Indian entity” by outsiders to its claims of descent from a “historical” Indian tribe, or tribes.

“In summary, the present-day Lumbee tribe is descended from an
Indian community composed largely of Cheraw Indians and related
Siouan-speaking people who were known to have inhabited the area
of what is now Robeson County since the eighteenth century,” the petition asserts.

The petition was examined for the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma by Jean M. Kelley, a genealogist, researcher and expert in federal recognition. Her 19-page report can be found on the website that appeared on the flyers disseminated at the NCAI convention last month.

The copy at the Smithsonian National Anthropological Archives is an original donated to the institution by the late Lumbee attorney Julian Pierce, one of the authors of the petition, according to staff at the facility.
The copy at the Library of Congress consists of the same materials bound together in book form, with one book for each of the three volumes.

A copy of Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the Lumbee Tribe Petition for Federal Acknowledgment, submitted on behalf of the Lumbee Tribe in 1987, is seen at the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The name appearing on the spine of the bound volumes is that of Julian Pierce, one of the co-authors of the petition. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

Both copies include several charts purporting to depict family trees of several Lumbee families, including those that trace their heritage to the Lumbees who signed a petition asking Congress for federal assistance in 1888. The trees lack identifying information about the people listed, such as birth and death dates, although common Lumbee surnames such as Hammond, Locklear, Lowery/Lowry and Oxendine can be found throughout.

Besides Pierce, the petition is attributed to Cynthia Hunt-Locklear, another Lumbee who was on staff at the Lumbee River Legal Services, Inc., a legal aid group in North Carolina. Additionally, two consultants are credited: Jack Campisi, an anthropologist, and Wesley White, a researcher.

Campisi has testified before Congress in support of federal recognition for the Lumbees. Both he and Arlinda Locklear, a prominent Lumbee attorney who has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, have told lawmakers that the tribe descends from the Cheraw people.

At a hearing in 2003, Campisi stood behind the petition’s claim of a “compelling” connection to the historic Cheraw tribe without overtly citing the 1987 document. At the same hearing, Locklear blamed the Department of the Interior for preventing the Lumbees from gaining federal recognition.

“We have had this experience with the Department of Interior for more than 100
years now, and I dare say that this tribe would be recognized today
had it not been for the department’s longstanding opposition to
recognition of the tribe,” Locklear said, well before the federal agency opened the door for review of a Lumbee petition by the BIA.

According to the authors of the Lumbee petition, the third volume explains the group’s descent from the historic Cheraw tribe — written to satisfy one of the key criteria for federal recognition. Consisting of just six pages, the volume happens to be the shortest and the one with the least information.

A copy of the Lumbee Tribe Petition for Federal Acknowledgment, submitted in 1987, is seen at the Smithsonian National Anthropological Archives in Suitland, Maryland. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)