By Bud Shapard
As the former director of the office at the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ that processes applications from tribes for federal recognition. I have followed the ups and downs of Lumbee Tribe’s quest for federal recognition not only during my career, but also since my retirement from the BIA in 1988.
This year, it appeared that finally a bill granting the Lumbees full rights as an Indian tribe was within 3 or 4 votes of becoming a reality when the effort seemed to come unglued. From a distance this seemed to be concurrent with the events surrounding the dismissal of the tribal attorney who had been working on the recognition cause and lobbying congress for at least 25 years, employing in her stead a gaming industry consulting firm.
As a result, apparently two factions have faced off; one accusing the other causing the loss of congressional support for injecting the gaming possibility into the discussions after years of declaring that the Lumbees would not have a casino or other gaming facility. The second group argues that the reason for loss of momentum for Lumbee recognition in Congress results from the two groups not displaying a unified front.
Admittedly, I have not been directly involved in the process for some years, but in evaluating groups back then from within the BIA, factional arguments within a tribe were expected and to some extent demonstrated the legitimacy of a tribe.
On the other hand the bureau always looked with some concern when representatives of the gaming industry became involved in the recognition process. With a casino or gaming establishment at the end of the rainbow, the process became a pursuit for money, not a search to validate a tribe’s ethnic heritage. It was viewed as a harbinger of abuse of tribes by the industry, necessitating additional concern by the federal trustee. I suspect that times may have changed that, but in my humble opinion, I believe that the most egregious mistakes made in this entire folderol are the reversal of the Lumbees’ longstanding avowed intention to avoid commercial gambling entirely, and to fire the one person who has a complete grasp on the efforts to be recognized, and who had the process almost to the point of completion.
It is tragic that the Lumbee recognition bill now appears to have stalled after having gotten so close in this Congress. It seems obvious to me, however, that the Lumbee recognition bill faltered because of the tribe’s unfortunate decision to associate with a gaming consultant, and not because of any internal tribal differences over that decision.
Bud Shapard
Pisgah Forest, NC
Source: This letter appeared in the print edition of The Robesonian on July 3, 2010.
When will the supporters of the “council” realize that their decisions (councils) is the reason the tribe will not get recognition with this bill. The tribe saying we wanted recognition for our
heritage then hiring a firm that manages casinos. They thought they could fool its members but they were the ones fooled. Let’s all remember this when its time to elect OUR leaders.
Yes, many of us knew this all long and even those Lumbees that may not have law degrees or other degrees and or understanding of the complex and often just plain messed up political concept, knew that the Lewin Contract was just plain bad. If only the few that signed it and supported that contract had listened to The People.