The Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina will not be federally recognized this year, despite support from President Donald Trump and President-Elect Joe Biden. In a recent Facebook statement, Tribal Chairman Harvey Godwin Jr. stated that Congress’ year-end spending bill does not include federal recognition for the tribe. “Even after our dedicated recent efforts to get Lumbee recognition legislation enacted, it is with a heavy heart that I inform you we have not been successful,” Godwin wrote. However, he added, “I can assure you this is not the final word on Lumbee recognition.”
Federal recognition would provide the 55,000-member tribe, based in Robeson County, millions of dollars in community benefits, including access to additional federal funding for education, health care and economic development projects in the tribe’s economically challenged region.
Recognition also could lead to authorization to open a casino—although that could lead to problems with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the state’s only federal recognized tribe, which operates two casinos in western North Carolina. It has sued to stop the Catawba Indian Nation from opening a casino in Kings Mountain. Prior to the November 3 election, Eastern Band Principal Chief Richard Sneed said, “’Tis the season when politicians of all stripes make desperate promises to get votes, but the pandering has reached new levels with the embrace of legislation to extend federal recognition to the Lumbee.” Sneed said for generations, the Lumbees have failed to meet the cultural and linguistic standards required for federal recognition.
Trump expressed support for the Lumbee Recognition Act, whose lead sponsor is U.S. Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina. In October, Trump said, “For more than a century, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has sought federal recognition, but has been met with indifference and red tape. Lumbee Nation is forgotten no more!”
Also in October, President-Elect Joe Biden pledged to back U.S. Rep G.K. Butterfield’s bill recognizing the Lumbee tribe. The bill was introduced in 2019. The Biden campaign issued a statement noting, “Six decades ago, Congress recognized the Lumbee Tribe but denied it the benefits that all other federally recognized tribes receive. It is past time for the federal government to rectify this injustice and fully recognize the Lumbee tribe, providing it with the critical resources it needs to prosper.”
The Lumbees received limited federal recognition in 1956 and full recognition by the state of North Carolina since 1885.
