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Taken from the Wilson Daily Times
Lumbee officials testify in D.C.
The Associated Press
FAYETTEVILLE — Lumbee tribal chairman Jimmy Goins told a congressional hearing on tribal recognition that the North Carolina tribe knows its roots but outsiders still question them.
"They don't know us. They have never been in our community and yet they dispute every congressional and federal legislation," Goins said Wednesday.
"We will match the strength of our history and community against any other Indian tribe. We are, in fact, an Indian tribe."
Goins testified before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs as the tribe sought federal recognition.
Lumbees have been seeking federal status for more than a century and if it is won will get an estimated $77 million in annual federal aid.
Congress approved the Lumbee Act in 1956 that said the tribe was American Indian but left out the benefits.
"It's time for all this to end and for Congress to complete what it started in 1956," Goins said.
Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C. told the panel that Lumbees are the only American tribe hemmed in by actions of a previous Congress. Dole filed the Lumbee Acknowledgment Bill last spring.
"Their legitimacy has been established time and time again," Dole said. "... There is no need to waste the tribe's or the government's time and money again."
Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said the tribe hasn't been treated fairly.
Federal officials said it could take four years to review a Lumbee petition for recognition.
Although Dole was pushing for legislation to give federal status to the Lumbees, officials of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee said the tribe should take the traditional recognition route through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The process is "undermined when politics and emotion, rather than facts about tribal identity, drive the federal recognition decision," testified Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Lumbee officials testify in D.C.
The Associated Press
FAYETTEVILLE — Lumbee tribal chairman Jimmy Goins told a congressional hearing on tribal recognition that the North Carolina tribe knows its roots but outsiders still question them.
"They don't know us. They have never been in our community and yet they dispute every congressional and federal legislation," Goins said Wednesday.
"We will match the strength of our history and community against any other Indian tribe. We are, in fact, an Indian tribe."
Goins testified before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs as the tribe sought federal recognition.
Lumbees have been seeking federal status for more than a century and if it is won will get an estimated $77 million in annual federal aid.
Congress approved the Lumbee Act in 1956 that said the tribe was American Indian but left out the benefits.
"It's time for all this to end and for Congress to complete what it started in 1956," Goins said.
Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C. told the panel that Lumbees are the only American tribe hemmed in by actions of a previous Congress. Dole filed the Lumbee Acknowledgment Bill last spring.
"Their legitimacy has been established time and time again," Dole said. "... There is no need to waste the tribe's or the government's time and money again."
Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said the tribe hasn't been treated fairly.
Federal officials said it could take four years to review a Lumbee petition for recognition.
Although Dole was pushing for legislation to give federal status to the Lumbees, officials of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee said the tribe should take the traditional recognition route through the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The process is "undermined when politics and emotion, rather than facts about tribal identity, drive the federal recognition decision," testified Michell Hicks, principal chief of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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