The strange story of the Lumbees

Here's a developing story I have managed to miss until now. Unfortunately, it involves Donald Trump, but that can't be helped.

It seems that, for whatever reason, Trump has taken on the plight of the Lumbees, a native American tribe from North Carolina, which Trump has vowed to help become federally recognized, with all the financial and other benefits that come with that designation, including healthcare, education and economic development. In fact, one of his very first executive orders was to press the Department of the Interior to find a way to make that happen.

The 55,000 strong Lumbee nation has been recognized in North Carolina for over a hunded years, but federal recognition involves a very specific set of requirements including proving that their nation existed before the founding of the USA, that they have been recognized as Native since at least 1900, that they have operated as an "autonomous entitiy", and that they have genealogies that demonstrate Native heritage and ancestry from previously recognized tribes.

These are quite onerous requirements and, thus far, the Lumbees have not been able to fulfill them. In fact, strangely, there was even a 1956 federal act, the Lumbee Act, that specifically prohibits the US from having a federal relationship with the group. It gave them only limited recognition, and specifically prohibited them from receiving federal benefits. I have no idea why.

Now, Trump is asking the DoI to find a way round the Office of Federal Acknowledgement (OFA) that has always had responsibility for federal recognition of Native groups, and that has officially recognized over 570 Native tribes across America over the years. And this has other Native groups worried. 

They worry that, by circumventing the OFA, a bad precedent for future tribal recognition will be set, and that it will water down the stringent requirements that have been in force up until now. They argue that the Lumbees have tried repeatedly to attach themselves to various historical tribal and non-tribal names in order to identify themselves, but without success, meaning that they remain "not necessarily Native". 

Apparently there are many other groups out there diligently trying to prove their indigeneity, and this move by Trump could open up a real can of worms, and ppotentially even pit one Native group against another. Futhermore, it is very unlikely that the pot of money devoted to the country's Native tribes will grow if more tribes are recognized, so the same money will be spread more thinly around more groups (another reason why existing Native tribes are suspicious of this new process). In fact, it surprises me that this system has not already foumd itself facing the keen axe of Trump or the much-hated Department of Government Efficiency.

Of course, the only reason Trump is even listening to these people is for their votes (as reflected in the voting trends of recent elections): he doesn't care about their Native heritage. The whole controversy is leading to a politicization of Native issues. And we know that Trump thrives on both politicization and controversy.