The Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation has the right and duty to oppose the Lumbee federal recognition bill. After all, the Lumbee/Croatan faction presented themselves as Cherokees for federal Recognition for over a 45-year period before Congress from and joined the NCAI as the Cherokees of Robeson County in 1945 after the Croatan bill failed in 1900.
The Lumbee faction had filed four separate bills before Congress asking to be enrolled and recognized as Cherokee. Each bill was signed with a petition by over 600 of the Croatan/Lumbees individuals who hired an attorney to have them recognized as Cherokees despite having no linguistic, cultural or historic connections to anything Cherokee at all.
The Cherokees are protecting their heritage and true history and have the right and duty to keep Native American heritage authentic and real. It’s not about greed you see. It’s about authenticity and integrity of a Sovereign Indian Nation and a nation’s duty to uphold and present true Native historical information.
Den Ozzy
Broken Arrow, Okla.
