141 recognized tribes have come out against Lumbee recognition. There was a bill which also would have recognized the MOWA, who we have a thread on. The Lumbee are not really like the obvious fakes the MOWA. But it does show recognition is pretty broken.
There have only been a few tribes recognized recently even though there are plenty that deserve it, most of them applying in California and Alaska and any tribe that lost it in the 50s during Termination. Though they are legit, the Pequot were the first to sidestep the Office of Federal Acknowledgement. It can take 20 years and cost millions, and most of the ones that deserve it just don't have the means.
The Pequot obviously got approved because of money they made for so many. It's likely the same with Lumbee. Possible casinos or resources. As bad as Trump is, Harris favored recognition for them too.
DNA says the Lumbee are mostly Black and white mixed, with under 10% of them having Native ancestry. So what? There's plenty of others that are, most of the tribes here in Virginia, the Pequot, to a lesser extent the Seminole, and tribes in Latin America like the Garifuna. All of them are made up of multiple tribes shattered by invasion that had to join together to survive and adopted outsiders, esp Black slaves and sometimes whites running from the authorities.
Problem is the Lumbee have changed their stories of who they are several times. They've claimed to be Tuscarora, Cherokee, and Croatan before they were Lumbee. Those 141 tribes are mainly worried this will break the recognition process, let anyone in if there's money to be made or votes to help swing a politician's election. Plus Trump's people are openly challenging Native citizenship itself. They already argued before the courts the 14th Amendment doesn't or shouldn't protect either immigrants or enrolled Natives.
