12/12/2025
Editor's Note: Reposting from Principal Chief Michell Hicks' social media page.
Lumbee group Chairman John Lowery has again attempted to shift attention away from the facts by recasting both Lumbee history and ours. This is not new. Shifting identities and narratives have been the only consistent feature of Lumbee identity from the beginning.
Chairman Lowery's latest comments, which echo Senator Markwayne Mullin's mischaracterization of Cherokee history, serve one purpose: to distract from the fact that Lumbee recognition language was inserted into the National Defense Authorization Act without ever entering the federal acknowledgment process. That is the issue. Not their characterizations of us. Not the stories they choose to tell. The problem is the continued avoidance of the standards required of every other tribal nation.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has been clear for decades: If the Lumbee pursue recognition through the established federal process, we respect that process. We do not respect political shortcuts that bypass the standards meant to protect sovereignty across Indian Country. We are not moved by sophomoric attempts to redefine us or to redefine history. Our identity is documented. Our sovereignty is established. Neither depends on Lumbee approval nor Lumbee interpretation.
We also cannot ignore the role of North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, who has repeatedly pursued Lumbee recognition while refusing to engage with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians unless we agreed to support that outcome. As North Carolina constituents, we have been clear that our commitment to sovereignty is not conditional, negotiable, or for sale.
Equally concerning are the back-room political deals that enabled this recognition language to be placed into a defense bill. President Trump has not been a friend to Indian Country, and prioritizing Lumbee recognition in exchange for an estimated 60,000 votes is not leadership but a dismissal of tribal sovereignty in favor of electoral strategy. A shortcut doesn't build Indian Country, it signals to Washington that our sovereignty is something they can bargain with.
History does not change because someone retells it, and recognition achieved without an evidentiary process does not erase the questions that remain.
