Latest news with #Lumbee
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal report due on Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina's path to recognition as a tribal nation
Members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina are awaiting the release of a Department of the Interior report that, as soon as this week, could light a path for federal recognition as a tribal nation. In January, President Donald Trump issued a memo directing the department to create a plan to 'assist the Lumbee Tribe in obtaining full Federal recognition through legislation or other available mechanisms, including the right to receive full Federal benefits.' The memo required the plan to be created within 90 days, a deadline that comes Wednesday. The Lumbee are a state-recognized tribe that has been seeking federal acknowledgment, a distinction that comes with access to resources like health care through Indian Health Services and the ability to create a land base such as reservations through the land-to-trust process, for several decades. Both Trump and his opponent in the 2024 presidential election, former-Vice President Kamala Harris, promised the Lumbee federal recognition as the candidates were courting voters in the important swing state of North Carolina. Lumbee voters helped deliver that state to Trump. Since the 1980s, the Lumbee have had a difficult time convincing the federal government, members of Congress and some federally-recognized tribes that their claims to Native ancestry are legitimate. Tribal nations can be recognized either through an application process vetted by the Office of Federal Acknowledgement or through legislation passed by Congress. In 2016, the Office of the Solicitor at the DOI reversed a decision barring the Lumbee Tribe from seeking federal recognition through the application process, however, the Lumbee have opted instead to gain acknowledgment through an act of Congress, where they have some support. Several tribal nations, like the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the only federally-recognized tribe in North Carolina, have opposed the Lumbee's efforts, citing discrepancies in their historical claims.
Associated Press
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Federal report due on Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina's path to recognition as a tribal nation
Members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina are awaiting the release of a Department of the Interior report that, as soon as this week, could light a path for federal recognition as a tribal nation. In January, President Donald Trump issued a memo directing the department to create a plan to 'assist the Lumbee Tribe in obtaining full Federal recognition through legislation or other available mechanisms, including the right to receive full Federal benefits.' The memo required the plan to be created within 90 days, a deadline that comes Wednesday. The Lumbee are a state-recognized tribe that has been seeking federal acknowledgment, a distinction that comes with access to resources like health care through Indian Health Services and the ability to create a land base such as reservations through the land-to-trust process, for several decades. Both Trump and his opponent in the 2024 presidential election, former-Vice President Kamala Harris, promised the Lumbee federal recognition as the candidates were courting voters in the important swing state of North Carolina. Lumbee voters helped deliver that state to Trump. Since the 1980s, the Lumbee have had a difficult time convincing the federal government, members of Congress and some federally-recognized tribes that their claims to Native ancestry are legitimate. Tribal nations can be recognized either through an application process vetted by the Office of Federal Acknowledgement or through legislation passed by Congress. In 2016, the Office of the Solicitor at the DOI reversed a decision barring the Lumbee Tribe from seeking federal recognition through the application process, however, the Lumbee have opted instead to gain acknowledgment through an act of Congress, where they have some support. Several tribal nations, like the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the only federally-recognized tribe in North Carolina, have opposed the Lumbee's efforts, citing discrepancies in their historical claims.
Miami Herald
07-04-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Kelvin Sampson left NC and never came back, but still represents the best of the state
We've recognized Kelvin Sampson as an incredible coach and as a Lumbee and Native American trailblazer. We've excoriated him as a cheater, for breaking picayune rules the NCAA long ago stopped caring about and probably never should have. And he's spent his entire career in exile, in Michigan and Montana and Washington and Oklahoma and Indiana and Wisconsin and now Texas, always far from Robeson County. Even as an expatriate, perhaps because of that, it's time to fully embrace him as one of our own. Regardless of what happens Monday night in the national-championship game, whether the Houston team Sampson coaches to be as tough at its core as any his father had in Pembroke can beat Florida or not, it's time to acknowledge, finally, one indisputable fact about Sampson. He is a great North Carolinian, forged in some of the state's worst moments to become the best of us. Duke flamed out Saturday night, wilting under the pressure Sampson's teams are guaranteed to impose, yet another San Antonio scandal on the scale of Roy Williams and his Kansas sticker 17 years ago. The Triangle's teams have never had any success in the Alamodome, but the state of North Carolina still has a dog in this fight Monday night. 'I don't get back much,' Sampson said. 'I'm not sure when the last time I've been to Pembroke. I know I have a lot of support there. There's a lot of people there I still care about and love.' Everything about Sampson's story comes back to North Carolina in the end, his Lumbee roots, his family, his precepts. We can learn from his courage, appreciate his resilience, acknowledge the retrospective wisdom of the second chances he was given, by Gregg Popovich in the NBA and at Houston. He was raised in tobacco-stained segregation — amid bathrooms and water fountains for 'white,' 'colored' and 'other' — only to flourish on one of the biggest stages in all of sports, one win from a national title. Along the way, he's taken care of his family. He played for his late father Ned, a North Carolina high school legend. Now, his son and daughter are both on his Houston staff. He wouldn't have it any other way. 'If they had had a nepotism law where I couldn't do it, I wouldn't have taken that job,' Sampson said. He's never forgotten his roots. His wife Karen, also a graduate of Pembroke High and UNC Pembroke, serves on the UNCP board of trustees, where the family endowed a basketball scholarship in the name of Kelvin's parents. When Houston was in the American Athletic Conference, it made regular visits to East Carolina. Sampson would spend as much as an hour after games in an otherwise empty Minges Coliseum greeting friends and family from Pembroke and its surrounds — hugging, shaking hands, taking pictures, being present. He has taken his father's coaching legacy and built upon it exponentially. The lessons he learned not only during the basketball season but the three months his father worked other jobs — selling insurance and encyclopedias, working in tobacco markets in Lumberton — are passed down to his players now. All these years later, Sampson's teams play like every possession is a chance to escape from wheeling pallets of tobacco leaves around a stifling warehouse. When you've sweated through that, what's being down six to Duke in the final 40 seconds of a Final Four game? 'The feeling of coming here is not one of accomplishment for me, maybe because it's my age, but it's more gratitude,' Sampson said. 'Just grateful that you still have an opportunity to do this.' Neither Sampson nor his father is a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Kelvin Sampson, two wins from 800, is not a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. It's time for our reckoning with his legacy, even if he's not concerned about it. This is the closest Sampson has come to a national title in five decades of coaching. Win or lose, we can appreciate the arc of his life, his career, even as it has taken him away from North Carolina. How he's taken the values of his childhood in Robeson County and built a championship-caliber program upon them. He left, and never came back, but he's still one of us. Whatever else happens Monday, that's what should matter. Never miss a Luke DeCock column. Sign up at to have them delivered directly to your email inbox as soon as they post. Luke DeCock's Latest: Never miss a column on the Canes, ACC or other Triangle sports
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Land deal returns nearly 1,400 acres ‘rich with cultural significance' to Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina
PEMBROKE, N.C. (WBTW) — Nearly 1,400 acres of sacred ancestral lands are being handed over to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina in a land deal announced Monday by a national conservation group. 'We are excited to reconnect with this land, which we've not been able to access for a very long time. Our people are outdoors people, and the ability to steward this land for Lumbee and visitors alike is truly special,' Tribal Chairman John Lowery said in a statement. New York-based Open Space Institute acquired the 1,382-acre Camp Island property with funding support from a private family foundation and a North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant facilitated by Ducks Unlimited. OSI then donated the property 'rich with cultural significance and natural resources' to the tribe. The nonprofit said Camp Island represents the first opportunity to establish a large, protected natural area under Lumbee stewardship. According to 2020 Census figures, roughly 116,000 Robeson County residents self-identify as American Indian — the highest concentration of that demographic in any county east of the Mississippi River. The Camp Island grounds are special among the Lumbees as a cultural site where significant indigenous artifacts have been found. In addition to its tribal significance, officials said keeping the land away from private development will have environmental benefits as well, since several blackwater samps on site drain directly into the Lumber River. 'We're excited to join forces with OSI and the Lumbee Tribe to funda project that holds tremendous value for wetlands, wildlife and the community,' said Emily Purcell, who runs Ducks Unlimited's southeastern conservation programs. Camp Island's history traces back to pre-colonial times and once housed a pro-British loyalist encampment. In the 1850s, escaped slaves set up a small community on the grounds. * * * Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12. See more of his work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Let the madness begin
Kolby KickingWoman ICT Bust out your boogie shoes because The Big Dance is finally here. More colloquially known as March Madness, the NCAA Tournament features 68 teams from across the nation, lacing up their sneakers all with the dream of outlasting the field and winning the championship. The mantra is simple – survive and advance. Each team is six wins away from being immortalized in college basketball history. On the men's side, three players and one coach will be representing their respective tribes along with their schools, according to Jason Amador, Navajo and Mohave, is a senior guard for 13-seed Grand Canyon University; Lance Waddles, Standing Rock Sioux, is a junior guard for the 15-seed Omaha Mavericks; and Dayton Forsythe, Chickasaw Nation, is a freshman guard for 9-seed University of Oklahoma. On the sidelines, University of Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson, Lumbee, led his Cougars squad to Big 12 regular season and conference championships this year and the team's third consecutive season as a 1-seed in the the four, Sampson has the best opportunity to make the Final Four but this humble writer and sports enthusiast has them losing to the Duke Blue Devils in the semifinals the first weekend of April. As sports fans, these are among the best of the year. This first weekend, with games running essentially all day, is purely bliss. A survey of 3,000 fans from the Action Network found that 40 percent admitted to calling in sick to watch games on the first Thursday and Friday of the tournament. Additionally, the survey found 'March Madness could cost the U.S. economy approximately $20.89 billion in lost productivity.' Talk about a serious case of basketball fever. Admittedly, I am prone to keep an eye on my bracket throughout the day, sorry boss! There's still time to fill out your bracket, Just make sure you get that bracket turned in before the first game tips off at 12:15 p.m. ET Thursday. Here's a little nugget for you – only once has all four No. 1 seeds made it to the Final Four; that was in 2008. Ironically, that Final Four was held in San Antonio, the locale for this year. Upon filling out my initial bracket, I had this occur and it gave me pause. However, the four No. 1 seeds have been among the best in the country all year. Naturally, if I stick to the course, none will make it and my bracket will likely be busted before the end of the weekend. But that's the awesomeness of March Madness. Unexpected turns and surprises are bound to happen. Plus, it's fun to get behind and root for a Cinderella. For what it's worth, I have Duke beating Florida in the National Championship 77-71. So here's to buzzer beaters, broken brackets and Cinderellas. Let the craziness of March Madness begin. Like this story? Support our work with a $5 or $10 contribution today. Contribute to the nonprofit ICT. Sign up for ICT's free newsletter.
