Why Black Lawmakers Oppose Federal Recognition Of This Virgina Tribe

[redbeard]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus are urging the Obama administration to withhold federal recognition of a Virginia Indian tribe because of its history of banning intermarriage with blacks.



In January, the Interior Department proposed recognizing the Pamunkey tribe in southeast Virginia, which would make members eligible for special benefits in education, housing and medical care — and allow the tribe to pursue a casino. A decision on recognition, which would be the first for a Virginia tribe, is due by March 30.







The Congressional Black Caucus members urged Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Attorney General Eric Holder to hold off until the Justice Department investigates any discriminatory practices by the tribe. Neither department has responded to the request, made in a Sept. 23 letter, according to a spokeswoman for Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson, who signed the letter.



The letter cited a report by the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs that quoted tribal law: "No member of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe shall intermarry with anny (sic) Nation except White or Indian under penalty of forfeiting their rights in Town."



The bureau said there was no indication the tribe had changed its ban, but Pamunkey Chief Kevin Brown responded in a letter to the CBC that the ban has been repealed. He said in an interview that the change was made in 2012.



The Bureau of Indian Affairs said that the significant number of Pamunkey-Pamunkey marriages and efforts to encourage them helped satisfy a criterion for federal recognition: that a predominant portion of the group comprises a distinct community and has existed as one from historical times to the present.
SNIP!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/28/congressional-black-caucus-virginia-tribe_n_6236410.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics

Where is Elizabeth Warren on this issue of the congressional black caucus attacking her people? We really need to hear from Pocahontas on this attack on native Americans being denied their heritage by the Black Caucus!!

[SVPete]

So the recognition of Indian tribal group as a "tribe" should be contingent on tribal policies irrelevant to its identity as a tribe?

Lib/Prog circular urination matches are entertaining! 

[redbeard]

With the 2016 election coming the democrats have a chance to make history once again by the nomination of not only a woman but an American Indian woman in Elizabeth Warren, but first she needs the Re-establish her leadership with the tribes by taking on this issue with the congressional black caucus! Think about it! A chance to right all wrongs perpetrated against the poor indigenous people in this country by the evil white conquerors their army of black pony soldiers!! 

[SVPete]

Maybe if the Pamunkey adopt Fauxcahontas as a member of their tribe the approval process could be, ummmmmm, expedited.

[Darth Fife]

The concept of reservations and "Indian Nations", in my not so humble opinion, was never a good one. Today, it is archaic at best, and needs to go the way of the dinosaur.

The cold hard fact is that the Indians lost; just like the Confederacy lost. They need to come to grips with that and become part of the nations as a whole.

Darth