The so-called lame-duck session of Congress boasts a rich history of last-minute backroom deals, pardons, and political giveaways. This heady time of post-election posturing and ceremony provides a perfect cover for leaders seeking to push through things they might not want exposed under the more rigorous examination of the traditional legislative process.

With this silly season now upon us, the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma (UINO) released a video that highlights the opposition from 141 federally recognized tribes to an 11th-hour surprise that they say will undercut their sovereignty and lead to mass cultural appropriation.

In the video, the tribal leaders talk openly about the history, culture, and genealogical lineage that makes a tribe a tribe and how some groups seek to receive federal recognition as independent sovereign nations in this lame-duck session without having to provide any proof of their ancestry.

Under normal procedures, questionable groups seeking federal recognition must petition the expert-led Department of Interior’s Office of Federal Acknowledgement (OFA), which undertakes a straightforward genealogical and historical review before honoring their requests. However, two groups that call themselves the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians are instead seeking to have their allies in Congress rubber-stamp them federal recognition, which will prevent them from having to prove their claims to the OFA.

Their two bills, H.R. 2758 and S. 3443, remain active in the halls of Congress. Under the “unanimous consent” rules of the Senate, the latter bill, known as the “Lumbee Recognition Act”, could become law if a sitting senator — even one who won’t be serving come January — simply strides to the Senate Floor and makes it so (provided no other Senators also walk to the floor to object).

Over the course of time, the Lumbees have self-identified as four different tribal nations. Genealogist Paul Heinegg says they are an “invented North Carolina Indian tribe.” 

“They have no language, they have no identity, no culture to trace to, no blood quantum,” points out Tribal Councilman Joe Deere of the Cherokee Nation. And Ogala Sioux Tribal Councilman Bernardo Rodriguez Jr. points out, “They’re borrowing their culture from other tribes in the area just to say they are a part of something. You can’t borrow, steal, take to make something yours when it’s not.”

The other group seeking to obtain federal recognition through Congress rather than on merit, the group that calls itself the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, previously failed the OFA recognition process.

“The Final Determination concluded that there was no evidence that established the Choctaw or other Indian ancestry of 99 percent of the MOWA membership,” wrote the Solicitor of the Department of Interior. “Rather, the evidence tended to disprove Indian ancestry.” Now, MOWA seeks to undercut the OFA and obtain federal recognition through Congress instead.

Having been subjected to decades of threats to their sovereignty already, the 141 tribes who oppose their circumvention efforts don’t take the prospect of having their lineages appropriated for political or financial gain through Congress lightly.

“Lumbees and MOWA are trying to circumvent the OFA process. We’re all sticking together trying to say ‘follow the process’. That’s all we’re asking you to do,” states Richard French, Chairman of the Tribal Council for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

The 141 tribes in this broad coalition of opposition, all of whom possess extensive proof of their lineage, speak common languages, and actively practice and preserve their cultural history, fear that Congress setting a precedent that allows any group with political connections to receive federal recognition will weaken existing tribes’ government-to-government relationships with the United States and dilute the meaning of what it means to be a sovereign nation altogether.

“Tribal nations are going to see tribal sovereignty reduced to ash.  If you have groups that claim to be the same as a sovereign…that will destroy what it means to be a sovereign,” notes Shawnee Tribe Chief Ben Barnes.

As the tribes make clear in their numerous resolutions and letters on this issue, they do not oppose groups seeking recognition by the federal government. But they strongly oppose them receiving it through unfettered backroom deal-making and no historical reviews, which they categorize as counterproductive to legitimate tribal nations’ interests.

“Some are saying that passing the Lumbee bill or the MOWA bill is ‘pro-tribe’.  That is entirely not the case,” claims T.W. Saunokee, a Tribal Councilman with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

“Culture and history should define the tribes, not politicians. Being a tribe is not for sale,” emphasizes Margo Gray, Chairwoman of the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma.