Lumbee Tribal Chairman Lowery Calls for Unity at 80th National Congress of American Indians Annual Convention


New Orleans, Louisiana - Lumbee Tribal Chairman John L. Lowery addressed tribal leaders from around the nation at the 80th National Congress of American Indians Annual (NCAI) Convention in November 2023. Chairman Lowery gave a speech, to fight for the Lumbee and fellow tribes.


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“Good morning. I am John Lowery, Chairman of the Lumbee Tribe of N.C. In 1956, the United States Congress passed the Lumbee Act which recognized my People, the Lumbee People, and at the same time they put a clause in the bill to prohibit us from receiving any services that are designated for federally recognized tribes. This language was inserted, as this was in the middle of the era of Indian Termination. So, the United States Government recognized us and at the same time said that we could not


receive any services and the Lumbee are still stuck in this Legal Limbo today. Other tribes faced similar legislation and fortunately, to my knowledge, those tribes have had their Termination Era Legislation rectified.


Two years later in 1958, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) decided they were going to have a rally in Lumbee Country. The Klan picked out a field and they were going to burn a cross. They brought their message of white supremacy, blood purism, and their superiority complex with them and they thought they were going to teach the Lumbee a lesson. Well, a lot of our men, mostly WWII Veterans, grabbed their shotguns, rifles, and pistols, and went down to meet the KKK on that cold January night. Their hate mongering and racism did not scare my people. During the Civil War,


the Lumbee People dealt with the Confederate home guard as my great grandfather’s great grandfather was murdered, execution style, for being an Indian. We dealt with the Jim Crow South, where we drank from the “Indian only” water fountains and got our food from the back door of eateries because we could not go through the front door, and we fought to beat Nazism and to defeat the Japanese empire during WWII. So, going to face the KKK was just another step in our Native people standing up to those who thought they were superior to us. For those that don’t know, we shot out the lights and fought the KKK and they ran away that night and have never been back.


Today, I stand on the floor of NCAI, as we now have some pushing amendments that reek of “Native supremacy, along with blood purism


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