JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
President Donald Trump is pushing for the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina to become a federally recognized tribe. In a memo that he signed on Thursday, Trump urged the interior secretary to create a plan to, quote, "assist the Lumbee tribe in obtaining full federal recognition through legislation or other available mechanisms." The action comes after previous attempts to get federal recognition failed.
Here to talk about it is Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz. She's an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and an associate professor of public policy at the University of Iowa. Welcome back to the program.
CARRIE LOWRY SCHUETTPELZ: Thanks for having me.
SUMMERS: Carrie, I'd like to just start by asking you for your response to this action by President Trump in his first week.
SCHUETTPELZ: Yeah. You know, I think that my strategy is always to be cautiously optimistic. We, as the Lumbee tribe, have been attempting to get full federal recognition for so long. But I think that it's good to have a spotlight put onto the cause.
SUMMERS: I just want to back up a little bit for folks who are not as familiar. Can you just tell us a bit about why federal recognition is so important to members of the Lumbee tribe?
SCHUETTPELZ: Federal recognition gives tribes all sort of opportunities, including the ability to put land in trust. Most of the Native land across this country is trust land, and it's a really important designation. It also allows tribes to have access to federal programs and funding that they wouldn't otherwise have. And so to an individual, this means access to things like the Indian Health Service or education programs, housing programs. So, you know, it's a really big distinction.
SUMMERS: How are other members of the tribe feeling right now? I have to imagine that this news has sparked a lot of excitement.
SCHUETTPELZ: Yeah, there's definitely an air of excitement. I think that there has been some confusion over what exactly the memo did, right? So the memo did not grant the tribe recognition. We are still not fully federally recognized. It did put a spotlight on the issue, and it directed the Department of Interior to work together with the Lumbee tribe to think of, you know - what are the ways that we can get federal recognition? And so I think to that end, it is exciting. It's sort of a timely thing that shines a spotlight on it. At the same time, though, the process of federal recognition is long and arduous, and so I think that we're excited and also cautious in how excited we're getting (laughter).
SUMMERS: As you point out, this recognition - it is not official yet. It is up to the interior secretary to make a plan. President Trump's administration is still new. He does not have a confirmed interior secretary yet. But what would you say is important for Interior to consider as they create that plan?
SCHUETTPELZ: You know, I like to say that the Lumbee tribe does not have full federal recognition. And what I mean by that is that we do not have the same level of access to federal programs and benefits as every other tribe. But what we do have is a piece of legislation from 1956 called the Lumbee Act. That act actually did recognize the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina as being a Native American tribe. And so it's almost like we're in this in-between place where we have been recognized as a Native American tribe, but we have been restricted from receiving the same benefits that every other federally recognized tribe is. And so I think that just getting to the finish line, making sure that we have that access, is incredibly important.
SUMMERS: That was Professor Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz. She's a member of the Lumbee tribe, and she also teaches public policy at the University of Iowa. Carrie, thank you.
SCHUETTPELZ: Thank you.
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