Men seek to establish Tuscarora nation in N.C.

Durham Herald-Sun [Durham, N.C.] ^ | June 17, 2004 | The Associated Press

[Constitution Day]

Men seek to establish Tuscarora nation in N.C.

The Associated Press
June 17, 2004   1:43 pm

ELM CITY, N.C. -- Three Tuscarora Indians have settled in tents in eastern North Carolina and decided to seek land, artifacts and self-governance they say are due to them under treaties made with their ancestors.

Timothy Jacobs, Harless E. Smith Jr. and Billy Mac Locklear, bought about 10 acres near Elm City for their self-declared nation.

"This is something we didn't start yesterday," Smith said. "We've been working on this all our lives."

They plan to add permanent buildings, such as a cookhouse and sweat lodge, and would also like to build houses on the land.

More Tuscaroras, maybe up to several hundred, are coming to Wilson County from Robeson County over time, Jacobs said. An estimated 6,000-plus Tuscarora live in Robeson County.

"This land is crying for us to come back and save a little piece of it," Locklear said. "The Tuscarora are moving back to Wilson County because this is where our home is."

The Lumbee Act of 1956 requires all American Indians in Robeson and neighboring counties to be designated Lumbee Indians. Lumbees are still lobbying for full federal recognition and benefits.

These Tuscarora maintain they have a rich history in North Carolina with a language, ancestral lands, religion and government and are not Lumbees.

The Tuscarora plan to set up on native lands under the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act, Jacobs said. The act allows the Tuscarora to return to their native lands to survive, he said.

They will seek to recover their lost lands or seek monetary reparations, the rights to govern themselves, and the right to sovereignty, Jacobs said. They also want to reclaim Indian artifacts, remains and graves.

The group would like to eventually open businesses, he said, but not necessarily offer gaming. They threaten a lawsuit if negotiations fail.

The Tuscaroras have already met one roadblock. The Elm City Town Board turned down their request Tuesday to put an office rental trailer and temporary power pole on the land. Board members said they wanted more information and asked Jacobs to attend their July 13 meeting.

In October, representatives of the Tuscarora Nation plan to hold a large Native American spiritual gathering at the Elm City land, Jacobs said.

The main topic will be their status in Wilson County and how other tribes can help the Tuscarora re-establish themselves here.

Jacobs has a history of activism. He was 19 years old when he helped Eddie Hatcher take over the newsroom of The Robesonian newspaper in Lumberton on Feb. 1, 1989.

Using sawed-off shotguns, they held the newsroom hostage until Gov. Jim Martin agreed to investigate alleged local government corruption in Robeson County.

Jacobs was found not guilty after a federal trial, but the state indicted him on kidnapping charges. Jacobs fled to New York, where he was given political asylum on the Onondaga Reservation. He later accepted a plea bargain.

------ URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/state/6-491955.html

[Chad Fairbanks]

No, but just because they want to open Indian-run businesses doesn't automatically mean "Casinos", and they even said "not necessarily offer gaming". That was my point.

[Constitution Day]

I'll put you on the list! I bet you're glad to be coming back.

I will have to look through my notes to see who's in the Triad area.
The NC page [and all state pages] no longer list all the FReepers and the town they're in.

I believe goosie and callisto are in the Triad, though.

CD

.

Mykdsmom, TaxRelief, please add "Rutabega". :)

[Overtaxed]

Well, whether it's casinos or other businesses what they really want is to operate outside the taxes and regulations that everybody else has to operate under. That's what I got out of it.

[Constitution Day]

I'd love to see the business ideas they're considering.

Elm City is a small town [perhaps 8000 citizens] in the middle of a very rural area.

[Constitution Day]

Don't know why I typed 8000. I meant 2000.

[Rutabega]

(Doing the 'I'm coming home dance') Hooray! I'm coming back to the world where my kids can talk loud without me shushing them so people don't act mean to us for being Americans! (Forgive me, it's night nights here, and I've had a few beers!)

Thanks for the ping list add-on!!

[muawiyah]

Your first post indicated that you wanted something to back up a claim concerning Iriquoian cannibalism.

That wasn't worth responding to since it's "known". In fact, to get the Lawgiver's name spelled correctly I went to a site that started it's commentary concerning his and Hiawatha's efforts to eliminate "cannibalism", if not "ceremonial cannibalism".

Now that you've pinned things down a bit better, I'd advise you to simply go to every First Nation's internet discussion site and look through their archives concerning the topic.

Since there are hundreds of such sites, and a gazillion Iriquois of every nation making posts, it might take you a while, but I have no doubt at all that you will be amply rewarded.

Somewhere in my vast warehouse of "interesting things from the net" I have the URL for some of the posts I've run across concerning the matter of bringing back this particular custom. Someday I'll search for it for you.

In the meantime rest easy that no one's going to be doing this anytime soon since it first requires eliminating the "blood quantum" under Canadian law so that folks can sort out who wants to be a Mohawk, or something else.

[Chad Fairbanks]

So, basically what you are saying is that you made an assertion that there is a group of Mohawks out there (and by group, it insinuates organization) who want to bring back ceremonial cannibalism.

Then, when I ask for proof of the modern effort to bring it back, you bring up historical things (which, being Mohawk, one would think I was aware of that. Duh.) but then claim basically "I saw some people on internet forums talking about it. Go find it."

Have I pretty much summed it up?

[Chad Fairbanks]

Oh, I agree. I think this is an effort very much like that fake Pequot group in Connecticut...

[mykdsmom]

Mykdsmom, TaxRelief, please add "Rutabega". :)

Um, OK!!!

[ckilmer]

The Tuscarora Mountains run by my grandfathers house in Pennsylvania between Harrisburg and Penn State. Its said the Tuscarora came north from NC sometime in the early 1700's and settled in the area. There were also Delaware/Wyandot and other smaller tribes in the area.

The first white men didn't arrive in the area until +-1750 when James Patterson came over from Lancaster County.

This corresponds also to the first migrations further west to Ohio from this area. After defeats in three major wars 1754, 1763, 1776 the indians migrated westward and were mostly gone from Central Pennslvania by 1800.

[Constitution Day]

No need to get Snippy About It. ;)

[Chad Fairbanks]

That, and the various Iroquoian nations really did a number on the Pennsylvania tribes as well, before and during those wars ;0)

[North Coast Conservative]

They don't need a separate nation, but I can see it now.

It will be just as splendiferous and glorious as the existing Tuscarora nation where I grew up, in Niagara County just outside of Niagara Falls.

The claim to fame of the New York operation is cheap gas. I bet they have the highest concentration of gas stations per resident in the world. (And they also sell gold and cigarettes, tax free or tax reduced of course).

Somehow all those greenbacks that the white eyes have been dropping on the res to avoid US and New York State taxes hasn't made the quality of the trailers on the res any better.

In God We Trust…..Semper Fi!

[Constitution Day]

Interesting!

There is a timeline at #11 that you may want to read.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

What about the Tusacdero tribe?

[muawiyah]

No Chad, as is usual, you probably summed it up from that very narrow Mohawk point of view, but an Oneida would suggest that a more comprehensive analysis would suggest I will, at a future time, after an extensive search of my own records, provide you with an appropriate URL.

We watch for these things you know!

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Tusacdero = Tuscadero. D'oh!

[Constitution Day]

Ah yes, that is Princess Pinky herself!

[Chad Fairbanks]

I think I summed it up exactly as it was. You made an assertion (a specific one, about bring back ceremonial cannibalism) and you dodged it when I asked for proof.

There is no "Narrow Mohawk point of view" to it. Just the facts.

And just for the record, I don't agree with removing the Great Law of Peace, and neither do any other of the Kanien'Kehake that I know (and it's a lot)...