John Lowery:
You know, we are very strong and resilient people, and our ancestors worked hard for us just to be here today.
And we have stood the test of time. We have been through colonial times. We have been through sickness. We have been through war. We have been through the Civil War era. We have been through the Jim Crow South. We have even fought the KKK. And we continue to stand here. We continue to stand firm.
There’s nothing that we cannot do as a tribal people. And so I’m proud of us. I’m proud of what our ancestors have been able to do. And I will say this. Right now, we are pretty much treated as second-class natives. and with our full federal recognition, we will no longer be second-class Natives.
And, to me, that’s the biggest fight is that the United States government will finally officially recognize us as who we are. And that’s why we’re still here fighting this fight to ensure that not another Lumbee passes away as a second-class Native.
