Who gets to be American Indian?

How race and identity are shaping politics, policy and power.

Aug 23, 2022 View in browser   By Natalie Fertig With help from Ella Creamer, Rishika Dugyala, Minho Kim and Teresa Wiltz The flag of the Chinook Indian Nation is displayed on Jan. 6, 2020 outside the federal courthouse in Tacoma, Wash., before a hearing related to a lawsuit brought by Chinook Indian Nation tribes against the Department of the Interior. | Ted S. Warren/AP Photo What's up, Recast family! It's primary day in New  York and Florida, Anthony Fauci announces he will step down and a nuclear plant in Ukraine is under threat. Today, while Brakkton is away on vacation, we're kicking things off with a look at Native American tribes and the push for federal recognition. Rachel Cushman was about to become a Gates Millennium scholar — a program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for students of color, including American Indian students — when her tribe lost federal status in 2001. The grant was going to cover all of her college tuition, room and board. "They had to revoke my application because of my tribe status," said Cushman, now a councilwoman for the Chinook Nation — which sheltered and fed Lewis and Clark during the winter of 1806 in what is now Oregon. More than 200 years later, the Chinook are still fighting for the U.S. federal government to recognize them. They aren't alone: Approximately 400 tribes do not have federal recognition, per a 2012 GAO report. Federal recognition gives tribes the right to self-governance and access to federal funding and programs. But if unrecognized, tribes are unprotected and fall into a funding no man's land — unable to access federal dollars and resources intended for tribes, but also often unable to access those for states and nontribal municipalities. Ephraim Arthur, 8, center, a member of the Chinook Indian Nation on Jan. 6, 2020, outside the federal courthouse in Tacoma, Wash. | Ted S. Warren/AP Photo "In Oregon right now, they have a scholarship fund that will pay for your tuition, your housing, your books and everything," Cushman explained. "We're an Oregon tribe. And we don't qualify because we're not one of the nine federally recognized tribes" in Oregon. The Lumbee of North Carolina, meanwhile, are recognized as "Indian" by the federal government, but lack full tribal recognition and access to services. A bill to recognize them passed the House 357-59 in November and is now awaiting action in the Senate. While the Chinook reside in a state that consistently reelects Democrats, the Lumbee are a tribe of as many as 55,000 members in a swing state where elections are decided by about 60,000 voters. North Carolina's swing politics play a part in boosting the Lumbee, who mostly reside in Robeson County — which flipped blue to red in 2016 thanks to the Lumbee, surprising many. During the 2020 campaign, then-President Donald Trump, who supported federal recognition for Lumbees, visited the county the same week that Joe Biden announced his support for federal recognition. The county stuck with Trump. A Trump campaign rally at the Robeson County Fairgrounds in Lumberton, N.C., Oct. 24, 2020. | Chris Seward/AP Photo "It is a key part of the electoral puzzle because it has shifted from Democrat to Republican in the last few cycles," said Thomas Mills, a longtime Democratic political consultant in North Carolina and founder of the politics blog Politics NC. "Democrats have never figured out where to make up that bloc." Now, as Democrats hang onto the Senate by a thread, they are looking for any advantage they can get. The Lumbees might've thrown their lot in with Trump, but they used to vote blue, and Democrats are currying their favor. In the 2022 Senate race, Democrat Cheri Beasley , a former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, has endorsed recognition. Some advocates are hoping the Biden administration will take action before the midterms. The White House told The Recast the president supports recognition, but it has no announcement to make at this time. "I can tell you, our people will remember those who helped get us across the line," said Lumbee Tribal Chairman John Lowery, who wants Biden to pressure Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to make sure the Lumbee Act gets passed. "[The Lumbee] will remember those who [did] or who did not uphold those promises." (Meanwhile, Democratic State Rep. Charles Graham, a Lumbee citizen, is running for Congress in North Carolina's 7th District. If elected, he would be the first Native American representing North Carolina in the House.) Rep. Charles Graham of Robeson County, speaks during a House floor debate on Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021, in Raleigh, N.C. | Robert Willett/The News & Observer via AP, File The current legal status of both tribes stretches back to 1956. During the 1950s to '70s, the federal government eliminated the special trustee relationship with some tribes, cutting off federal funding for Native Americans in an attempt to fully assimilate them into predominantly white American society. During that period, known as the "termination era," over 100 tribes were decertified, millions of acres of land were removed from protected status, thousands of Native Americans were relocated to cities and scores of indigenous children were adopted into white families — with devastating results. Lumbee children at a courthouse in Maxton, North Carolina, Jan. 25, 1958. | AP Photo The Chinook Nation was listed in the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act of 1956. The Lumbee Act of 1956 classified tribal members as Indians, but without full federal status. The federal government eventually realized its termination-era policies did more to hurt tribal people than help them, and flipped its approach in the late 1970s. But many of the tribes that lost recognition during the termination era are still fighting to regain it. The biggest fight, though, is over money. And that fight can be messy: There are approximately 575 federally recognized tribes and 400 unrecognized tribes, but there's only one pot of money. If every tribe were to be recognized equally, the available funding could be cut in half. Lawmakers representing states with many federally recognized tribes are less likely to support a bill that reduces funding for the tribes they represent. So for now, the Lumbee are waiting on the Senate, and the Chinook are drafting their own legislation for imminent introduction. "This Covid pandemic," Cushman said, really highlighted the disparities "between being a federally recognized tribe and a non-federally recognized tribe." "We can't wait until federal acknowledgement happens." As always, we'll be watching to see how this plays out. All the best, The Recast Team   Power dynamics are changing. With The Recast, you'll get a twice-weekly breakdown of how race and identity are the DNA of American politics and policy. Was this forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe to the newsletter here.   THE ROUNDTABLE Latinos vote at a polling station in El Gallo Restaurant on November 8, 2016 in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles, California. | David McNew/Getty Images A recent poll shows 60 percent of Latino voters feel largely ignored by both Democrats and Republicans, amid the Latino uptick in GOP support. Since the election of U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores (R-Texas), Republicans are hoping to capture disappointed Latinos who have consistently voted blue. Latinos are the youngest racial or ethnic group in the country — and they're the largest racial minority in the country. Even in Midwestern cities like Chicago and Milwaukee — far from the Southern border — their numbers are now comparable to white populations. Is the conservative shift among Latinos playing out in Democratic bastions like Chicago? POLITICO's Minho Kim spent some time in the Second City, where there's not a single Latino Republican on the 50-seat City Council. He spoke with Latino Democrats Alderman Gilbert Villegas, a moderate; Delia Ramirez , a progressive who won the Democratic primary for Illinois' new Latino-majority congressional district; and Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, a progressive. (In the coming weeks, Minho will explore Latino attitudes toward Republicans.) THE RECAST: Does Mayra Flores' message of "God, country and family" resonate with Latino voters in Chicago? RAMIREZ: No. Not to the extent that it would in Florida or Georgia. My husband's uncles are Republicans, but their children don't agree. They go to church but push back on abortion and same-sex marriage. This new district I represent attempts to capture the migration of Latinos moving west, out of the city. The district has been very conservative: The western parts are one of the most Evangelical parts in Illinois. But I ran against a moderate Democrat and won the [primary] by 41 points — and I got more margin in [the suburbs] than in the city. RAMIREZ-ROSA: After Flores won, I saw her ad where she talks with a big plate of carne asada. She was leaning into identity politics: being proud of your heritage. But no faction owns that. I reject the message of "God, country and family" being sold as inherently conservative — I'm for God, country and family. In Chicago, we continue to see progressive Latino candidates win office, even when [conservative Democrats] run using local churches as a base of support. THE RECAST: How can major parties make inroad into Latino voters? What is the best strategy? VILLEGAS: [On my campaign trail,] I did a series of town halls. That's where we were able to pick up volunteers and have discussions that resonated with the voters. RAMIREZ: I think Democrats haven't done enough to deliver. On the campaign trail, I talked to voters who said, "I'm done voting. I don't care if you are Latino, Black or white." If we don't deliver on immigration, if we don't [build] a system that Latinos believe would champion small businesses and minimum wage jobs, then we are going to lose them. And we got to go beyond identity politics and tokenism. Fight for excellence and representation [should] go hand-in-hand.   THE TIME CAPSULE In late August 1619 — 403 years ago this month — enslaved Africans were brought to the British colony of Virginia for the first time, sparking a new phase of the transatlantic slave trade that would permanently shift the course of American history. The group was captured by Portuguese colonial forces in Angola and forced onto a ship, the San Juan Bautista, headed to Veracruz, a Spanish colony. On the journey, about 150 of the 350 kidnapped Angolans died. (This wasn't unusual: An estimated 2 million Africans died on the Middle Passage of the slave trade route.) Midjourney, the ship was intercepted by two English vessels, the White Lion and the Treasurer, and up to 60 Africans were kidnapped from the Portuguese ship. A painting by Sidney King of 20 enslaved people brought to Virginia in 1619. | AP Photo It was the White Lion that ended up docked at Point Comfort, on the southeast end of the Virginia peninsula, carrying about 20 Angolans, who were exchanged for food. Technically, they were sold as "indentured servants." In reality, they were enslaved people. From this point forward, creeping laws jettisoned the rights of Black people one by one. Slavery expanded, driving the economies of the British colonies and later the U.S. By 1860, around 13 percent of the U.S. population — 4 million people — was enslaved.   ICYMI @ POLITICO If he wins today's primary in Florida, Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who's running for Democratic Rep. Val Demings' open seat in Orlando, is poised to become the first Gen Z member and the lone Afro-Cuban in Congress, writes POLITICO'S Sabrina Rodriguez in this must-read profile. Maxwell Alejandro Frost sits in his campaign office. | Gary Bogdon for POLITICO The New York primary is bringing the drama, thanks to redistricting, reports POLITICO'S Ally Mutnick. Meanwhile, POLITICO'S Zach Montellaro, Gary Fineout and Bill Mahoney break down the races to watch in today's primaries.   THE RECAST RECOMMENDS "Katrina Babies" premiering Wednesday on HBO, looks at the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans youth. Helena Andrews-Dyer's new book, "The Mamas: What I Learned About Kids, Class and Race from Moms Not Like Me," is out this week. Ali Wong directs her first special, "Sheng Weng: Sweet and Juicy."  So.Much.Fun. ADG7 serves up beats, shamanistic music and Korean folk in this NPR Tiny Desk concert. Here's a jam for your workout playlist: Jay Wheeler and El Alfa team up in "No Confío."  Kevin Hart gets some " ME TIME " away from the kids, but things go less than smoothly. Javier Bardem delivers (as usual) in new workplace satire " The Good Boss." Megan Thee Stallion is unbossed and unbothered in "HER." Haters gonna hate, amirite? TikTok of the day: Nope   Follow us on Twitter Brakkton Booker @brakktonbooker Rishika Dugyala @rishikadugyala Teresa Wiltz @teresawiltz   Follow us

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