1970's and 2020's Riot Seasons: Why NC Tuscaroras are still oppressed

During research for my historical fiction on NC Tuscaroras, I learned the power of having friends in “high” places and how it can lead to “missing BIA papers.”

It was 1970’s riot season for extremists when the American Indian Movement (AIM) marched into the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) building in Washington, DC and caused 250 k in damages and stole 700 k of art, artifacts, and over 7 k pounds of reports and no one stopped them, not even the U.S. Marshalls.

Lumbees and locals at protest march in Pembroke, NC, June 2020. See gun. Photo by David Nelson Leek.

[FYI: A state of emergency for the town of Pembroke, NC was just declared through next Monday due to the riotous behavior between the races. There was a protest march comprised of many University of North Carolina at Pembroke students, BLM advocates, Tuscaroras, Lumbees and other races and on the opposite side of the street, a protest march formed largely comprised of locals and Lumbees. See the machine gun held by man in middle (above photo). There has been an ongoing underground civil war in Robeson County, NC since the time of written history. I have the research to prove it.]

BLM advocates at protest march on opposite side of street in Pembroke, NC, June 2020. See "All Lives Can't Matter Unless Black Lives Matter. Period" sign. Photo my David Nelson Leek.

From the research, it looks like Lumbee hero, Tom Oxendine was the official Public Relations Officer for the federal government’s BIA and unofficially for AIM’s Lumbee members who had come for reparations and left with scores of evidence known now as the “missing BIA papers.”

BIA administrators formally declined written requests for them to testify on what happened. Curious, huh?

California AIM activist, Bill Sargant, had shown up in Pembroke, NC to establish an AIM branch. Tom Oxendine with BIA as Public Relations officer has contradictory statements on communications with the ringleader, “Hank” Henry Adams. Adams traveled to Pembroke where most of the stolen BIA documents were stored. Columnist Jack Anderson offered to buy several boxes of the docs for 200k, reported an UC officer. Anderson, Less Whitten and Anita Collins and Adams were arrested after Adams had told Oxendine he was returning some of the docs. Oxendine had conflicting statements concerning his communications with the activist. The boxes contained reservation data, including mineral and water, land appeals, letters, and many Solicitors’ opinion reports, including the 1912 Report of Com. Of Indian Affairs. Item Number j. contains 20 points, on Restoration of Constitutional Treaty, and Item Number d. is 30-page report, “Trail of Broken Treaties – Chronology of Events.”

The FBI did not find efficient evidence to say that their public relations director had been involved – one Mr. Tom Oxendine. In the end, the BIA Solicitor’s Opinions, as documented in the reports stolen from the BIA reveal that they did not have the right to remove previous rights, like the Original 22’s, and that is exactly why the reporters were arrested.

Where those papers are now is not clear.

1970: Tom the Lumbee hero had served in the Navy for 28 years as a Pilot before working for the BIA as the Public Relations Officer. Dr. Dean Chavers wrote in 2011 in Indian Country Today Magazine of Tom Oxendine’s allegiance to the Lumbees and how Tom sent out press releases by the thousands. Tom the Lumbee’s position in the BIA afforded him power for the Lumbee people that oppressed the Native Tuscaroras.

1971-72: The BIA stated that the Lumbee Act took away all rights given in the 1930’s to the Original 22. The Original 22 are a group of Robeson County residents the federal government “tested” for Native American quantitative traits that could qualify them for federal benefits.

Those Original 22 who tested positive for NAI traits are some of the NC Tuscaroras in Dr. Peter H. Wood’s descendant’s charts. Therein lies the problem, the NC Tuscarora are oppressed by the Lumbee quest for federal recognition, among many other oppressive events.

Some BIA papers were returned, some were “discovered” and returned, and there is still an ongoing case of “missing BIA papers.”

 

Tom Oxendine https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/tom-oxendine-first-lumbee-pilot-oU0tN3I6KEihKRRoLVWHFw

BIA and AIM event/investigation https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2019/jan/07/fbi-bia-stolen/?fbclid=IwAR2g7cZGxBTaxBbEWyLNNkN7se2M90zOwAooI9eFIInH0sM7liWsuRAQhVs

If you like learning about riot seasons, you should Buy the Book: The Exsanguination of the Second Society.

 

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