Article about American Indians had fact errors

TO THE EDITOR:

I was pleasantly surprised Nov. 25 when there was an article about American Indians on the front page (“A steadfast few,” Nov. 25).

Then I read the caption under the picture identifying dancers from the Stoney Creek tribe. Stoney Creek is not a North Carolina tribe. Stoney Creek is not an American Indian tribe at all. In fact, they are a drum group.

I continued to read the article, hoping it would be better. Then I got to a paragraph halfway through with the line, “federal recognition requires a congressional act.” Federal recognition requires tribes to go through the Bureau of Indian Affairs process. The Lumbee are seeking a congressional act because the 1958 Lumbee Bill barred them from going through the Bureau of Indian affairs to get federal recognition.

Again simple fact-checking would have caught this error. Most people in North Carolina are not aware of the American Indian presence in North Carolina and Tuesday the DTH helped raise awareness — albeit with misinformation.



Danielle McLean

Graduate Student

UNC School of Law