In Depth with Dan: Lumbees still wait for full federal recognition

June 2, 2023 is a big day, as Fort Bragg officially becomes Fort Liberty.

The military post has long borne the name of Gen. Braxton Bragg. The Warrenton native was a Confederate general, and his name is being removed in favor of Fort Liberty as part of a national movement.

The Department of Defense is changing the names of nine Army bases, having decided that the United States shouldn’t have national symbols of security and pride named after men who waged war on the United States largely to protect and expand the slave trade.

The huge undertaking will be finalized Friday with a rather simple and symbolic act – the signs on the post will be changed from Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty.

It's simple because companies change signs all the time. It's pretty routine work.

It's symbolic in part because of the people doing the job.

That relationship was explored in the WRAL Documentary “People of the Dark Water” back in 1997.

It described the Lumbee Indians as the only Native American tribe recognized by the federal government that doesn’t get any of the benefits or independence granted to every other recognized tribe.

While that documentary was 26 years ago, nothing has changed.

“We have strong bi-partisan support in the US Congress on both sides of the aisle," he said.

“We are the only tribe in the entire country that is left in this limbo, in this legal limbo, that you are a tribe but you can not get the services and benefits. Now, there were a couple of other tribes that were done that way in the past, but every one of those have been rectified.”

Federal recognition would also make the Lumbees eligible for certain legal protections, federal services and benefits that could change the face of Robeson and surrounding counties that the Lumbee tribe calls home.