Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley, prevent fake tribes stealing from actual Native Americans

As an enrolled tribal citizen, fiscal conservative and former elected official in the state of Missouri, I am infuriated that members of Congress are considering legislation that would threaten the sovereignty and culture of my tribe and countless others on the backs of this nation’s hardworking taxpayers.

Members are taking the unprecedented step of trying to federally recognize political groups that have no evidence of native ancestry as tribal nations. These groups include the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, which have claimed to descend from the Cherokees despite never demonstrating any proof whatsoever; the MOWA Band of Choctaw Indians, who also claim affiliation with the Cherokees and whose application for federal recognition was previously rejected by the Department of the Interior for lacking any tangible evidence; and several others.

Groups with no native ancestry posing as tribes is nothing new. It’s a scheme that special interests have engaged in for decades to gain federal funding, minority contracts and other benefits. The strain their posturing puts on taxpayers and legitimate tribal nations can’t be overstated.

This business tactic of faking native lineage is the worst kept secret among corporate interests and is often used by the most plugged-in political insiders to raid the government coffers. Missouri is no stranger to this issue. Take, for example, the so-called Northern Cherokee Nation, which The Los Angeles Times found has received nearly $300 million in government contracts despite not being a legitimate tribe. All members of this group do to obtain government money is show officials their tribal ID cards as “evidence” of their minority status. Included among the purported members of this “tribe” is the brother-in-law of a sitting member of Congress, whose company received more than $7 million in federal no-bid federal contracts despite all census, birth, death, marriage and other public records demonstrating that he and his ancestors are white. That’s why one outlet has tagged this group as “the Missouri tribe that has made white people millions.”

Missouri doesn’t tolerate fraud. Following The Times’ investigation, our politicians voted unanimously to decertify corporations certified through the Northern Cherokee so they could no longer milk the citizenry. But if Congress sets the precedent of federally recognizing fake tribes as real ones, there will no longer be much we can do to stop this problem. Our hands will be tied, and groups like these will be able to run roughshod over tribal citizens and taxpayers as they please.

With federal recognition, these fake groups will qualify for even more federal aid, contracts and benefits — sifting away more money for legitimate native tribes while creating more liabilities for taxpayers throughout the country. Worst of all, though, their newfound federal status as native tribes will allow them to steal the identities of entire nations.

As a Cherokee, I would find nothing more demeaning than the federal government recognizing the Lumbees or any other illegitimate group as one of us. Every tribe has distinct practices, cultures and identities. The government authorizing frauds to speak as one of us would signal that they don’t understand or care to know what makes us special and unique.

With federal recognition, these illegitimate groups could take our sacred sites and artifacts all while gaining legitimacy in the eyes of the public — mocking our practices and rituals while leaving bad, irreversible impressions of who we are and what we stand for.

Local Missouri legislators like me have fought these fake groups tooth and nail for decades because we understand the threats they pose to local natives, taxpayers and our communities in general. It would be a shame if federal officials go over our heads and turn this controlled problem into an unrestrained misfortune.

Our senators, Roy Blunt and Josh Hawley, need to stand firm to their commitment to restraining congressional power and recognize that if these groups truly believe their own ancestry claims, they can formally submit recognition petitions to the Department of the Interior’s Office of Federal Acknowledgment — the official government process for granting federal recognition that’s overseen by experts, not politicians. The sovereignty of my tribe and countless others depends on it.