![]() Her battle would force the Department of the Interior to reexamine its policy toward the more than 55,000 Lumbee who make up the largest tribe east of the Mississippi. “I want to push back.” And so she appealed the bureau’s decision - and kept appealing until her case landed in federal court. “When I’m pushed, I don’t run,” Nakai says. If she could receive Indian preference, then so could other members of her tribe. She thought hers was a powerful legal argument. In researching her response, Nakai realized the same documents could be used to argue that Lumbees were eligible for federal benefits. Lumbees rely on historic census documents listing the “Indian Population” of specific counties to enroll members in their tribe. “That’s a terrible feeling,” she says, “to have somebody say to you, ‘You’re so not Indian that you need somebody to send you a pamphlet.’ ” Nakai, 38, can trace her family tree back to at least 1900, when her great-grandfather was listed as Indian on the federal census. The Lumbee are descended from several Carolina tribes, including the Cheraw, who intermarried with whites and free African Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries. ![]() In fact, she had submitted 80 pages of evidence to support her case. As a staff attorney for the National Indian Gaming Commission, Nakai understands the intricacies of documenting native bloodlines. ![]()
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