Post by Okwes on Jun 16, 2006 11:11:37 GMT -5
'Not a tribal community'
Posted by: "Victoria" bayareauk@yahoo.co.uk bayareauk
Wed Jun 14, 2006 9:28 am (PST)
'Not a tribal community'
State committee: History doesn't support Croatans' bid
for state recognition
By KEITH A. POUNDS, T&D Correspondent
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
www.thetandd.com/articles/2006/06/13/news/doc448e06164f4356257643\
85.txt
<http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2006/06/13/news/doc448e06164f435625764\
385.txt>
COLUMBIA -- The Croatan Pee Dee, based in Orangeburg,
will reportedly withdraw its petition for state
recognition after the Native American State
Recognition Committee raised serious doubts as to
whether the group is a legitimate tribal community
Members of the Native American State Recognition
Committee met June 9 at the South Carolina Commission
for Minority Affairs in Columbia to review petitions
for recognition of three Native American entities --
the Croatan Pee Dee, based in Orangeburg; the Piedmont
American Indian Association-Lower Eastern Cherokee
Nation of South Carolina, based in Simpsonville; and
the Marlboro, Chesterfield and Darlington County Pee
Dee Tribe, based in the Upstate.
Janie Davis, executive director, announced that recent
revisions to the current regulations that govern the
state recognition process were signed into law by
Governor Sanford last week but would not go into
effect until they are posted on June 23.
The issue at hand was the proposed wording of the
revisions included that, "splinter groups, political
factions, communities or groups that separate from the
main body of a currently state acknowledged tribe or
who claim the same ancestors, history, genealogy,
institutions, establishments, or other primary
characteristics of a currently recognized tribe, may
not be acknowledged under these regulations."
Because Davis acknowledged that the regulation
revisions did not take effect until June 23, the
committee agreed to go ahead with the review of all
three petitions presented.
The committee had serious concerns with the petition
of the Croatan Indian Tribe of Orangeburg.
Davis insisted that "there is no such history
documented for this tribal entity in South Carolina."
Dr. Will Goins said the group claimed linkage to the
Waccamaw Indians but asked, "Why are they not members
of the Waccamaw?" The committee also found that the
group was claiming ancestry from the Lumbee Indians of
North Carolina.
Goins noted that the terms Cape Fear, Croatan and Pee
Dee are often synonymous with the same people, but the
term Croatan was actually a misnomer. He said the
Croatan's historian further confused their actual
identity because she wrote, "They're correct name is
Hatteras."
Goins, a Cherokee Indian himself, took particular
offense to the writings of the Croatan historian.
"She claims that these Croatan Indians created the
Cherokee Path to Charleston. That is the most
appalling thing of all. This is revisionist history."
he said.
In concurring with Goins' findings, Dr. Johnathan
Leader, South Carolina state archaeologist, said, "I
can't tell if they're Waccamaw, Lumbee or Beaver
Creek. At the moment, I don't know who I'm looking at
or who they are." He added that the Croatan had
included references to at least "six groups" but that
"none of them were from Orangeburg."
Another committee member, Dr. Blair Rudes, associate
professor at UNC-Charlotte, said, "I clearly need
verification of who they are."
Davis noted that "the process of state recognition,
especially at the tribal level, you must paint the
picture; you can't just put documents and expect us to
figure it out." In analyzing the "linkage of
ancestors" criteria for the Croatan petition, she said
that in regards to one document that, "I had seen this
document before in the Beaver Creek (petition). We're
already starting to see the duplication and use of the
same history."
The problem that the committee kept noting was that
the petition claimed that members of the Croatan group
were descended from a Lazarus Chavis who lived in the
1700s. But this is the same Lazarus Chavis who is the
ancestor of the Beaver Creek Indians of Salley, a
group that has already received state recognition as a
Native American Tribe.
Goins, who has worked on other tribal petitions on a
national level, said, "Just because a document reads
that someone is Croatan, it doesn't mean they're
Indian. I couldn't make the linkage to the current
tribe or community. None of these documents tell me
how they're related to Lazarus and his progenitor.
He noted that in recent years, several groups in South
Carolina had received large grants from the federal
Administration for Native Americans in order to "hire
genealogists. But I don't know who they hired. They
must have taken their money."
Ven Thompson, a review committee member who is also a
member of the state recognized Waccamaw Tribe of South
Carolina, said Croatan, Mulatto and other terms were
historically used as "race" classifications in the
Carolinas, but not necessarily to denote "an Indian."
"It's not a tribal community," Rudes said. "How do you
do a history on something that's not a tribe."
Leader said, "I have no doubt they're Indian, but not
Croatan. Croatan in this document is a racial epithet
and not a tribe."
He said the Croatan petition was, "a great statement
for North Carolina, but not for South Carolina."
The Croatan group's petition has "serious flaws and
shortcomings," Davis said.
Because of the proposed revisions to the state
recognition regulations that will take effect later
this month, she added, "I'm not sure they'll be able
to submit under the new regulations."
During a brief break in the meeting, Davis met
privately with Ricky "Running Wolf" Bruner, chief of
the Croatan Tribe. Upon calling the meeting back to
order, Davis announced that the Croatan Tribe would be
withdrawing their petition.
Bruner could not be reached for comment.
Posted by: "Victoria" bayareauk@yahoo.co.uk bayareauk
Wed Jun 14, 2006 9:28 am (PST)
'Not a tribal community'
State committee: History doesn't support Croatans' bid
for state recognition
By KEITH A. POUNDS, T&D Correspondent
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
www.thetandd.com/articles/2006/06/13/news/doc448e06164f4356257643\
85.txt
<http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2006/06/13/news/doc448e06164f435625764\
385.txt>
COLUMBIA -- The Croatan Pee Dee, based in Orangeburg,
will reportedly withdraw its petition for state
recognition after the Native American State
Recognition Committee raised serious doubts as to
whether the group is a legitimate tribal community
Members of the Native American State Recognition
Committee met June 9 at the South Carolina Commission
for Minority Affairs in Columbia to review petitions
for recognition of three Native American entities --
the Croatan Pee Dee, based in Orangeburg; the Piedmont
American Indian Association-Lower Eastern Cherokee
Nation of South Carolina, based in Simpsonville; and
the Marlboro, Chesterfield and Darlington County Pee
Dee Tribe, based in the Upstate.
Janie Davis, executive director, announced that recent
revisions to the current regulations that govern the
state recognition process were signed into law by
Governor Sanford last week but would not go into
effect until they are posted on June 23.
The issue at hand was the proposed wording of the
revisions included that, "splinter groups, political
factions, communities or groups that separate from the
main body of a currently state acknowledged tribe or
who claim the same ancestors, history, genealogy,
institutions, establishments, or other primary
characteristics of a currently recognized tribe, may
not be acknowledged under these regulations."
Because Davis acknowledged that the regulation
revisions did not take effect until June 23, the
committee agreed to go ahead with the review of all
three petitions presented.
The committee had serious concerns with the petition
of the Croatan Indian Tribe of Orangeburg.
Davis insisted that "there is no such history
documented for this tribal entity in South Carolina."
Dr. Will Goins said the group claimed linkage to the
Waccamaw Indians but asked, "Why are they not members
of the Waccamaw?" The committee also found that the
group was claiming ancestry from the Lumbee Indians of
North Carolina.
Goins noted that the terms Cape Fear, Croatan and Pee
Dee are often synonymous with the same people, but the
term Croatan was actually a misnomer. He said the
Croatan's historian further confused their actual
identity because she wrote, "They're correct name is
Hatteras."
Goins, a Cherokee Indian himself, took particular
offense to the writings of the Croatan historian.
"She claims that these Croatan Indians created the
Cherokee Path to Charleston. That is the most
appalling thing of all. This is revisionist history."
he said.
In concurring with Goins' findings, Dr. Johnathan
Leader, South Carolina state archaeologist, said, "I
can't tell if they're Waccamaw, Lumbee or Beaver
Creek. At the moment, I don't know who I'm looking at
or who they are." He added that the Croatan had
included references to at least "six groups" but that
"none of them were from Orangeburg."
Another committee member, Dr. Blair Rudes, associate
professor at UNC-Charlotte, said, "I clearly need
verification of who they are."
Davis noted that "the process of state recognition,
especially at the tribal level, you must paint the
picture; you can't just put documents and expect us to
figure it out." In analyzing the "linkage of
ancestors" criteria for the Croatan petition, she said
that in regards to one document that, "I had seen this
document before in the Beaver Creek (petition). We're
already starting to see the duplication and use of the
same history."
The problem that the committee kept noting was that
the petition claimed that members of the Croatan group
were descended from a Lazarus Chavis who lived in the
1700s. But this is the same Lazarus Chavis who is the
ancestor of the Beaver Creek Indians of Salley, a
group that has already received state recognition as a
Native American Tribe.
Goins, who has worked on other tribal petitions on a
national level, said, "Just because a document reads
that someone is Croatan, it doesn't mean they're
Indian. I couldn't make the linkage to the current
tribe or community. None of these documents tell me
how they're related to Lazarus and his progenitor.
He noted that in recent years, several groups in South
Carolina had received large grants from the federal
Administration for Native Americans in order to "hire
genealogists. But I don't know who they hired. They
must have taken their money."
Ven Thompson, a review committee member who is also a
member of the state recognized Waccamaw Tribe of South
Carolina, said Croatan, Mulatto and other terms were
historically used as "race" classifications in the
Carolinas, but not necessarily to denote "an Indian."
"It's not a tribal community," Rudes said. "How do you
do a history on something that's not a tribe."
Leader said, "I have no doubt they're Indian, but not
Croatan. Croatan in this document is a racial epithet
and not a tribe."
He said the Croatan petition was, "a great statement
for North Carolina, but not for South Carolina."
The Croatan group's petition has "serious flaws and
shortcomings," Davis said.
Because of the proposed revisions to the state
recognition regulations that will take effect later
this month, she added, "I'm not sure they'll be able
to submit under the new regulations."
During a brief break in the meeting, Davis met
privately with Ricky "Running Wolf" Bruner, chief of
the Croatan Tribe. Upon calling the meeting back to
order, Davis announced that the Croatan Tribe would be
withdrawing their petition.
Bruner could not be reached for comment.