You Just Can't Fight Racism With Racism....

I simply cannot talk about the Lumbee culture without mentioning the anti-blackness that still lives within some members of our tribe. I know, it's 2022, and we are minorities ourselves, so why is it that we aren't united and trying to fight against oppression instead of oppressing each other? 

The peaceful protest for BLM that occurred on the streets of Pembroke, turned out to be not so peaceful. But it wasn't the protestors who didn't remain peaceful.... it was the counterprotestors. The people from the community who were held up across the streets, wielding high powered weapons.

Why? What was the purpose? In the midst of what seemed like a racial war in this country, why was a minority fighting against an issue that effects minorities? How did we as Lumbee people go from fighting the KKK, to having striking similarities to the KKK, fighting against the very people we should be helping to protect. 

Were there natives who were peacefully protesting? Absolutely. Not all Lumbees are created equal, even though we share so many cultural similarities. For many years I have struggled with finding an identity, and portraying that identity to people who do not know about the Lumbee culture, and a part of doing this, for me, is acknowledging the shortcomings of my fellow tribal members. 

In saying this, I want to be a part of the future Lumbee generations that instill better values into the younger ones, so that they are not raised to view a certain race of people as the enemy, when in fact they are human beings who have gone through so many of the same things that the Lumbee people have. 

The racism in the Lumbee community is prevalent, but I have hope that this will end with my generation. Our people need to come together in the fight for the rights of minorities. Something that I hope will be seen is that black people are not the enemy. The system is often the true enemy.