devilwabluedresson: blog 
devilwabluedresson's blog
lumbee
Published Jun. 12, 2008
Essie May Stevens sat quietly on an old weather-beaten couch on the front porch of her house last week ignoring the 100-degree heat and the flies that constantly landed on her arms and brow. The 58-year-old, who has never had the luxury of air conditioning, knows that her days in the heat will soon be over.
Thanks to a federal grant administered by the Lumber River Council of Governments, Mrs. Stevens and her husband James will receive a new home they can be proud of with all the amenities of modern life.
Before learning they would receive a new home, the Stevens thought they would either die in or die because of their old one.
The 150-year-old shack down a long dirt path off Gainey Road near Bowmore is Mr. Stevens’ birthplace. There’s no toilet, hot water, air conditioning or reliable heat. The back porch is open on three sides with a rotting wood floor. The roof leaks in nearly every room.
The above was taken from an article in The News Journal website http://www.thenews-journal.com/
They are just one of many Native families that live like this. When I first moved here, I could not believe the conditions some live in. This is 2008 and we still have people living in poverty. This is all the more reason why the Lumbee deserve Federal recoginition. This is an older couple with little education making a life with what they have. Something has got to be done to end the cycle of poverty in this country.
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GOLO member since July 3, 2007
June 12, 2008 12:17 p.m.
GOLO member since March 28, 2008
June 12, 2008 11:43 a.m.
GOLO member since July 3, 2007
June 12, 2008 11:35 a.m.
Of course.
Why does it matter anyways? Everyone hollers, "My great grandmother was full blooded Cherokee, My grandfather was full blooded whatever..." but yet Lumbee's don't exist when it comes down to it in the eyes of many.
GOLO member since October 8, 2007
June 12, 2008 11:24 a.m.
GOLO member since May 22, 2008
June 12, 2008 11:14 a.m.
GOLO member since May 22, 2008
June 12, 2008 11:14 a.m.
GOLO member since November 7, 2007
June 12, 2008 11:13 a.m.
I know, I am apart of the tribe...
Anyone want to join me for a powwow in Winston Salem on July 11, 12 or 13th?
GOLO member since October 8, 2007
June 12, 2008 11:12 a.m.
http://www.wral.com/news/local/wral_investigates/story/2984721/
In the story, it says that HUD gives $13 MILLION in federal grant money to the Lumbee Tribe each year. It also details how the leaders use the money on themselves while some of their people live in squalor.
If each of us took care of our own elderly parents and churches were able to do more to help the eldery whose children didn't or couldn't help, we wouldn't need millions of our tax money going to help the eldery..... Same goes for the needy. Of course, that's in an ideal world, not in reality!!
June 12, 2008 11:06 a.m.
June 12, 2008 11:01 a.m.
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