Since 1935, it has been formally established that members of the Nation are entitled to and deserve to have land

taken in trust to use as their reservation. Despite years of effort and initiative by the Nation and numerous attempts to
wade through the bureaucratic red tape, the Nation still has no reservation and no land in trust. The Nation has been unable to provide for its people in ways similar to the surrounding community and surrounding Indian tribes because the Tribe has no sustainable economic base. The Nation continues to suffer economic and social inequities. Without trust land, the Tribe has had little opportunity at economic development and little chance at true self-governance.

Revenues are needed from diverse sources to provide the Nation with an ongoing independent economic base to support Tribal
governmental functions. The Nation wishes to provide essential governmental services, sufficient infrastructure such as water supply

and wastewater treatment, administrative facilities, and sufficient housing for Tribal members. Increased revenues would help the
Siouan Indian Community of Lumber River establish governmental responsibilities and would provide resources to improve

social, cultural, recreational, housing, and community development programs.

Our research indicates that the United States intended to purchase lands with the intent of providing a reservation for the Siouan
Indians of Lumber River. Historical documents indicate that the federal government contemplated the purchase of land in 1935 for the Original 22 certified as half-bloods. The BIA’s intent to purchase lands for Indians in Robeson County is borne out by a memorandum dated April 8, 1935 prepared by Felix Cohen, then Assistant Solicitor, to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, which was written in response to a request by the Commissioner in a prior February memorandum to Cohen in which he was instructed to

determine whether the “Siouan Indians of North Carolina . . . can organize under the [IRA] to receive a constitution and charter.”
Cohen states that the group is not a “recognized Indian tribe now under Federal jurisdiction,” within the language of the IRA

and the members are not residents of an Indian reservation. Cohen explicitly states that in addition to being eligible for benefits
under the IRA as half-bloods, the members “may also organize under sections 16 and 17 of the Wheeler-Howard Act if the Secretary of the Interior sees fit to establish for these eligible Indians a reservation . . . [which] might be established either through the outright
purchase of land by the Secretary of the Interior, under section 5 of the [IRA], or by the relinquishment to the United States of land

purchased by the Indians themselves, under the same section of the [IRA], or by a combination of these two methods of
acquisition.” (original emphasis). Cohen goes on to state that “[a] reservation having been established, those residing thereon will be entitled to adopt a constitution and bylaws and to receive a charter of incorporation . . . [and] [u]nder section 19 of the [IRA] the ‘Indians residing on one reservation’ may be recognized as a ‘tribe’ for the purposes of the [IRA] regardless of their previous status.” Cohen goes on to state that the “group be designated as the ‘Siouan Indian Community of Lumber River.’”

In 1939, after designation of the Original 22, Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier wrote to Joseph Brooks, and
the other 22 members, indicating that they were entitled to recognition as an Indian of one-half or more degree. In a letter to one of

the members, Lawrence Maynor, Collier states though “[t]his enrollment does not entitle you to membership in any Indian tribe, nor
does it establish any tribal rights in your name. It entitles you to solely to those benefits set forth in the [IRA]. . . .  In 1939, the United States – Department of Agriculture condemned 440.92 acres of land in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Roy Maynor, the son of an Original 22 individual Lawrence Maynor, claimed in his lawsiut against the United States and North Carolina

that that land was part of the “approximately 17,000 acres of land [which] was acquired for the benefit of the ‘22 individuals’ and
their descendants..”

In a July 22, 1986 letter, B.D. Ott of the BIA Eastern Area Office wrote a letter to Senator Carl Levin, who had inquired on
behalf of his constituent Roy Maynor, a son of Lawrence Maynor, one of the Original 22. In the letter, Ott stated:

In response to your inquiry of July 17, 1986 relative to the Hatteras Tuscarora Indians in North Carolina,

we are able to provide some limited information as follows. The Federal Government does not recognize any tribe nor provide any
services to Tuscarora Indians living in North Carolina. However, in the mid-1970s, the Bureau determined

that there were twenty-two (22) descendants Tuscarora Indians [sic] of one-half or more blood quantum living in North Carolina. This determination was apparently based upon an anthropological study performed in the mid-thirties.

As a result of this determination and at the request of the remaining individuals of one-half or more Tuscarora blood, the Bureau of Indian Affairs undertook the construction and/or renovation of eighteen (18) houses located upon fee lands owned by those
individuals [which included Lawrence Maynor]. . . [.] The terms of the agreement for constructing new and/or renovating existing houses reportedly include an acceptance clause which provide for a termination of any further Bureau responsibility. In 1989, Scott Keep, Assistant Solicitor, Division of Indian Affairs, wrote Roy Maynor a letter stating that the BIA believed the Maynor decision, finding that the Original 22’s benefits under the IRA had not been terminated by the Lumbee Act, had been “fully implemented” by
the Original 22’s receipt of “benefits, primarily housing.”

Paul Brooks, as one of the Original 22, qualifies as one-half or more Indian blood and therefore as an “Indian” under the IRA for purposes of having land taken into trust for him, having his land declared a reservation, and organizing as a tribal government. This sole remaining member of the Original 22 also has the right under the IRA to adopt a tribal constitution.

Given the background and history of the Siouan Indians of Lumber River it is clear that Paul Brooks has been
identified as an “Indian” under the Indian Reorganization Act (“IRA”), and is therefore entitled to full benefits reserved for such

individuals under the IRA, including the right to have lands acquired in trust by the Secretary of the Interior on his behalf.

Despite the efforts of the Lumbee Indians to proclaim that the Original 22 individuals identified as Indians by the
Department of Interior in 1939, the Siouan Indians of Lumber River were specifically excluded from the restriction placed on the

Lumbee Indians under the Lumbee Act. Maynor v. Morton, 510 F.2d 1254 (D.C. Cir.1975) establishes that the Siouan Indians
of Lumber River continue to retain –unextinguished -- their rights under the IRA.