"Robeson is the largest of North Carolina's 100 counties. It is a mostly rural expanse in the state's southeast, astride I-95, with Lumberton at its center. It has long suffered desperate poverty.

In 2000, nine percent of North Carolinians were considered poor. Robeson's poverty rate was 19.6 percent. Another distinction is that the county's population has been split roughly equally among whites, African-Americans and native Americans. It is the home territory of the Lumbees, a tribe officially recognized by North Carolina in 1885 but never accorded full tribal privileges by the United States.

In recent years, Robeson has been plagued with an alarming murder rate. North Carolina's overall rate in 2005 was 6.9 murders per 100,000 people. Robeson's was 23.8. A high proportion of the killings involve Lumbees who attacked other Lumbees, authorities say.

Members of the Lumbee tribe are murdered seven times more often than whites in North Carolina, The N&O's Kristin Collins reported in a Tuesday article. The rate at which they become murder victims also is higher than for black residents, according to the state health department."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Robeson's pain (The Charlotte News & Observer 7/27)

Hearing Info:
LEGISLATIVE HEARING on S. 660, the Lumbee Recognition Act (July 12, 2006)

Lumbee Recognition Bills:
S.660 | H.R.21 | H.R.4171

Relevant Links:
Official Lumbee Tribe website - http://www.lumbeetribe.com
Lumbee Regional Development Association - http://www.lumbee.org

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