CBC is against the construction of another Tribal casino.
Via CNS News
Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus are urging the Obama administration to withhold federal recognition of a Virginia Indian tribe because of its history of banning intermarriage with blacks.
In January, the Interior Department proposed recognizing the Pamunkey tribe in southeast Virginia, which would make members eligible for special benefits in education, housing and medical care — and allow the tribe to pursue a casino. A decision on recognition, which would be the first for a Virginia tribe, is due by March 30.
The Congressional Black Caucus members urged Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Attorney General Eric Holder to hold off until the Justice Department investigates any discriminatory practices by the tribe. Neither department has responded to the request, made in a Sept. 23 letter, according to a spokeswoman for Mississippi Democrat Bennie Thompson, who signed the letter.[…]
Brown told the CBC that the intermarriage ban was rooted in Virginia’s culture of racism. “Racial intermixture was raised repeatedly as a rationale to divest us of our reservation and our Indian status,” he said.
Brown cited Dr. Walter Plecker, registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics in the first half of the 20th century, who ordered that Indians be classified as “colored” on birth and marriage certificates.
“His rationale was, of course, racial intermixture among the Indians,” Brown wrote, adding that the “antiquated and now repealed” tribal law was an attempt to protect Indian identity. “It was never an attack on, or reflective of, ill will toward African-Americans.”