LUMBERTON — The Lumbee Tribal chairman left Iowa earlier this week confident he had furthered the tribe’s goals and played a part in placing the tribe on a national stage.
“It was beneficial, and it was worthwhile,” Harvey Godwin Jr. said Thursday.
The chairman was in Sioux City on Monday and Tuesday taking part in the Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum. During the forum, approximately 200 tribal chairmen, leaders and members who accompanied them discussed issues important to American Indian people and spoke with and asked questions of the 2020 presidential candidates who attended the nonpartisan event. All candidates were invited, but not all attended.
“In no way was the forum to endorse any one candidate,” Godwin said.
A series of seven-member panels comprised of tribal leaders and American Indian youth and elders were established to ask candidates questions covering numerous topics.
Godwin was on three panels. On Monday, he was part of the panel that asked questions of Sen. Elizabeth Warren. On Tuesday, he was on panels that asked questions of Julian Castro and Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“He sat right beside me,” Godwin said of Sanders. “Yeah, he’s an interesting man.”
The key topic Godwin brought up with each candidate he questioned was funding for programs to house homeless veterans, and to find work and a livable wage for veterans. He asked the candidates how they would, as president, find more funding for these programs and ensure they remained fully funded.
The forum was a great venue for the discussion of these programs and other issues important to American Indian tribes, he said. It also was a good event for receiving new ideas and information that can be used to expand and enhance such programs and address other critical issues.
Godwin also had a side conversation with Warren. They spoke about the Lumbee people’s ongoing effort to gain full federal recognition. He also spoke about federal recognition with Sanders. Both said they support federal recognition, which Godwin discussed with members of other tribes at the forum.
A video of Godwin speaking with Warren was shown by CNN and was used in other news outlets across the nation.
“Any time the Lumbee Tribe gets that type of exposure, it’s a success,” Godwin said.
With Castro, Godwin spoke about housing. Castro was the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from 2014 to 2017.
“He’s very knowledgeable,” Godwin said.
Castro was able to to provide helpful information about housing and programs to help American Indian veterans. Overall, the Lumbee Tribe was encouraged by Castro and members of other tribes to keep doing what it is doing to help veterans because what it is doing is working.
Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women was a key topic, and many American Indian women who are tribal and community leaders were among the topic’s panelists, including Gay Kingman, the executive director of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association.
“This is a big topic across the nation and among the Lumbee Tribe,” Godwin said.
There were many women at the forum speaking about the issue. The women discussed it with knowledgeable people who offered information about ways to address the issue.
“And that was more their issue,” Godwin said. “I was just listening.”
Another key topic was initiating programs to get more American Indian voters to the polls during the upcoming elections, he said. The slogan “Native Votes Count” was created for those efforts.
Four Directions Inc. was the forum’s sponsor. The South Dakota-based nonprofit, led by Co-Executive Directors Oliver and Barb Semans, helps American Indian tribes across the nation organize efforts to get their members to the polls to vote as a way to protect their rights, history and culture. The group also helps tribes ensure the voting rights of their people are not in any way suppressed or infringed upon.
Four Directions paid all of Godwin’s expenses to, from and while he was at the forum.
“The Lumbee Tribe didn’t have to pay a dime to send me there to participate in the forum,” Godwin said.
It was Four Directions that invited Lumbee participation at the forum. The invitation was the result of the Lumbee Tribal Council’s approval in June of a resolution that partnered the tribe with Four Directions in developing efforts to get out the vote and to protect voting rights.
“The Lumbee Tribe was the only North Carolina Tribe that was invited as a panelist,” Godwin said.
As such, Godwin was able to represent North Carolina tribes and present their causes and concerns at the forum.
“It was definitely worthwhile,” he said.
Godwin hopes to brief the Lumbee Tribal Council about his time at the forum and what he learned during its meeting in September.
