The BIA, we took over the BIA. We had 1500 of us. So we met with—I met
with me and Dennis and Russell and Vernon Bellecourt and Clyde. It was
five of us met with Nixon's lawyer.
[unclear] what was his name? But anyway, he told
Page 11me
personally, call me over. Says, Carnell, if you'll get your people out
of here, go back home, we're going to give each organization so much
money. Pay for your gas and pay for you some food, if you'll get them
out of here and go back home. He says, write me a proposal and send it
direct to me. He said, we'll see that something is done. Well, in the
main process, before we went there, Thomas N. Tureen agreed to file a
lawsuit against the Secretary of Interior, Rogers C. B. Morton, about
the 22. And the federal judge at that time, I forgot his name, he said,
the 22 must honor the Lumbee Act. The Lumbee Act at that time stated
they recognized these people as Indians, but won't have no benefits
[unclear] because of their status as Indians. So I told Thomas, I said,
"Let's appeal that, Tom." So he went to the Fourth Circuit Appeals in
Richmond. The Fourth Circuit Appeals listened to both sides, Thomas N.
Tureen argued for it and then you had the Secretary of the Interior's
office argued against it. So the Fourth Circuit Appeals agreed with us,
that those 22 individuals was not under the Lumbee Act. That these
Indians was more than one half degree of Indian blood. And the border
line people was one half or more degree of Indian blood. And if they had
any brothers or sisters, they were automatically covered. So what we
done, was Thomas N. Tureen and Barry Nakell, we agreed at that time—we
had already come back. We had done that before, when we filed a lawsuit
and lost it before we went to Washington. And then while we was in
Washington, Thomas N. Tureen appealed it, and they heard it, and they
put 1974. When we come back from Washington, I had a meeting that
Wednesday night, and I told the people, I said, "Listen, this is what
Page 12we've got to do." I said, "We've got to write
down what we want." So I had brought a person in to help us write a
grant, a proposal for what we wanted to accomplish. And there was a guy
sitting in there who was a grandson of one of the original 22. He stands
up in the meeting and says, "Ladies and gentlemen, I've got some bad
news for you." I mean, right out of the deep blue sky. "I've got some
bad news." He paused, he said, "Carnell Locklear sold us out." He said,
"He got a hundred thousand dollars. He's got a brand new Cadillac, he's
got a woman, he's married, out of South Carolina. He's got a home at the
beach, he's got a woman in Washington DC." And when he said that, the
people said [makes whistling noise]. Just sat there. They broke up, they
left there that night. I went home, and about 2:00 that morning, my
house got shot at. I heard them coming to shoot. And I took my kids, and
got them and put them under the bed. Then my wife and me got up under
the bed. And they shot at my house that night. And to that night right
on, they split up in five different ways.