To the Editor,

Forty-two hundred dollars in what could be college scholarship money is paid out each month to Lumbee Tribal Council members in the form of $200 stipends to each of the 21.

That means each year $50,400 that could be going to help students and families fund higher education is going to adults who have voluntarily made the choice of serving in an elected position that carries no guarantee of compensation.

Besides spending $50,400 each year in stipends, the tribal government uses the same unrestricted money for Tribal Administration and Tribal Council to travel in some instances.

Unrestricted funds are the only monies from where scholarship funds can be drawn. The reality of the situation is that Tribal Council and Administration choose to put money in the wallets of 21 adults or pay for plane rides rather than invest in educating Lumbee men and women to create a better future for our tribe.

Remeber, these 21 are the same people who you are listening to to tell you how to read your tribal constitution?

I think God has brought us to a time where we the Lumbee people have open eyes so that we can read and govern ourselves. It’s time to end nearly two decades of paying leaders to rob us of a more prosperous future.

Eric R. Locklear

Fayetteville