The People of Dark Waters

 

by Eric Diekhans 

The heartland of the Lumbee Tribe lies amid the pines and swamps of southeastern North Carolina. The Lumbee call themselves The People of Dark Waters. For millennia, their lives revolved around hunting, fishing, and farming along the Lumbee River and amidst lowlands and swamps that Europeans considered almost impenetrable.

When Hurricane Helene devastated western North Carolina in late September, Robeson County, where many Lumbee live, was mostly spared. But six years prior, Hurricane Florence struck the Lumbee hard. The hurricane’s aftermath brought environmental racism and the shortsightedness of colonialist exploitation of the land into sharp relief.

In his new book, On the Swamp, Ryan E. Emanuel, a tribal member and an associate professor of hydrology at Duke University, writes about how environmental injustice worsened Hurricane Lawrence's effects. Emanuel describes the hurricane’s aftermath:

 

“In the days that follow the deluge, rivers and streams swelled far beyond their banks and spilled across the flat, low-lying Coastal Plain. Typical quiet, stagnant swamps became roiling, frothing torrents. Sluggish rivers expanded into liquid superhighways that inundated—indiscriminately—pine forests, crop fields, industrialized livestock facilities, and neighborhoods. Streets and highways became eerily angular lakes. Occasionally, automobile roofs or antennas broke the dark surface. In the days after Hurricane Florence, water nearly swallowed the Coastal Plain whole.”

 

During the 18th and 19th centuries, as Europeans killed or displaced North Carolina’s indigenous people, settlers arrived and sought to subjugate nature. They built canals and dams to tame the Lumber River and drain wetlands. The projects opened up the area to more settlement and agriculture but destroyed indigenous hunting grounds and made the land more susceptible to flooding during catastrophic weather events.

Today, large commercial enterprises, many of them situated near low-income communities, cause irreparable damage to Lumbee lands. The county is home to enormous livestock operations, slaughterhouses, and meatpacking plants. When Hurricane Lawrence hit, the waste runoff from these operations poisoned waterways. 

As concern about climate change has risen, North Carolina has turned from coal to natural gas. But Robeson County has shouldered the burden for this changeover. Natural gas pipelines now cross Lumbee County, scarring the countryside and taking land from tribal members through eminent domain.

Global warming has caused other changes to Lumbee County. Emanuel writes, “Climate change has turned  the Coastal Plain into a place of extremes. It is becoming hotter and drier, and yet the risk of another catastrophic flood looms on the horizon. Decision-makers simultaneously face the challenges of planning for droughts and foods—frustrating and unenviable situation.”

For decades, the Lumbee Tribe has fought for environmental justice and respect for its culture and traditions. But they have often been stymied by the Lumbee Bill passed by Congress in 1956, when the government's focus was on avoiding the burden of responsibility to Native Americans. The bill recognized the Lumbee but forbade the government from entering into formal relationships with the tribe. Government agencies still cite the law as a reason not to consult with the tribe before approving harmful or polluting projects.

Great challenges remain in Robeson County. More hurricanes will come. Emmanuel writes, "Our homelands feel a little less like home, in some ways, with each passing year. Lumbee communities are shrinking safe havens. Flooding from human-caused climate change threatens communities from one side and industrialization from the other. The last vestiges of our formerly expansive homelands are caught in the squeeze of extraction and sacrifice. It is a perilous place to be, but we remain. We belong.”

 

Eric Diekhans’ fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and the forthcoming anthology Uncensored Ink. He is the recipient of a local Emmy for Children’s Television and an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in screenwriting. He is a member of Lake View Presbyterian Church in Chicago. (www.ericdiekhans.com)