I in | > Published each Thursday since January 18,1973 us**** I
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i i M Carolina Indian Voice
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13 3, NC Robeson County
1 ? "Building communicative bridges in a tri-racial setting"
V0UUM1 | . ! THURSDAY, MARCH 21. 1991 25 CENTS PER COPY
Lumbee tribal rolls reopen
for six months
At a recent LRDA Board of Directors meeting in
Pembroke, a motion to reopen the Lumbee Tribal Rolls for
a period of six months was adopted by a majority of Board
members easting their vote in favor of reopening the
Lumbee Rols. According to Ruth B. Loeklear, Director
of the Lumbee Tribal Enrollment Office, approximately
2000 membership requests have been received since
2/17/1089 when rolls were closed by the LRDA Board of
Directors. The vast majority of these enrollment requests
are the children of parentis) enrolled prior to SV17/1989.
In debating the reopening of rolls, the LRDA Board
considered action which would have allowed only those
who had already submitted an enrollment application to
be processed for enrollment. However, under consulta
tion from Lumbee River Legal Services, the Board
reopened the rolls to anyone making an application during
the six month period, including those who had already
submitted an application since 2/17/1989.
According to Ruth B. Loeklear, since the closing of rolls
in February 1987, the Enrollment Office has been
readying the Lumbee Rolls for eventual inspection by the
U.8. Department of Interior as required by the Lumbee
Recognition bill. According to the bill. Interior must
examine these rolls before a determination of tribal needs
and budget is prepared.
Since February 1987, approximately 1000 deceased
members have been purged from the rolls. With the
removal of deceased members, and the prohibition on
adding new members, the size of Lumbee, by its official
enrollment count, has diminished during the past two
years. Hie Enrollment staff anticipates enrollment of
approximately 3000 added members during the next six
months. Fhsal dots to submit an snroUment application it
August tS, 1991.
Hie Lumbee bill, as sponsored by Congressman Rose
and Sanford. require the members of the tribe to
reorganize under a tribal constitution. Prior to the
adoption of this constitution, which must be presented to
the membership for election, rolls are required to open for
180 days to allow the enrollment of any eligible individual.
If the individual holds membership in another Indian
group and eligible for Lumbee tribal membership, the
individual must relinquish membership in the other group
as a condition to enrolling on the Lumbee Rolls.
For those interested in applying for Lumbee tribal
membership, the Enrollment Office is located on Union
Chapel Road, adjacent to J & 0 Video. Persons applying
for tribal membership should bring in birth certificates,
and be knowledgeable of family genealogy. For additional
information, contact the Lumbee Enrollment Office at
(919)521-2462 between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
Hie Enrollment Staff also seeks volunteers to assist
with the enrollment of members over the next few
months. If you are interested in volunteering services,
please contact the Lumbee Tribal Enrollment Office.
Whatever Happened to ...
Raymond L. "Pete" Clark
BY Barbara Bravrboy-Locklear
SPECIAL TO WE CAROLINA INDIAN VOICE
Raymond Leslie "Pete" Clark says he's learned the
secret of good health.
"Instead of looking for what's wrong with people, Ilook
for what's right with them. And in so doing you can do
away with ninety percent of your illness."
The elder says his is a recipe anyone can adopt if they
will. Though Mr. Clark is 71 years old, he says he's not
old. "Physically. I'm 27 years old."
Born the son of Barto "Bud" Clark and Emma
Sampson Clark, he was nicknamed "Pete" as a very
young child. He says his nickname sake was Me Jones, a
hired hand working on a farm 'tended by his dad. One of
his eight siblings gave him the nickname which he has
answered to for over six decades.
The grandfather says though he lived most of his early
childhood in the town of Pembroke, he worked in the farm
fields doing day labor. He received his early education at
Pembroke Graded School and graduated from Indian
Normal High School in 1936. He enrolled in Indian
Normal School the following fall; completed one year of a
three-year program and dropped out because of a
financial hardship.
It was during the Depression years and he says he
needed to work whether the job was what he wanted to do
or not For die entire year he cooked in a Pembroke cafe
whieh served mostly hot dogs. Having saved enough
money to pay another year's tuition, Mr. Clark returned
to Indian Normal School and completed another year of
college study.
Another interruption came to his college career with his
marriage to Ekteile Revels, a 20-year-old Lnmbee woman
he'd dated for four yearn, fa 1940, at the age of 21. he
MmnondL "WOmk
nufiM Ik* oaty girt wtUi wkom K? d ?mm alMdy. Tka
L.||>|.^a||i||a hh IMmn 1|| PbnityuJia
'kMNiln SSSm wkk ? MMMMar.
A tow wMki towr Ik# roupto mmmi to BaMlww,
M?ytoaB wkwe ka mm* a J* to aa atoptoM teawwy
1W ka toulk M M RmnWk. H# waa ik*i? tor a paar
luliw tsMng on employment ia ths-ahjpyrd in the sine
city. For ? tittle over a year he worhod as a shipfittnr.
& was at the time of World War and the young father
enlisted for military service in the U.S. Navy. He sent his
young wife and only son at the time back to live in then
native Robeson County. He reported to duty
aboard the US8 Henry W. Tucker, a destroyer, where he
served as a radarman in Task Force 06. He received an
honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy in 1944.
The widower says he returned to Robeson County and
worked briefly aa an electrician before returning to
college study under the GI Bill. In 1949 the intellectual
student graduated from then Pembroke State College
where he'd studied tirelessly and raked up an overall 3.94
grade point average.
Mr. Clark says he had not planned on a teaching career,
and upon graduation, leaving his family behind, he
moved to Detroit, Michigan and worked in the automobile
industry. He didn't tike the line of work and returned to
Pembroke six months later. ,
Mr. Elmer T. Lowry, longtime principal at Pembroke
High School, contacted him with an offer to teach at the
predominately Indian school. In 1950 he took the sole
responsibility of teaching mathematics. His 30-year
tenure was taken at Pembroke High School. In 1930 he
retired from teaching in the public school.
And though retired, Mr. Clark says he is busier than
ever before. He devotes almost all hia time to teaching
Indian ways to the young-ways he says nearly lost during
the hundreds of years the white man forbid their practice.
Hia awareness of Indian culture and religion was
instilled in him by his father.
"My daddy's mother was a Creek Indian woman whose
maiden name was Caulk. She was a practioner of the
Native American religion and passed it on to my father."
He says throughout his life there burned in him a desire
for keeping the old Indian culture and religion alive.
Teaching Indian culture to youth is something he does
because it needs to be done he says.
"For hundreds ofyears Indians either did not practice
itheir religion or practiced it secretly. During my dad's era
lit eras not popular to be aa Indian let alone a practioner of
Indian religion."
His father chose one child among his nine whom he felt
would carry on the practice. It was at the age of ten, Mr.
Clark was told it was he. He says he fully understood the
charge by his father and though he was chosen, he
suppressed practice of his religion because he knew if he
revealed his special gift it may seriously jeopardise hia job
in the workplace.
He says once Indian religion was legalised in 1938, he
passed it on to hie three sons.
"If you bring your children up in the Native American
religion, thoy, too, will pass it on. Being informed of their
cultural heritage gives today's youths identity sad a good
image of thomseives," ho says.
"It took 400 years to get ua in tho shapo we* re in, and It
might take us that long to gut bask in shapo." ho says of
preoorving Mother Earth. "If ws don't get back to the
basics of a balance in nature, we're going to self
deatruet".
His msisMf to Indian and non-Indian youth ia to start
n?setlciM Om Aft at keeping th# biliAM of nituiv
because that's what they're put on earth to da
It UnfiiM A sos sJssu s knllnun tKm (1 ra alttr mil fHstm Km an
V? S\ITiPi It ?si? IMIre? Mew wlwEf^u jrllt Iftwiil H^fw
Is tabs oare of Mother Earth."
And whan set attending Paw wows, the Umbo# elder
ia vialttag wheals wheat he warhs whh first and is sand
?iudooU In hini th?m Indian fyhMfil And
ivikiout iiHiii
Ibaaystheretfaaaonfliat battaaoa Indian religion and
Christianity, "In Native Amottrea religion, the whale
A^|l A sti t u A ndUP Ada
MnU ? I fpurrn i? WN ? Biff w w
? mtttta&tM smadi him llhnm |ho mIIeLie "
E?wtipi JBH iff Wf rfiB?"'
Mr. Clark says be it not much for getting involved in
the organised church and adds, "As far as I'm concerned,
r in in church all the time. And though I don't attend ooo,
I respect the beliefs of those involved in organised
worship.
"Hie whole world is our ehurch. So we are in church 24
hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We pray
just about every hour we are awake. For us every day is
the Lord's Day.
"One can still be a Christian and still practice Native
American religion. Our religion is not a belief...it's a way
of life."
Mr. Clark says the season of spring brings with it n
beginning of the year's ft>w Wow season. The winter
months are spent in visiting schools and in meditation on
lasy days. The spring, summer and fall months are spent
on the Fbw wow circuit
He says it's important to get out and dance with young
people, and tell them what the dances mean. "Dancing is
at the heart of Indian culture."
He adds that all traditional dances are religious. "A
simple drumbeat sets up the time. The drum represents
the heartbeat of Mother Earth. When you dance and keep
in time with the dram, you ai* in tune with nature."
His dedication to the preservation of Indian customs
and tradition have not gone unappreciated and
recognised, b the spring of 1990 he was name Indian
Elder of the Year by the United Tribes of North Carolina.
A few months later for his work, the Lumbee Regional
Development Association gave him its coveted Henry
Beny Lewrie award. Mr. Clark's late wife was a great
neice of Lewrie.
And he has appeared in two movies since his
retirement Along with other local lumbers he was cast in
"Ernest Goes lb Camp." His son, Ray Littleturtle and
grandson, Cochise Clark worked alongside him in the
film.
He also appeared in "The Last Capone," a movie shot
b Warsaw. North Carolina. "Starring in movies is not as
much fun as you would think. The filming of same scenes
over and over is tiring. I don't want anymore of it" he
laments.
Mr. Clark continues daily preparing batches of his
"good health " iwdpe. "I refuse to look for what's wrong
with people. I look for what's right with them. And I've
forgotten how to feel had."
?
NC Indian Unity Conference one
of most successful
By Helen M. Sckeirbeck
SPECIAL TO THE CAROLINA INDIAN VOICE
The 16th Annual North Carolina Indian Unity
Conference convened March 14-16, 1991, at the Sheraton
Airport Plaza Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina. United
Tribes of North Carolina has sponsored the Unity
Conference since 1983.
This year's theme was, "Indian People, Healing
Generations, Join in Unity." Linda Cooper Mills, a
member of the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe, and president of
United Tribes of N.C., set the tone of the conference with
her call to all of North Carolina's Indian people to join
together to plan for the 21st century with Indian people
both in this state and great nation. "Our people are a
wonderful example of persistence and survival, but it is
now time for us to carefully, thoughtfully plan the future
we want for Indian people and children; that is the
challenge of this conference."
More than 600 Indians came hem acrosa the state to
attend 12 workshops on the proposed White House
Conference on Indian Education; Discovering Columbus;
Federal Recognition; AIDS; Alcohol and Drag Abuse;
Economic Development; American Indian Art Forms in
North Carolina; North Carolina Indian Culture: From Past
to Present; Developing Indian Leadership through United
Youth; a Political Forum; iegialative Progress for JTPA
Programs and Participants; and Increasing Your Chances
in the Professional World. Workshop leaders and
participants came from Washington, DC; Ithaca, NY;
Tulsa, OK; Nashville, TN; as well as from all over North
Carolina to share information and insight about their
subjects.
There were four festival speakers at the Conference's
1 GmwtiI Session, Or, Mvtui L, Brooks, LumbM Medici!
Doctor, was the opening keynote speaker. He called an
each individual to do their pot for unity to ensure a better
future for Indian people.
On Friday, each of the state recognised tribes in North
Carotins gave an update of their programs and progress
to the General Assembly. The tribes and their presenters
are listed below:
Cohaire Tribe--W.C. Groves
Meherrin Tribe- Arnold Richardson
Lumbee Tribe- James Hardin
Haliwa-Saponi-Roland Hedgpeth
Waccamaw-Siouan-Shelby Patrick
Cumberland County Asso. for Indian People-Eddie
Maynor
Guilford Native American Aaso.-Ruth Revels
Metrokna Native American Aaso. Judy Warner
Gladys Addison, Program Analyst, Administration for
Native Americans, Department of Health and Human
Services, gave the address. She highlighted the
movement towards self-sufficiency which the Administra
tion for Native Americans hinds and complimented the
North Carolina Tribes and Urban Indian Centers on the
groundbreaking work they have done to move their non
profit organizations toward self-sufficiency.
Roes Swimmer, former Assistant Secretary of Indian
Affairs, Department of the Interior, was a major speaker
on Friday, March 15. Swimmer cited the long history of
federal relations between the United State Bureau of
Indian Affairs and federally-recognised tribes. He
discussed the policies he implemented during his tensure
as the assistant secretary. Mr. Swimmer stated that one
of his unfinished pieces of business was Lumbee
recognition and pledged to continue his efforts to be of
assistance on this matter.
Dr. Gerald Maynor, Chairman of the N.C. State Indian
Education Advisory Council, shared findings of their 1990
report Four recommendations were shared with the
conference. The State Advisory Council on Indian
Education recommends to the State Board of Education:
1) That the State Board of Education continue to focus on
recommendations made in the 1968-89 Advisory Council
Report while considering the new recommendations in
this report 2) That intervention programs, including test
taking skills, should be developed to address the reading
needs of Indian students who do not perform at the
desired total reading level on the California Achievement
Test 3) That the North Carolina State Board of Education
explore and establish programs aimed at reducing
the dropout rate among the Indian student population. 4)
That a study be conducted to determine why Indian
students are identified as having specific learning
dmaWHH? or being educable mentally handicapped at a
higher rale than those befog identified as academically
gifted. According to Dr. Maynor, North Carolina has
17,403 Indian students enrolled in public schools.
This year, the 1991 Miss Indian North Carolina Pageant
was conducted during the Unity Conference. Four
contestants entered the pageant. They were: Beckey L
Grins, sponsored by Cumberland County Association for
button Peojjle; Andrea D. Jacobs, Guilford Native
American Association: Sharon C. Harris, Haliwa-Saponi;
and Nahir D. Loddaar, Lumbee Tribe. The winner of the
pageant was NMdrlXLoddeer, who will serve as the 1991
Mias Indian North Carotins
Another highlight of the conference was the
Inter-Tribal Bow Wow moderated by Ray Littleturtle,
Lumbee-Cberew Tribal member. He was assisted by April
WMttemore, Head Lady DUncer Randall Bryant, Head
Man Dancer and the White Tkil Singers of Hollister.
Over 800 people were in attendance.
The North Carolina Indian Cultural Center hosted the
let Native American Juried Fine Arts Exhibit at the Unity /
Conference. Artists re presenting seven tribes submitted
50 pieces of art. valued fa excess of 125,000. Best of show
went to Donald Perry, Lumbee. an award ot 3600.
Ribbons for Honorable Mentions were awarded to:
painting-Gloria Tarn Lowery, Lumbee: Mary J. Bell.
Cohaire; beadwork--Patricia Richardson, Cohaire; sculp
ture/carvings--Arnold Richardson, Haliwa-Saponi: and
Don Bmemon, Skokomish/ Navajo. Hayes Lock!ear, Jr.
coordinated the exhibit for the Indian Cultural Center,
and Dr. Stanley Kniek. Mary Morris Green Star, and Ken
Rhyne served as judges for the exhibit.
Several special ceremonies took place during the Indian
Unity Conference. Ray Littleturtle, Lumbee-Cheraw,
presented the highest honor given for service to Indian
people to three tribel leaden--Commission of Indian
Affairs Board members: Lonnie Revels, Eddie Maynor,
and Jim Lowiy.
Julian T. Pierce
Memorial
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