liARt UVERMurffc LIBKAKf
__r_ PEMBROKE. STATE. Li9RART
m1 m , kit H PEMiROKE. NC 21372
[fl Published each Thursday since January 1891973 I
I i Carolina Indian Voice I
::P5I | ?
h J Z ^ life; p f :f v'^ :>.????" ? v . ,p|lfHP ? ? ? ;. ?
F f NC Robeson County
I x v ?p? ;:,ft f';V:tei[i',t 'V'' JO
"Building communicative bridges in a tri-racial setting"
? I ; i I ?
^jj
1 f - ' I Tib IT - ' IV"
Jeffrey Brooks announces candidacy for
Town Council
Jeffery A. Brooks has announced his candidacy ibi a
seat on the Pembroke Town Council. Brooks released tl(p
following statement:.
"After much duration of time, Ihave decided to enter
the nee for town council. Folks, we need a change in the
government of Pembroke- We are simply off course
Town officials spend more time year round with the
concerns of eleedng the governor and senators than they
do on operating town affaire.
"It is not more factories and employment that is needed
in Pembroke. My friends, we now need to turn our
attention toward the disease of alcoholism and dni|
addiction. Pembroke must share in the blame for the
number of alcoholics and drug addicts in the town. Years
ago the town boasted of its gain of revenue from their kind
of money...the A.B.C. store. Now we must work to rid the
minds of alcoholics of the thirst for drugs and liquor.
"We need to be mean to bring about the change wtue))
ia needed to eloae up the a.b.c. store. We need to be mean
about inaiatiag that all personnel live within the city limits
to help bear the expense of labor. No employee of
Pembroke needs to be furnished a personal automobile
to drive to and from work. We need to get mean and say
there wfl] be no more sitting around the restaurant
drinking coffee, ft is time to roll up our sleeves and do the
work that we have promised to the citizens of Pembroke.
"We need to be mean for change and check all
personnel salary and see where we can cut and see
where cut*can be made and in doing so we can add more
people to ottr work force.
"The state of North Carolina and locals are already
cutting back and learning to share, ft is not more taxes
that are needed. Let's share. Share together and we can
have love for our neighbors. God bless you and your vote
will be appreciated."
John C. "Candy" Brooks family reunion held
Tradition run* deep; cultural awareness, high among
Native American descendant* of the late John C.
"Candy" Brooks.
Last Saturday afternoon 150 of them gathered for their
third annual family reunion at Evans Cross Roads
Community Building adjoining the fire department
"Candy" Brooks was descended from John Brooks
(1700), a Native American who fought in the American
Revoluntionary War.
According to family historian, Eli*ha Loeklear, among
those present at the-afternoon event were descendants
represoetarive of a nig* generation of pspttKh Jotnr
Brooks. -i
Relatives traveled from as tar away aa Ohio lo take part
in the celebration honoring the lives of their ancestors
who were native people of Robeson County.
EUsha Loeklear, a maternal grandson of "Candy"
Brooks, served as master of a short pre-luncheon
ceremony which included a brief family history; a special
prayer of blessings on the mid-day meal by Rpv. Timothy
Creel, pastor of Mt Olive Pentecostal Holiness Church.
N.C. Representative Adolph L Dial delivered a bfief
history of the Indians of Robeson County with emphasis
on the Brooks fsmily who settled around what is known
locally as "Brooks' Landing" on Lnmbee river, west of
Pembroke. ? _ .
John C. "Candy" Brooks was the son of D.B. Brooks
and Callie Locklear Brooks.
His first wife was Hattie Deese, daughter of E31en
Deess. John and Hattts*ehildreit. were: ... Don A.;
: BVtsie M.;Callie B.; William U; UUiao D.; Mayrtle E;
Hattie Brooks died during childbirth on July 14, 1924.
John C. Brooks took Effie Locklear, daughter of Nelson
and Sal lie Loddear, as his second wife. To this union were
bom two daughters, Betty R and Sallie Ann.
Three daughters of John C. Brooks were in attendance
at the reunion. They are Lillian Jones; Myrtle Deese; and
Sallie Ann Graham.
LOOKING BACK...
/ 936...Aaron Brooks Family
M 19M, mimbm* ?ftk* Aaron friaimfmtUi gttkmmd
fti ftW. W.T.ffl ?
Brook*; ttm ting loft to right, domghtm Moootta and
Amm Brook*; and hit wifo, Mtii'i Brooks.
Omm**, kA j
mi Dr. JhMi I. Gft?fc, <*? ?>ml?f /?r ??wtaK i
k 9lh***fWU, m$ 1$aitn h tk* pkm*t? Mr <
Wtiaii** (kfhmtfcm 10in. to ,
um p.m. A it m tfiH to Ililtom MMm ?MNf
wimm uu 7W? V /w*toto w mi. m
NTI to tfc toMtof to Hp tow wptiiliii tfe
mJUtoM*# WtoM IM Imm ?rf JVH
Spirit of newplay bringspeople together
Playwright Scott Meltmer, loft, in study session with
Council of Knowledge members Mary Sanderson, center,'
by Barbara Braveboy-LocUear
Special to The Carolina Indian Voice
For too many years now the Native people of Robeeon
County have witnessed the coming and leaving of persons
purporting to have genuine interest in die history,
culture, and tradition of tbp Indians at the county.
And the Indians observed and smiled, ft becomes never
difficult for Natives to separate the grain from the chaff
when it involves oppoXMfiif*.
playwright, to the area gives Robeeon County Indians
reasons to tay out the welcome mat. Hie 24-yearoid
Mecklenburg County native says his interest in race
relations brought him to the county ten months ago.
"For whatever reason, race relations in how people get
along or do not get along today, motivates me to write,"
Meitsner says.
His senior year at Brown University found Melt ease
involved in community projects, ft eras in Providence,
Rhode Island that the honor student in English and
Creative Writing observed the plight of die northern
city's homeless people.
Drawing on his scholastic training and the situation
Meitsner enlisted the oppressed people in a play project
which involved participation through writing and acting.
"When I write about a problem, or people, I go direcdy
to the people living the situation." he explains at the
project "The problem of these people was real- not
abstract and the play had to involve those living the
problem." he says of the successful project which
developed into a citywide touring production.
Meitsner says after graduation he felt he had to get out
of the North because, as he admits, the area suffered too
groat a concentration of social ills- "obvious problems"
for him to remain. _
He'd heard of the plight of the Indians in Robeson
County whil a student at Brown University and saye his
inner feelings brought him to visit The need to work also
influenced his decision to come and live in the rural Deep
Branch community alongside the dark waters of the
Lumber River.
Aided in part by a grant from the N.C. Humanities
Council, the playwright la busy working on a project
designed to talm the history, culture and traditions of the
Indians of Robeeon County and put them into a play which
would then be produced and tohan around the county to
schools, churches and community centals.
The Robeson County Indian Flay Project is a joint
venture primarily sponsored by Laimbee Regional
Development Association and the TVtie V, Compensatory
Education Program and eo-sponacred by the North
Carolina Indian Cultural Center and the Itocarora Tribe
of NC. he.
"We will toil the story of the people who mahs their
home along tha banha of the'Lumbae' River in the iorm of
a pageant, an evening of related scenes creating an
overview of the history and culture we aim to portray. Ike
play might heat be deacribed aa a islsbrmlion, because we
surely want to create a poeitive and meaningful mssasgs.
"h might could even be further called a celebration of
Native American identity because one of tha primary
tiasaASuatajuuiaiiiSsu?
md Raymond Clark and Barbara Bmveboy-LocHear'
progression from pre-colonial times to the present, and
that Native American people of Robeson County are no
leas'reel' Indians than their ancestors were four hundred
years ago.
"The messae we hope to give the children who see the
play, and adults, too, ia that they are truly the font
American people, and they can and should be proud of
their history and cultural heritage," the playwright adda.
And though he brings hia trims sad twining asa<writer
to the project Meltsnar empbaaiiaa that it's not hfc play,
but that of the bdian people of Robeson County.
"I aril them ths Couoea of Knowledge." be says of the
project participants. "The positive spirit and nature of
the pipy should bring lndians of the county together...
laying aside political issues."
Mehaner says the project ia designed to taha the
knowledge of scholar* and community people about the
history and culture of Native American people in the
county *?d turn it into a play that will be toured
throughout the area. This, ha says, wfl] be accomplished
by using a method he calls scripting, and ia a[ .
process that allows the diverse voices of a people to come
together as one.
The process begins with the foreaation at a writing
series of seminar/ discussion when the history and
culture of the Indians will be outlined horn before the
arrival of Columbus to the present There wffl alee ha
sessions on writing and playwriting as weO as on the
Native American tradition of storytelling.
"After this initial 'learning phase' the writing group
win divide up according to their individual interest, sad jn
thesa smaller sub-groups the play will unfold and
hopefully, bloom.
"In the end. we will have the script to an evening of
various segments that will hopefully tell the story of a
people, and mors than that, the 'true' story of the people
that the people write themselves.
"1 see the final production as a celebration of Native
American identity in Bobeeoa County- a play that will lift
the people, and especially the children and allow them to
say 'I am todlan. I know where I came from, and I'm
proud,'" he comments.
Meltsner says the project is open to any person who
ispls they can taring a knowledge of any ?f the topics to the
project He especially encourages participation in the
writing group. The playwright says he expects the project
to come to fruition by next summer.
To the Indian paopie in Robeson County Scott Meltsner
is a waleomad opportunist With his coining the non
Native American playwright brings an abiding interest in
the history of the county's Native Americans.
He is offering them the opportunity to write thrir
history in their own words.
That in itself affords thorn one of the law reasons far
celebration of the upcoming 600th anniversary of
the Columbus Discovery, (sic)
EDITOR'S NOTE: Those interested in participating in
the Rohamn County Indian Play Project may contact
Scott Mettaaar at IitDA Education Project, P.O. Bon IB.
Mayor Milton Hunt supports
drug awareness program
7WM JfdlM Jfatf, M $kmm
fight, 4i$e%t$ing ? netnl proclmmmtion w4th Sgl
Wuddii, hml Armg Mtentitor. Th* pmctmmmko* mt
* 40tigmth fcpliwiir tJ I7 u "Stay * Stay
0# ?*#? Awmmu Wtih' to NbHk CMm. 71.
yruMwiMw fry li? Af?y*r ?/ Hnbfkt, fktktr
tmmmlt 4? ?&** */th* *k1?h itorrWtolyfctiw
/?r<to mmm**#*! mrf rfmtfawito* to to. uwi-ktoh# ifm*