To the Editor,

As October arrives, our community faces a disappointment in not having a Fall 2011 Pow Wow as annually sponsored by the Lumbee Regional Development Association). Leaders have made a decision that unfortunately had to be made because of the economy and the LRDA wallet. The economy, however, doesn’t have to have the last word on the spirit of our people!

Morgan Hunt Wariax and Ron Jacobs are to be credited with leading me to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC-EcxX0Nd0.

This is a link to a video on YouTube of several of our Lumbee leaders discussing tribal history, education and economic development in the 1970s. The film is a 30-minute discussion among Purnell Swett, Pauline Bullard Locklear, Ken Maynor, Bruce Jones and Hughes Oxendine.

This video is a great “time out” for reflection by our tribal members, tribal administration and tribal government.

I am so thrilled that we have this piece for tribal archives and hope that the video will find its way to our tribal government website. More importantly, I hope the content of this video finds its way to the hearts, minds and spirits of our tribal members.

The good in this video is that Lumbee people were proud of their accomplishments and pursuits. We have always been a proud people regardless of the size of our wallets. We were moving forward and I think today we can still move forward!

Eric R. Locklear

Pembroke