I was going to post about my birthday celebrations this past weekend, but that will have to wait a few days. Instead I think it’s time I say what I need to say about the derogatory comments towards the Lumbee people, my people, from G105 morning show Bob and The Showgram
I suppose before I can really get into it, it would be prudent for everyone to hear what exactly was said during the show. To preface, one of the show’s interns was preparing for her impending marriage to a Lumbee guy. Totally out of left field, the remarks start. Listen for yourself….
[audio:http://www.djforge.com/audio/showgram.mp3]
(right click here and save for direct download)
To be honest with you, I’ve never listened to this morning show before, it’s not really my cup of tea, but when things like this happen, the news travels fast. The problem here is that it’s assumed that our population is too small to fight a battle of this nature, and possibly that we wouldn’t attempt to rebut, since most of our people cannot even hear this show (this show is aired in Raleigh, NC which is about 1.5 hours from the majority of our population in Robeson County).
Wrong.
This is beyond offensive to just Lumbee people. It is 2008, right? We, as a community should not stand for a program that is directly detrimental to our efforts to better ourselves as a society. I am completely disgusted by not only the comments that were made, but the duration. I know that people were listening to this show and laughing at our expense, simply because they are uneducated and their only reference to native people comes in the form of native media images drawn from years of stereotypes and generalizations. But still, I know some listeners had to be offended, and to those that are, we need your help taking action on the matter.
What you can do (from the NC commission of Indian affairs):
What I propose we do is send emails to showgram@G105.com and carbon
copy
randiwest@clearchannel.com. Randi is the Production Manager for the
station. She is responsible for the on air personalities. Be sure to
articulate voice your displeasure with their comments, and that you
will
be submitting a formal complaint to the FCC.To submit a complaint to the FCC, simply log on to their website at
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/complaints.html. Complete the electronic
complaint form. Lets get as many people as we can to do this. I am
working to get the various tribes to file a formal complaint with the
FCC as a tribe, but I think volume will make this a bigger issue for
Clear Channel when we get the FCC’s attention.
Also, a letter from Beth Jacobs on the issue:
I am my parents’ only daughter. In my lifetime of 26 years, I have been the caretaker of hundreds of little children. I am a recent law school graduate and a community organizer for a prestigious voting rights organization in North Carolina. I am a person filled with love, hope, ambition, and gratitude.
I am also a Lumbee Indian.
Because I am an “Indian,†all the great things about me and my people, the Lumbee Nation, are never as important as the American cultural stereotypes that depict us as a depraved race of people. We grow up hearing all the bad things that Americans say about Indians; first brutal savagery and then drunken laziness; the tepee and scalping jokes; the historical untruth.
American history produced the propaganda.
American media promulgates the propaganda.For this reason, my existence in America will always be as a statistic. I am surprised at how often I feel belittled, underestimated and blatantly offended as an American Indian. I have been bombarded with the most ignorant, insulting and inane commentary, the likes of which many would deny could be uttered in the professed freedom fest that is our esteemed nation.
And they say racism is dead?
Those of us who are constant victims of modern racism are fully aware of the true history of this country and the bona fide racism that continues to exist, particularly in the media.
Local radio station G105 and its parent corporation Clear Channel have been long time proponents of hate-filled racist propaganda against minorities, particularly during the Bob and the Showgram morning show. In fact, they have often mocked Native Americans, as they call us, including demanding several years ago that some local Indians perform a rain dance during a drought.
That Bob Dumas of Bob and the Showgram recently decided to use his uninformed intern to create the appearance of giving intimate knowledge in order to degrade the Lumbee Nation is where G105 made a fatal error.
The Lumbee Nation is the largest tribe east of the Mississippi and recognized by both the state and federal government. The people now known as the Lumbee Nation have existed in North Carolina since at least the 1700s: resisting removal, accepting newcomers, and striving to retain all semblances of their Native culture, which American culture has tried so desperately to erase. Today, the Lumbee Nation flourishes in all realms of life.
The comments made by Mr. Dumas, his co-hosts and intern were factually inaccurate. For that reason, I do not intend to give Mr. Dumas’ actual words much remark. The comments broadcast by G105 were so obviously racist propaganda, that no intelligent person would form an opinion based on the ignorance spewed. Due to the untrue and uneducated nature of his comments, they were not hurtful to me. They were, however, publicly offensive, racially motivated and made under the pretext of factual information from an informed person. Mr. Dumas was aware of his intern’s impending wedding, and made an intentional decision to bring her on just before and use her as the impetus for his racist rant against the Lumbee.
Mr. Dumas’ intern, Chelsea Prior, a student at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, must be brought out as the uninformed underling that she was in this situation. I doubt that she expected to be bombarded with such ignorance, especially since it was primarily directed at the man whom she supposedly loves.
Nonetheless, in addition to insulting her family and their culture -even her own future children- she has greatly insulted (and no doubt embarrassed) her university. As an alumnus of UNCP, I am most personally offended by her failure to recognize the negative affect that her words would have on the university and community.
The Lumbee people themselves raised money to purchase land and construct a building for the Croatan Indian Normal School. More than a century, and many transformations later, it became The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Despite attending UNCP for years, Ms. Prior had the audacity, or more accurately the cowardice, to degrade the very people who built the institution at which she receives her education.
Bob Dumas and Chelsea Prior are equally at fault. Had she taken the initiative and opportunity to provide accurate information about the Lumbee Nation and Indian people, she would not be accountable for the actions of Mr. Dumas. Instead, she sat dim, brightening up only to laugh along as her husband’s culture was publicly defamed. It is incumbent upon her to demand that G105 allow her to air a public apology. Furthermore, UNCP deserves a personal apology and I encourage all alumni and supporters demand such.
Finally, to my people, the Lumbee Nation, and our friends and supporters:
I applaud everyone for their instant action against G105 and Bob and the Showgram. I encourage you to volunteer for the various protests that are going to be staged in the coming weeks. I am attempting to serve as a coordinator for these events. Feel free to forward this letter widely.
As a group, American Indians have been the whipping boys of this nation for far too long. Now is our time to take a stand for all minority groups that continue to be depreciated by American culture and media. If we do not, our children will suffer the consequences of our idle complaints.
Beth Jacobs
Founding Director, Brown Babies, Inc.
I urge all of my friends, family, colleagues in the music industry, djs, and honestly everyone who is a proponent of elimination racism in America and forwarding growth to help my people and me take action. This is not just our fight. This is bigger than us. I put my tribe’s name in my production company title, not because I thought it would sound cool, but because I am proud of who I am, and where I came from. This kind of pride is not easily damaged, and does not accept such attacks lightly.
Thank you,
DJ Forge
