Introduction to the Carolina Indian Voice

A Decade of Service; Progress

By Lew Barton

[From: Carolina Indian Voice, 10th Anniversary Edition, January 20, 1980, p. 1.]

Since January 1, 1973, my eldest son Bruce Barton has been articulating the affairs and concerns of the North Carolina Indians ... and of all Indians generally. Aided and abetted by a younger brother (Garry Lewis Barton) and a younger sister (Connee
Brayboy), he has made journalistic and publishing history. For one thing, although a number of former attempts were made, theirs has been the only Indian periodical in the state to survive, all the others sooner or later falling by the wayside. The Indian
Observer, the Pembroke Progress, the Lumbee ... these and other "voices" saw the light of day for a brief span, then lapsed into silence. Yet for a full decade, come Hades or high water, the Carolina Indian Voice has prevailed, issue after issue
appearing as regularly as clockwork.

In a tri-racial setting such as ours in Robeson County, North Carolina, that is no small accomplishment. I salute these younger people, armed only with Indian determination and their brighter dreams of a more glorious tomorrow for all our people. They have truly made Robeson a better county in which to live. They have, in fact, enhanced Indian life throughout the state.

Interestingly enough, the life of the Carolina Indian Voice has coincided with the Indian renaissance, experienced not only in this but also in other states of the nation. We saw our Robeson Indians become national models for Indian education and Indian economic advancement generally. We saw individuals from our own group take high and great places of natural Indian leadership, and come away with honor after honor. And so it is that the Carolina Indian Voice has much to celebrate, much for which to be justly proud.

The news covered during those ten years has not been all good, but neither has it been all bad. And there have been more success stories, I believe, than stories of violence and mayhem. The paper has observed, reported, formulated and expressed
opinion. But it has not only observed and reported upon life in unique Robeson. It has also become an integral part of that life.

One of the most important functions of the Carolina Indian Voice is that it has helped one Indian in one location keep in touch with another Indian in another. And it has helped to keep the Indian community at large functioning as a single unit, in a very real sense. We have no longer been totally isolated from each other, striving to continue without communication.

God bless the Carolina Indian Voice and those who strive so faithfully to keep it afloat, in good times and bad. It has touched all our lives, and mostly for good. May it continue to publish and flourish in all the decades ahead for the blessing and edification of us all!

The paper has helped to right wrongs, air grievances, improve bad situations and make our very lives more liveable. Any community without a voice is a sad community, indeed. And no matter what anyone may contend to the contrary, the Carolina Indian Voice, in fact, has been just that ... a community voice.

Some ten years ago, I had fears that the Indian community might eventually disappear altogether. We no longer had our community schools and their related activities, per se. What was going to happen to us? Now, a decade later, I am more
confident than ever that the Indian community will go on forever.

We are experts at survival. I still grow misty-eyed when I recall from Indian tradition how that little band of colonists and Indians set out from "Roanoke in Virginia" (now Roanoke Island, North Carolina) to brave the perils of a vast, untamed
wilderness in 1587. We have faced up to all the rigors and dangers between that point in time and now and have been victorious.

Yes, Brandi, my sweet little granddaughter, and Dennis, my equally sweet little grandson, in case you ever ask, as I am sure you will, there will always be Robeson Indians. Bruce, Connee and Garry, like their father, have printer's ink in their veins.
Moreover, they have the love of their community in their hearts, and thus I am reassured.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Since the original article was written in 1983 as part of the Carolina Indian Voice's 10th year anniversary, some changes have occurred. The most obvious and traumatic one is that Bruce Barton resigned as editor of the Carolina Indian Voice in 1986; he was ably replaced by Connee Barton Brayboy, who continues to carry the Bartons' journalistic tradition forward. Bruce Barton, whose only explanation for stepping down is that "... I was spiritually depleted ...," is now a social studies teacher in the Robeson County Schools. Lew Barton, the progenitor of the Barton clan, now lives sublimely in retirement in Pembroke resting on his 73 years of laurels. Garry Lewis Barton continues as a typesetter and darkroom mechanic for a newspaper chain in nearby South Carolina.

Bruce Barton
Pembroke, North Carolina
May 1, 1991

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