Day One: Pembroke, N.C.

Doug Locklear's handshake is engulfing, and meeting his gaze sometimes requires shielding your own eyes from the sun. Doug is a restless part-time pastor and full-time resource coordinator for the Lumbee Nation. Caring for people is woven into his every interaction.

And the people of Pembroke – the heart of the 40,000-member Lumbee Tribe – need caring for. Robeson County, which includes Pembroke, has an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent. Between 1993 and 2003, Robeson County lost 10,274 manufacturing jobs, and the current economic downturn isn't helping to bring them back to the area.

These numbers wouldn’t be so jarring if Robeson County and the Lumbee Tribe could have transitioned fairly seamlessly from the industrial era to our current digital one, replacing lost jobs with opportunities provided by high-speed Internet – including home-based businesses, telecommuting, and online college classes. But the digital era remains elusive – and Pembroke has been left stranded.

The Cost of Getting Connected

There are no clear numbers on how many Lumbee Tribe members have broadband access, but Doug is emphatic: “Many, many people can’t afford it.”

With broadband prices ranging from $40 to $60 per month, high-speed Internet is a luxury in Pembroke, even as it’s become a necessity in the rest of the country.

“A lot of our people unfortunately don’t have the high-speed Internet service, and they have to [do things] the old-fashioned route,” Doug says.

Fiercely proud, the Lumbee Tribe has been fighting for their rightful place in America for decades – taking on the Ku Klux Klan and the government, too. Although the federal government officially recognized the tribe in 1956, it withheld the full benefits of federal recognition, which the Lumbees are still trying to gain.

The Dial-Up Divide

The Lumbee logo – a black and red circle – is prominently displayed at the tribal center in Pembroke. Representing the Circle of Life, the logo is divided to represent the four Lumbee qualities of a balanced life: the spiritual, the emotional, the physical and the intellectual. The aspirations of the Lumbees are high, but the obstacles to achieving that balance are formidable.

Rhonda Locklear (no relation to Doug) says her family has been priced out of high-speed Internet access. Rhonda works as a housing specialist for the tribe. She’s able to get a high-speed connection at work, but at the end of the day when she turns off her computer, she also turns off her link to the outside world.

Recently, her 12-year-old son came home from school with a seemingly easy assignment: research census information for the tri-county area. But their dial-up connection turned a simple assignment into hours of aggravation. “It’s discouraging, it’s hurtful,” Rhonda says. “It’s hard to watch him go through so many emotions and try to keep him calm.”

Because Rhonda helps people find homes, she’s privy to a lot of personal information, and sometimes she does more counseling than anything else. But she knows what’s going on behind closed doors, and how something as simple as the lack of Internet access is harming Lumbee families.

“I’ve got residents here who want to get an education and who want to further their education, and they don’t have transportation to get to school,” Rhonda says. “If they had high-speed Internet access, they could take online courses at home and get their education at home. Transportation wouldn’t be a problem.”

The Internet Lifeline

When asked what people in Robeson County do for work, Rhonda is anguished. “Right now, honestly, I don’t know what people are going to do because everything is closing down,” she says. “If you’ve got a job, you better hold on to it and hope and pray that you don’t lose it. Things are just that bad.”

With so many families struggling, the Internet is not their first concern. "Families are looking at, 'Well the light bill and the rent are more important than the Internet access,'" Rhonda says. "'Groceries are more important than being able to access the Internet.'"

But she also knows that Internet access is more than just checking e-mail or shopping online; it’s a lifeline to the outside world, and a chance to overcome the limits of location, poorly funded schools and a sinking economy.

And being left behind is hurting the Lumbee Nation: “I think some of our tribal members feel that maybe we’re just not worthy,” Rhonda says. “When is our time going to come? When are we going to be able to access and get what we need? When are we going to be able to rise above? When are we going to rise above where we’re at right now and overcome?”