Her convictions put her on activist path

Beth Jacobs' voice mailbox was filled soon after inflammatory comments about American Indians were broadcast over the radio.

The callers were reacting to comments made last month by Bob Dumas, the host of radio station G-105's "Bob and the Showgram." He and co-hosts teased an intern about her pending marriage to a Lumbee Indian and made jokes that played on stereotypes. Among other comments, Dumas said American Indians are lazy.

"Soon as I heard it, I called Beth," said Candace Harke, Jacobs' friend and former law school classmate. "When she's passionate about something, she gets it accomplished."

People turned to Jacobs, a 26-year-old Lumbee Indian. Some of the callers were fellow Lumbees, a group moving slowly toward federal recognition after more than a century of fighting for it. Some of the callers were twice Jacobs' age, and others were her contemporaries.

They wanted to find out her reaction to the comments. And they looked to her for a plan.

Jacobs immediately organized a protest of the radio station. Two weeks ago at the state Capitol, she stood behind a microphone and exhorted protesters, calling for the radio station to stop broadcasting "hate speech."

Friends say Jacobs' deep-seated conviction draws people to her, and it gets results.

"We're going to keep fighting," Jacobs said.

Jacobs grew up as a farm girl, shucking corn, fishing and riding four-wheelers with her family on a 12-acre lot in Robeson County.

Her mother, a longtime secretary, is part of a family with a strong work ethic, she said, and it was understood that she had to work. She volunteered at a day-care center at a Methodist church at an early age. She held a variety of jobs, including makeup artist and waitress, but she always had a way with children.

"Honey, if I had been born with a silver spoon, I would not have been working at [a restaurant]," Jacobs said. "I had to work, so I know what it's like to struggle."

It wasn't until college at UNC-Pembroke that Jacobs focused on helping minorities and disadvantaged children. She then decided to study law, a profession she thought could bring about change.

She received a law degree last year from UNC-Chapel Hill. But cases often crawl through the court system, and Jacobs' sense of urgency may not be suited to practicing law, she admitted.

Instead, Jacobs started a career as an organizer for Democracy North Carolina, a statewide nonpartisan group that conducts research and grass-roots efforts to promote voter registration and fair elections. She created a nonprofit called Brown Babies, which is meant to help disadvantaged children. The group meets with parents to hear their concerns about the quality of education in Robeson County and offers possible solutions. "The only way real significant change will happen in this country is if we start with the children," Jacobs said.

As Jacobs continues to establish herself as an activist, she faces some hurdles.

First, there's the experience factor. She is still unfamiliar to some older, more established organizers and advocates across the state. With her youthful appearance, she says it can be tough to gain respect.

"People are always assuming that I'm very, very young, and I get disrespected on several levels because of that," Jacobs said. "But people get excited about seeing a young person who is not being selfish."

The protest goes on

She clashed with the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs over the protest. She said the group wanted her to call off the protest after the radio station offered an apology.