Anisa Khalifa: In 1988, two Native American men took drastic action to raise the alarm on corruption and racism in a rural sheriff's office. Infuriated by the injustices they saw impacting their community, they did something completely unexpected. Armed with shotguns, they took over the local newspaper and held 17 people hostage.
(SOUNDBITE FROM ARCHIVAL AUDIO)
Unidentified Man: Well, it's a tense situation and it's getting more tense by the hour. That dark's coming, and I'm afraid that they're gonna make an unwise move.
Anisa Khalifa: I’m Anisa Khalifa. This week on The Broadside, producer Charlie Shelton-Ormond tells the story of a shocking act that was carried out in the name of justice. 35 years later, we look back at the takeover of The Robesonian and ask what it cost, who paid the price, and whether it made any difference at all.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Let’s set the scene. February 1, 1988. It was mid-morning at the Robesonian newspaper. Reporters had already settled in for their workday. They were calling sources, scribbling notes, maybe typing away on a clunky 80s keyboard. Then, two men walked through the door.
Sarah Nagem: They go in, they tell the receptionist, hey, we're here to occupy this building.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: The receptionist was — understandably — confused.
Sarah Nagem: You know, what, what exactly are you here for? And yeah, they chained the door shut behind them.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: This is Sarah Nagem. She’s the editor of the Border Belt Independent.
Sarah Nagem: We're a digital nonprofit newsroom in southeastern North Carolina.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Sarah recently published a story about this strange day in Robeson County, North Carolina history. The piece was for the Border Belt Independent and The Assembly, another digital outlet.
Sarah Nagem: People were scared. You know, just as anybody would be. And they kind of rounded everybody up.
Timothy Jacobs: We had no intentions of hurting anyone inside there.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: That’s Timothy Jacobs, one of the men who was responsible for the takeover. This is from one of the several conversations he’s had recently with Sarah.
Timothy Jacobs: We had made that pact that we would not hurt anybody who was being held hostage. But if law enforcement came in, we were going to be prepared to take somebody, because we knew if they came in, they were gonna take us.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Jacobs and his accomplice Eddie Hatcher each had a sawed off shotgun they’d bought hours before at the local hardware store. With these firearms, and a padlock on the front door, they held 17 hostages captive at the Robesonian.
Sarah Nagem: Neither expected to make it out of there alive that day. Their hope was, hey, we're probably going to be killed by law enforcement. But you know, after we're gone, we hope that, that sort of change happens in Robeson County.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Timothy Jacobs still lives in Robeson County today. For the last several months, Sarah has spent time sitting down with him to hear more about why he carried out this takeover 35 years ago.
Sarah Nagem: They wanted an outside investigation into the sheriff's office, you know, into, you know, allegations of corruption within the sheriff's office.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: And what were those allegations of corruption within the sheriff's office — how would you describe what Robeson County was like back in the late 1980s?
Sarah Nagem: So, in the 1980s, Robeson County was sort of at the center of the cocaine epidemic, right. So I-95 runs right through the county. There was no shortage of cocaine being bought and sold in Robeson County. Today, of course, that's more heroin and opioids. But I get the sense that, you know, that drug culture really impacted, again, every aspect of life in Robeson County. And there were so many suspicions about the sheriff's office.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: At the time, a man named Hubert Stone was the sheriff in Robeson County. He was widely accused of corruption in the region. And even though Sheriff Stone was never charged with a crime, Sarah says distrust in his office was widespread.
Sarah Nagem: Hubert Stone’s son shot and killed a man during a traffic stop – he was a sheriff's deputy, you know, argued it was in self defense. And a lot of people were very skeptical of that reasoning. There was a black man being held at the Robeson County Jail, who died of asthma complications, and there was some concern that he was not given proper medical treatment. So it was just sort of this confluence of all these things coming together, right. And then this intense distrust of law enforcement.
And I will say to jump forward again to today, that distrust lingers. I don't think it's as strong as it was then. But you can talk to just about anybody in Robeson County today. And, you know, they know someone or they themselves have been affected by crime by the opioid epidemic. And there's always an underlying sense of distrust in law enforcement.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Robeson County lies in the southeastern sandhills of North Carolina, right along the border with South Carolina. It’s a pretty rural area. The largest city is Lumberton — home to about 19,000 people.
Sarah Nagem: I think what makes the dynamic a little different is being this sort of triracial county. And it has certainly complicated things over the years.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Today about a quarter of residents are Black, about another quarter are white, and about 40 percent are Native American. Robeson County is home to the Lumbee Tribe, the largest Native American tribe east of the Mississippi.
Sarah Nagem: I think by far it is the most diverse county in North Carolina. And that diversity, just, you know, it permeates every aspect of life. And I say that in a good way.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Timothy Jacobs is also Native American. He’s a member of the Tuscarora, a smaller tribe that isn’t officially recognized in North Carolina.
Sarah Nagem: I think in Robeson County, there's such a sense of pride in being Native American, and celebrating that culture. I don't think it was always that way. You know, I think the pressure to sort of assimilate for a lot of folks was really strong. And even as a kid, Timothy Jacobs said, No, I don't want to go to your Christian church, I don't want to wear my hair cut short. I want to let it grow out.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Jacobs was only 19 years old when he helped take over The Robesonian. His accomplice, Eddie Hatcher, was a full decade older. Despite that age gap, Sarah says the two men shared a common bond in their Tuscarora heritage and were inspired by ongoing Native American activism across the country.
So Sarah, at the time of the Robesonian takeover, to what degree were Eddie Hatcher and Timothy Jacobs influenced by the American Indian Movement and the protests that were happening within that movement at the time.
Sarah Nagem: Yeah, Timothy says they were heavily influenced by the movement. You know, they saw the occupation in Washington, of the Indian Affairs building. And they looked at that and said, Hey, we need to do something like that.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: 16 years before the takeover of The Robesonian, in 1972, a group from the American Indian Movement occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs for six days in Washington, DC. They were protesting for more resources and civil rights on Native American reservations. The occupation was in line with similar protests throughout the 1960s and 70s across the country.
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Unidentified Anchor: A group of American Indians has taken over the town of Wounded Knee in South Dakota and they have been holding it for nearly a whole day…
Unidentified Protestor: Build a nation, we hope to build an example, a mecca, a school where other Indians can come too...
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Jacobs and Hatcher were also deeply frustrated about the perceived corruption among Robeson County law enforcement figures. Here’s Timothy Jacobs again.
Timothy Jacobs: One of the ways to capture the attention of the world is to take over the media. We demanded an investigation into the county's corruption. We were demanding an investigation into the court system. We were demanding an investigation into corruption overall in the county, we raised issues affecting everyone.
Sarah Nagem: All of that outrage, I think came to a boil, at least for them. And I think it's arguable — could they have gotten their point across without doing all that? Maybe, right? But I think for them, it was: Nobody is listening to us. You know, here we are in Robeson County. You know, with allegations that law enforcement are just running amok, and nobody is doing anything to help us. And that outrage is, you know, it was intense for them. It was real.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: And then — a few days before the takeover, Eddie Hatcher claimed he got a hold of something big.
Sarah Nagem: The way Timothy tells it is, Eddie had gotten his hands on a map that showed the location of some drug dealers in Robeson County, and the locations of some deputies who were maybe in on the drug trade in Robeson County.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Was that ever recovered and verified as something that was legitimate?
Sarah Nagem: Not that I'm aware of. But Eddie was afraid, he was afraid he was going to be killed for having this knowledge. And I think that intense fear, too, is what really, really drove this.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: We’ll be right back after this break.
Inside The Robesonian, the morning’s shock waves rippled into a tense afternoon. Timothy Jacobs and Eddie Hatcher sought out the attention of state officials — one person in particular.
Sarah Nagem: So Timothy and Eddie had several demands to North Carolina Governor Jim Martin's office. Among them was the outside investigation into the sheriff's office, into allegations of corruption. And they wanted to turn themselves in to the FBI instead of local authorities. They were scared, they said, Timothy said, of you know, being handed over to Robson County authorities.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: As the day wore on, the two men released several hostages, some due to peoples’ medical conditions. And then, the office got a phone call. But it wasn’t from the Governor.
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Unidentified Woman: Robesonian.
Charlie Gaddy: Hi, this is Charlie Gaddy with Channel 5. Could you tell me who you are and what the situation is there please?
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: TV news anchor Charlie Gaddy from WRAL in Raleigh spoke with Eddie Hatcher.
Eddie Hatcher: Eddie Hatcher.
Charlie Gaddy: Eddie this is Charlie Gaddy.
Eddie Hatcher: Well, it's a tense situation, it's getting more tense by the hour. That dark's coming and I’m afraid that they're gonna make an unwise move.
Charlie Gaddy: Eddie, what kind of move? What will you do?
Eddie Hatcher: I mean, what will I do? Well, if they push it, then somebody's gonna be hurt.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Watching the video of this is… surreal. Gaddy calmly and methodically continues the conversation, writing down notes… until turning to a live broadcast with Hatcher still on the line…
(SOUNDBITE OF NEWS BROADCAST TAPE)
Charlie Gaddy: From WRAL TV this is an Action News 5 Newsbrief. Good afternoon everybody, I’m on the telephone with Eddie Hatcher. Eddie is in the offices of the Robesonian in Lumberton. And he is one of the men holding about 9 people hostage and Eddie, are you still on the phone? All right. Tell me what your plans are. Nobody has been hurt yet. What are you intending to do?
Eddie Hatcher: We have now barricaded the doors. We're aware the SWAT team is in the area…
Timothy Jacobs: At that point in time, we knew that the whole world knew what was going on. And no matter what happened to us, we knew that we had done what we set out to do. And there was no doubt that there was going to be change and improvement coming to Robeson County.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Governor Martin’s staff did eventually talk with Eddie Hatcher during the takeover, although the Governor himself never spoke with them directly. Some of the demands were agreed upon during that negotiation, including the creation of a state task force to come down and investigate the allegations of corruption.
By around 8pm that evening — 10 hours after the standoff began — the remaining hostages were released. Timothy Jacobs and Eddie Hatcher came out with their hands up and surrendered to the FBI. About a week later, the promised investigation into the Robeson County sheriff's office kicked off. But it didn't last long.
Sarah Nagem: The task force investigated for about a week.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: That's a short task force.
Sarah Nagem: That's a short task force, I think, especially when you're considering an entire sheriff's office, right? So that task force quickly concluded that there was no evidence of corruption.
Timothy Jacobs: They did a sorry job. You know, they let people know that they were coming. They used a lot of people from inside the county to investigate themselves basically. And so the idea that they did a overall investigation, even the local community people feel like that was not true.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Jacobs and Hatcher were later charged with a laundry list of federal crimes. Several for brandishing weapons and for taking hostages. They were also the first two people charged under the 1984 Act to Combat International Terrorism. But in a surprising verdict, the two men were acquitted on all counts. Sarah says the outcome was received locally with a mixed response.
Sarah Nagem: There was some anger over that, over that ruling, and also some folks who were happy about it, saying, Good for them, you know, this needed to happen. Finally, somebody stood up and did something.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: The reaction from some of the newspaper staff was less forgiving. During her reporting on this story, Sarah spoke with the former editor of the Robesonian, Donnie Douglas. Douglas, who was working on the sports desk that morning, narrowly avoided becoming a hostage himself. He snuck out the back door as the standoff began.
Sarah Nagem: Of course, as a reporter asking a fellow reporter I was like, Oh my gosh, so what did you do? And I swear it really stuck with me, he said, Well, I was outside for a while, kind of like, seeing what was going on. And finally I just went home and drank a beer. Of course this was long before the days where you would have to live-tweet every little thing that you see. And Donnie Douglas said to me, which really stuck with me, he was like, They went in there, and they held 17 people hostage. How can the jury rule that it didn't happen?
Donnie Douglas: You know, I don't care what your intentions are. If you walk into a building and huddle people up and you're brandishing shotguns, you're terrorizing those people.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: This is Donnie Douglas.
Donnie Douglas: It makes absolutely zero difference if their claims or what they're alleging was true or not. You can't do that. How the hell can a jury come to the conclusion that didn't happen?
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Ultimately though, it was a state court that delivered a conviction.
Sarah Nagem: They were indicted by a grand jury in Robeson County. And they both were convicted on kidnapping charges.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Both Eddie Hatcher and Timothy Jacobs pleaded guilty. Hatcher was released on parole in 1995. A few years later, he was convicted of a crime again – this time for first-degree murder. He died while in prison in 2009. Timothy Jacobs left prison after serving 20 months – with few regrets.
Sarah Nagem: It certainly did not change his opinions about much of anything.
Timothy Jacobs: Putting me in prison, it done nothing, it done nothing, you know, to change my mind, change my spirit. Because throughout history, Geronimo was imprisoned. Many spiritual leaders and tribal leaders had been imprisoned. That's just the point, you had — Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. So, you know, you have to be stronger than that.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Timothy Jacobs is still living in Robeson County and advocating on behalf of the Tuscarora community in North Carolina. But Sarah says even today — 35 years after the takeover of the newspaper — the legacy of that day remains divisive.
Sarah Nagem: I heard from one of the hostages' family members after the story published, and she said — she wasn't happy with me. She said, My mother was one of the hostages, and she was terrified. And she had nightmares for the rest of her life. She struggled to go out in public. She said, you know, why would you sort of do a story that sort of glorifies this man, and that was not my intention at all, right? And, and, but I was so glad she reached out to me. And it really sort of puts a face to the trauma of it all from that day.
Charlie Shelton-Ormond: Does Timothy Jacobs feel like this takeover had an effect in Robeson County? What does he feel like the legacy is of this day? Sarah Nagem: Yeah, that's really what I had to get to the heart of in my story, right. Was there change? And according to Timothy, yes, you know, he said, you know, look, now we have African American judges, we have Native American judges, we have diversity on the county commission. And that's true, right, in a lot of ways that that is true. I don't think anybody really, really disputes that. But, you know, would that have happened anyway? I don't know. At some point Robeson County needed to catch up a little bit right, with what was happening around the country. I think you could ask 100 people that question and get 100 different responses.
Anisa Khalifa: Sarah Nagem is the editor of the Border Belt Independent based in southeastern North Carolina. You can check out her story on the Robesonian Takeover there or at The Assembly.
The Broadside is a production of North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC. This episode was produced by Charlie Shelton-Ormond. Our editor is Jerad Walker. Thanks to Sean Roux for audio engineering support. I'm Anisa Khalifa. Thanks for listening.