Reasons for Reporting: Chez Oxendine Shares His Story for Native News Online’s Year-End Campaign

Each December, Native News Online launches its annual fundraising drive to support its team. Contributions collected during this campaign help sustain the staff who work tirelessly to deliver accurate and timely reporting. Native News Online, together with Tribal Business News, operates under Indian Country Media.

This month, the publications are sharing stories from reporters about their experiences covering Native communities. Chez Oxendine, a member of the Lumbee Nation, is featured first. He joined Tribal Business News as a reporter in October 2020 and occasionally contributes to Native News Online.

Chez recalls his first assignment connected to the Lumbee community: a profile on Moore Brothers Beef, a North Carolina cattle business that evolved from a struggling tobacco farm. He nervously reached out to the family via a Facebook number, marking his first conversation with another Lumbee in five years. When Harbert Moore answered, Chez immediately recognized the familiar Southern accent, reminiscent of his own and his fathers, which he hadnt heard since visiting Robeson County.

During the conversation, Chez felt a natural connection and ease, similar to slipping into a familiar piece of clothing. Harbert Moore, noticing Chezs last name, mentioned potential family ties, which led to a brief concern about conflict of interest. Their discussion then turned to running a beef business amid COVID-19 and the challenges of transitioning from tobacco to food production.

Chez emphasizes that his role now revolves around telling Native stories. From being occasionally reminded of his identity in everyday interactions, he now centers Indigenous perspectives in his reporting every day. Over the past year, he has gained insight into a wide range of cultures and tribes across the United States, more than in the previous thirty years combined.

Some reporting days feel like reaching out to distant strangers whose lives and perspectives are vastly different, even when shared histories exist. Other times, it feels like returning home. Finding common ground with fellow Indigenous people reinforces his own identity and connection to the community.

Support for the year-end campaign helps continue this work. Click here to donate.

Author: Zoe Harrison