Horror and Hope at Red Lake Nation
We want to share articles with you concerning the Red Lake Nation tragedy that you will not have seen in your local news. Those of us at FCNL engaged in Native American advocacy are privileged to be exposed to a different world view but also to diverse opinion within Indian
Country.
A quiet, spiritual, reasoned article by Scott Richard Lyons that appeared in Indian Country Today newspaper will be of particular interest so we have included it in its entirety at the bottom of the email. In addition, there are a number of other articles that illuminate:
* how this tragedy has affected Native Americans
* spiritual and cultural traditions regarding loss, death, and community
* suicide, poverty, and other problems
* the communal strengths of independent Native Nations
* when usually invisible Native Americans appear in the mainstream press.
These articles were written before the FBI arrested a young person a day or two ago. While we provide a link to a New York Times article about this sad development, what we want to emphasize is the Native American experience of the sorrow at Red Lake.
Most of the information that people in the United States and around the globe receive about tribes and indigenous people is filtered through regular media outlets. Some newspapers and broadcast stations employ native peoples and request articles from them when a story like this is"hot."
FCNL is committed to the dissemination of information and insights from national American Indian organizations and media resources and from individuals. When possible, we use our communication outlets to give voice to Native American views and experiences. We have also
provided a link to the FCNL statement on Red Lake.
-------------------------
THE NATIVE VOICE:
These articles come to our attention because we at FCNL monitor and subscribe to a number of publications about tribes and to specialized services.
These include
Indianz.com (http://indianz.com/) and
Native News (natnews@yahoogroups.com).
To order Indian Country Today, contact
http://www.indiancountry.com/subscribe.cfm.
For radio shows, go to http://airos.org/audio.html.
To read a research report on coverage of Native Americans in the news, search for "Reading Red" or use this link http://www.naja.com/docs/red.html
ADDITIONAL LINKS:
Dorreen Yellow Bird, "Many share the pain, healing" (Grand Forks Herald):
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/opinion/11234894.htm?templ
ate=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Mark Boswell, "Looking like a Local, but Being an Outsider" (Star Tribune)
http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/5313648.html (registration required)
Kent Nerburn, "Amid Red Lake's Media Circus, Look for the Truth" (Star Tribune)
http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/5309967.html (registration required)
Gabrielle Strong, "At Red Lake, a People's Pain" (Star Tribune)
http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5313656.html (registration required)
Monica Davey and Kirk Johnson, "Tribe is Shaken by Arrest of Leader's Son" (New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/30/national/30shootings.html >
FCNL STATEMENTS:
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1283&issue_id=111
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HOPE AND HORROR AT RED LAKE
By Scott Richard Lyons
There's an old Ojibwe saying: Gego baapiineminaken gidaabinoojiiyug.
Never laugh at your children. That motto invokes a sacred Anishinaabe
value: manaaji'idiwin, or deep respect. We are to respect others, no
matter how young or weak or strange, in part because what goes around
eventually comes around. This especially holds true for children. Not
only because they have power - as elders will tell you, the only person
who ever tricked the Trickster was a child - but also because that child
will one day be an adult.
I thought of this ancient Ojibwe wisdom when I heard about the
horrifying and tragic school shooting at Red Lake Nation. It was
reported that during the assault the shooter, Jeff Weise, was waving his
arms and laughing.
Laughing.
Who, I wondered, had laughed at him?
This question of respect seems central to any understanding of the March
21 shooting. If we are to adequately comprehend this tragedy, we must
approach the perpetrator, his victims and their tribal nation carefully
and with utmost respect. So as we begin the process of mourning this
sad, senseless event, let us be clear about one thing: at 16 years of
age, Jeff Weise was still a child.
He was no monster, although some will doubtless say that he was. He was
no Nazi, no matter how bizarre his Internet habits. He was not an
''angel of death,'' a ''Red Lake rampager'' or a ''lost youth,'' or any
other gimmicky stereotype the media might cook up in the absence of
understanding. Jeff was a child. Yes, deeply disturbed. And one who
somehow lost all sense of manaaji'idiwin. Why?
I'm not going to pretend to know the reasons why an individual would
pick up weapons and start shooting children. Does anyone ever figure out
why these things happen? Did we ever discover the ''one true cause'' of
the Columbine killings?
These things are complicated - as complex and immense as life and death
and teenagers themselves. There can never be one cause for events such
as these, and we should distrust anyone who claims to have easy answers.
There are, however, certain conditions to consider, certain questions to
ask, if we hope to build a world in which such things never, ever
happen. And in Ojibwe country, we do have hope for that world.
First, as we find on so many reservations today, Red Lake Nation is a
community of poverty. Thirty-nine percent of the population lives below
the poverty line; 4 out of 5 students at Red Like High School qualify
for free or reduced lunch. And we know that poverty breeds violence. It
just happens that way - there are no impoverished communities free of
violence.
Furthermore, this condition of poverty is not reducible to any failings
of the Red Lake people, but owes itself to a much larger and irrefutable
history of colonialism. Who among us has acknowledged that gaping
historical wound and the traumas it repeatedly engenders? Is it possible
to understand this tragedy separate from the related contexts of
colonialism and community poverty?
Second, Jeff was a visibly Indian teenage male, which means he was part
of the least-trusted, most-feared social group in northern Minnesota.
Everyone who lives in that part of the country knows it, whether they
admit it or not: Indian teenagers are generally viewed as a problem.
This is not the fault of teens (as if they would do it to themselves).
This is a problem with the larger society, and its name is racism.
What social institutions hold great promise and high expectations for
Native teenagers? Schools? Businesses? Mass media? Government? No. As
with other teens of color, in northern Minnesota Native kids are
typically more feared than nurtured, more disdained than celebrated, and
nearly always publicly discussed as carriers of problems, not
potentials. One predictable result of this general lack of respect is
low self-esteem. Little wonder that, as a Harvard study recently
concluded, 1 out of 6 Native teenagers today has attempted suicide.
Aside from perhaps family and friends, who in the larger society is
acknowledging that their lives are worth living?
Third, Jeff had no problem getting past the security system that Red
Lake already had in place at the school, including a metal detector and
a security guard. Presumably the metal detector went off, and he shot
the security guard. As many have already noted, Red Lake High School is
one of the most ''secure'' schools in the region, with towering fences
and barbed wire circling the grounds. Can we now admit that excessive
security systems at schools probably don't prevent massacres like this
one? Might we suggest that they could actually contribute to a sense of
children feeling like prisoners?
Fourth, as with nearly all Americans, Jeff had easy access to weaponry.
Finally, perhaps most importantly, Jeff was raised in a larger and truly
worrisome cultural context of American violence. I'm not talking about
video games and movies, although these too are problematic. I'm
referring to an America that repeatedly sends a clear and disturbing
message to its citizens and children: namely, if you have a problem with
somebody else, violence is the best way to solve it.
At 16, Jeff would have possessed no memory of an extended period of time
when the U.S. wasn't engaged in the practice of bombing some country it
had a grievance with. During his most formative years, he saw this
nation's president abandon diplomacy and cooperation for ''bring it on''
and ''shock and awe.'' In this context, how can we reasonably expect
Jeff Weise, or any teenager, not to consider armed violence an
appropriate answer to life's problems?
It will likely be concluded by politicians and pundits that this
shooting was an isolated act of violence committed by a lost youth, and
that we probably need greater security and harsher punishments for
dangerous teens. But clearly it was not an isolated incident. It was a
social incident. And Jeff was already subject to heightened security and
harsh punishment - which don't seem to have done any good.
Let us stay focused on the big picture, the social context in which
children, including but not only Natives, are raised. From the very
moment of his birth, Jeff's life was defined by violence - the violence
of community poverty, the violence of racism, the violence of little
respect and few opportunities, the violence of guns, security systems,
punitive politics and growing militarism. Until these acts of everyday
violence are put to an end, how can we ever expect our children to live
peacefully? How can we raise our children to treat themselves and others
with manaaji'idiwin?
America needs a Peacemaker to emerge, and so does Native America.
One bright light during these dark days is the tremendous dignity with
which Red Lake Nation, so honorably represented by Tribal Chairman Floyd
''Buck'' Jourdain Jr., is handling the crisis. In particular, Red Lake's
refusal to allow media vultures to harass the community was an act of
great wisdom and foresight. The community is already reorganizing
itself, and their spirit is strong. Red Lake will heal from this. And
all of Indian country is behind them. There is courage and compassion
and respect there - and where those virtues exist, so too does hope.
Scott Richard Lyons, Leech Lake Ojibwe, teaches writing, literature and
Native American Studies at Syracuse University.
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Friends Committee on National Legislation
245 Second St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-5795
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phone: (202)547-6000 * toll-free: (800)630-1330
We seek a world free of war and the threat of war
We seek a society with equity and justice for all
We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled
We seek an earth restored
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posted by T. Scott Brineman at 4:53 AM
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