When I heard that yet another gun shooting had occurred in Minnesota, I thought for sure my liberal posse would mount a gun control Operation Rescue worthy of Randall Terry, but instead we've been waxing intellectual over poor Terri's right to die, trying to convince the stone cold clueless she has no brain when it's us who are acting brainless. (I agree with See the Forest on this one; forget polls, it's images people will remember come voting day. But I hope I'm wrong.)
So I was glad my friend and Indian Affairs adviser Laura Harris sent me this, by Indian Country Today writer 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?
We haven't laughed; we've simply brushed off the problem of Native American teens. Would that we were spending half the energy we've spent this week understanding CAT scans on understanding the poverty that exists in our very own backyard, among America's first families. Sure, the radical right has usurped the Constitution, they've holy-rollered the courts. Our democracy will survive, but our children need life support, far more than our Constitution. As Lyons says,
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?
Let's talk about quality of life issues; thirty-nine percent of residents of Red Lake Indian Reservation live in poverty. Let's talk about health; diabetes is epidemic among Native Americans. Let's talk about separation of powers; states are attempting to usurp Indian sovereign status. Let's talk about respect; see above.
We criticize President Bush for failing to respond to the tragedy the way he did for the travesty in Florida; but us liberal bloggers haven't done much better.
There are a few exceptions: Wampum is collecting funds to help those affected by the tragedy at Red Lake Nation. Barbara at Mahablog has an excellent post on the topic. If there are more, please post them in comments below.
Welcome to the Culture of Life.
UPDATE: Amanda at Pandagon joins the posse.
