Tragedy At Red Lake: A History of Self-Hate Among Indian Youths

By H. Mathew Barkhausen III, SNAG Magazine. Posted March 24, 2005.

The school shooting on the Red Lake Indian Reservation is truly a tragedy. On Monday, 16-year-old Jeff Weise shot and killed five students, a teacher and a guard – while asking one of them if they believe in God – at Red Lake High School in Minnesota. About 14 people were wounded, and his grandfather and his grandfather's wife were also found dead. Weise killed himself.

This particular incident has been called "the worst" school shooting since the Columbine incident here in my home state of Colorado, which ended with the deaths of 12 students, a teacher and the two teen shooters. Things like this leave people to wonder about many things: "How could this happen?" and "Why?"

I feel depressed that such a tragedy occurred. At the same time, I also feel frustrated and angry. My father saw the brother of the killer on the news the next morning. He said the young man seemed stunned and couldn't believe this had occurred. I'm sure the family of the killer will have a hard time accepting that he did such a thing. My anger stems from my realization that things like this can be prevented if people seriously consider alternate reasons for such tragedies.

Weise's father committed suicide, and his mother was not around to affect his behavior because she is suffering from brain injuries as a result of a car accident. His grandfather, whom he is also suspected of murdering, raised him. We may never know what the relationship between them was like. But because of what he did, it seems that nothing he said had an effect even if he encouraged him to value life. The other causes of Weise's actions could be problems that have existed in American Indian communities since the Reservation Era began in 1890.

Weise's father committed suicide and Weise also ended up committing suicide. The suicide rate of American Indians is higher than it is for any other ethnic group in the United States and Canada. The teen suicide rate is astronomically higher for Indians than for any other ethnic group in the U.S. or Canada. One reason is the desperate poverty in most American Indian communities. It is hard to convince yourself you can succeed when there is a lack of opportunity and upward mobility. Another reason is rampant substance abuse, which breeds domestic violence and child abuse, which leads to the last reason for the high rate of suicide and the lack of value for life among so many Indian youth. They have been made to hate who they are.

Weise is suspected to have written on a neo-Nazi message board about his obsession with Nazis and Adolph Hitler, using the names "NativeNazi" and "Todesengel." In a July 19, 2004 post, he reportedly wrote that both his parents were Native American, "though from what I understand I also have a little German, a little Irish, and a little French Canadian in my blood as well." But he grew up on an Indian reservation with an Indian population of more than 5,000 and with only 91 non-Indians. Even if it is true that he had some degree of blood from other ethnicities, he was Indian. Weise appears to have been a very confused young man, struggling with his identity.

The Libertarian National Socialist Green Party issued a statement on its site Tuesday confirming that Weise posted messages there. The writer of those messages assumed two user names: NativeNazi and "Todesengel," which means "Angel of Death" in German. "I stumbled across the site in my study of the Third Reich as well as Nazism," says a March 2004 post. "I guess I've always carried a natural admiration for Hitler and his ideals, and his courage to take on larger nations."

Another 2004 posting says, "As a result of cultural dominance and interracial mixing, there is barely [sic] any full-blooded Natives left. Where I live, less than 1 percent of all the people on the reservation can speak their own language."

"Under a National Socialist government, things for us would improve vastly," it continued. "That is why I am pro-Nazi. It's hard though, being a Native American National Socialist, people are so misinformed, ignorant and close minded, and it makes your life a living hell."

The group issued a statement on its site Tuesday confirming that Weise posted the messages. The Libertarian National Socialist Green Party "refused to wring hands over a 'tragedy,' instead pointing out that such events are to be expected when thinking people are crammed into an unthinking, irrational modern society," it said. NativeNazi said he was a member of the Ojibwa tribe and "both my parents were Native American, though from what I understand I also have a little German, a little Irish and a little French Canadian in my blood as well."

The idea of Weise's joining a neo-Nazi group is not as surprising as it may seem, said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama. The center tracks hate groups. "Believe it or not, we run across this all the time," he told CNN. "We've found Jewish Nazis, gay Nazis, blacks who wanted to be white supremacists. The reason it isn't so unusual – these are powerless people to whom images of powerful people are appealing."

H. Mathew Barkhausen III, 25, is a fourth-year interactive media design student at the Art Institute of Colorado. He is a contributing writer for Seventh Native American Generation (SNAG) youth magazine. You may contact him at snagmagazine@yahoo.com.

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