It is not that I expected anything from George W. Bush, in regards to a statement about the Red Lake incident, however it was the right thing to do and once again,
Bush did nothing. Yesterday,
Ron posted the
Ronald Brownstein piece in the L.A. Times about this subject. Today's WP has a story on the reaction of Native Americans to the silence of the "Great White Father in Washington."
From all over the world we are getting letters of condolence, the Red Cross has come, but the so-called Great White Father in Washington hasn't said or done a thing," said Clyde Bellecourt, a Chippewa Indian who is the founder and national director of the American Indian Movement here. "When people's children are murdered and others are in the hospital hanging on to life, he should be the first one to offer his condolences. . . . If this was a white community, I don't think he'd have any problem doing that."
The fact that Bush preempted his vacation to say something about Ms. Schiavo and here you have 10 native people gunned down and he can't take time to speak is very telling," said David Wilkins, interim chairman of the Department of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota and a member of the North Carolina-based Lumbee tribe.
"He has not been real visible in Indian country," said former senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.). "He's got a lot of irons in the fire, but this is important."
Even more alarming than Bush's silence, he said, is the president's proposal to cut $100 million from several Indian programs next year
There is something perversely troubling about this incident. A nation of proud people have been reduced to living in some of the worst conditions of poverty in our country. Native teens often face more struggles than their peers.
Statistics show that Native youth face the highest rates of school victimization and use alcohol, drugs and tobacco at higher rates than their counterparts. Native youth don't perform as well as their peers, drop out of school at higher rates than other students and often come from low-income families.
The situation at Red Lake is similar in many respects. Only 57 percent of students there finish high school, according to state statistics. Nearly 40 percent of families live below the poverty line.
Federal research shows that there are extraordinary hardships for Native American youth compared youth of other ethnic groups. In spite of income gains in the past 15 years, some due to Indian gambling operations, "Native Americans remain the poorest ethnic group in the country, with about half the average income of other Americans."
The annual average violent crime rate among Indians is twice as high as that of blacks and 2 1/2 times as high as that for whites, according to a survey last year by the Justice Department.
Indian youths commit suicide at twice the rate of other young people, according to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The overall death rate of Indians younger than 25 is three times that of the total population in that age group.
Compared with other groups, the commission found, Indians of all ages are 670 percent more likely to die from alcoholism, 650 percent more likely to die from tuberculosis, 318 percent more likely to die from diabetes and 204 percent more likely to suffer accidental death.
Perhaps, those who do not understand the culture of the Native American people do not find this incident to be as important as other similar incidents of the recent past. As someone who has studied a great deal of Native American lore, I find it even more troubling.
For hundreds of years the Great White Father has oppressed these proud people and they struggle daily to maintain their culture and way of life. As the people of Red Lake grapple with their grief, some understanding of their rituals and traditions may help us to understand the culture and traditions they have fought to preserve. The Minneapolis Star Tribune offers this view of the "elements common to Indian rituals of grieving":
Native languages are often spoken.
Musicians play songs on drums, representing "the beating of the heart of Mother Earth," to honor the dead.
Prayers ask the creator's aid in helping the deceased make their way to the Spirit World.
Wakes may extend from afternoon through the night and even longer, enabling mourners to share their memories and their grief.
My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Red Lake. May we all seek to find a greater understanding of America's "First People" who walked this land long before the Great White Father and his people sought to make it their own... "Mitakuye Oyasin - We Are All Related."
Efforts are being made to help the people on the Red Lake Reservation; you can find more information here.
LINK