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MASSACRE AT RED LAKE March 26, 2005 Susan Bates RELATED COLUMNS- REDLAKE UPDATE; PROZAC BLAMED FOR YOUTH'S MURDER SPREE

Jeff Weise, a self - described "Native American teenage-stoner-industrialist," was a deeply disturbed young man long before he murdered 9 people. Tragedy seemed to stalk the 16 year old Chippewa boy. He had never gotten over the death of his father, Daryl Lussier Jr. who committed suicide when Jeff was 11 years old. His mother is in a nursing home after a car accident left her in a coma. Weise was hospitalized last year for depression after trying to kill himself. The troubled young man was put on prozac and sent home. On Monday, March 21, Jeff Weise could not take any more. He shot and killed his Grandfather, Daryl Lussier, Sr. who was a Sgt. for the Red Lake Police Department long with his grandfather's companion, Michelle Sigana, 32. The boy took his grandfather's bullet proof vest, his service pistol and a shotgun and drove the police car to the front doors of Red Lake High School. Once inside he gunned down unarmed security guard Derick Brun. The sound of the shot alerted teacher Neva Rogers, 52, and a student, both of whom ran into a classroom to hide. Weise followed and gunned them down. He then began marching down the halls, shooting at any one he saw. Witnesses say he was "grinning and waving at them as he fired. Before it was over, Alicia Spike, 14, Dwayne Lewis, 15, Thurlene Stillday, 15, Chase Lussier, 15 and Chanelle Rosebear, 15, lay dead. Jeff Weise, who had fulfilled his destiny, returned to the classroom where he had murdered the teacher and student, and ended his own life with a shot to the head. What were the warning signs that if heeded might have prevented this tragedy? We now know that Jeff Weise belonged to several chat rooms including www.nazi.org. Using the name "todesengel" which means "Angel of Death" in German, Weise wrote about his admiration for Adolph Hitler. Other posts spoke of his opposition to interracial mixing and against his peers who liked rap music and tried to act black. (There are several gangs on the Red Lake Rez.) He made drawings and cartoons depicting mass killings ending with suicide. The secluded Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota where Jeff Weise was born and raised has seen more than its share of violence. In 1979, dissidents staged an insurrection after tribal leaders removed a sympathizer from the Tribal Council. Hostages were taken in that incident and all police and sheriff's deputies were ordered off the reservation by the FBI. Rioters took police weapons, captured the BIA's cache of confiscated liquor, set the law enforcement center, the home of the tribal chairman and other government buildings on fire and went on a shooting and looting spree. When the smoke cleared, 2 teenagers lay dead of gunshot wounds, several more were wounded and about $4 million in property was damaged. In the 1980s, allegations of civil - rights abuses surfaced. Lawyers were barred from tribal courts, while bail, jury trials and other rights were denied defendants in many cases. This situation came to a head in 1986 when Gregory Good, a Red Lake Band Member, accused Chief Tribal Judge George Summer of violating the People's civil rights. Good killed Summer but was acquitted in the case. Tribal officials have since improved the court system under threat of losing federal funding. The beautiful but isolated Red Lake Chippewa Reservation has a little over 5,100 residents. All but 91 are full bloods. Poverty is a major concern. While other Minnesota tribes have had success running casinos, the Red Lake Band has not fared so well. While the tribe has operated some casinos, they have not proven very profitable since many of the customers have been Red Lake residents. As is the case with many other Indian reservations, high unemployment, alcoholism, diabetes, suicide and poverty are the norm. It would be easy to blame poverty for all of these problems..... Yet senseless crimes know no social/ economic boundaries. The students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado certainly had a higher standard of living, but it happened there, too. We are not victims so much of poverty of the pocketbook as we are victims of poverty of the spirit. When a "superior feeling" group of people conquers and destroy's another race's culture in the name of greed, that culture, while it may physically survive, will eventually lose it's identity. Without our own connections to Creator and the Mother, who are we? Our society has become putrid! Violence is not only allowed, it is encouraged, emulated and adored. We show it in our homes on a daily basis. We pay big bucks to see it on the silver screen. Those who perpetuate it are often called "heroes." Rap music glorifies it and preaches death and disrespect. Sex is a weapon and children are becoming more and more the target. We buy our kids video games where one has only to press a button to eliminate the enemy and we wonder why a child will pick up a gun to solve his problems? But things are beginning to change.... More and more Indian tribes are teaching their children their own traditions and languages. When we begin to "remember who we are" and to respect ourselves, we can return to the Good Path we were meant to travel. It isn't only the Red Man who has been victimized by this global "colonization." All races have suffered. What about the Black Man? Doesn't his sense of loss of self contribute to the break down of his society? The same can be said of the Asian gangs. And how about the "White" people? How many of you can go back to your original teachings? Where did your People live 1000 years ago? Do you know? How did they worship? What were their stories? Where are your roots? At the closing of this Age, Creator is calling each of us back to our own beginnings. We have focused on economic prosperity and found poverty of the soul. We must each ask ourselves, "Why am I here? What is my purpose?" Then we must find our own answers. May God help us. RELATED COLUMNS- REDLAKE UPDATE; PROZAC BLAMED FOR YOUTH'S MURDER SPREE

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"The instrument of my resurrection was supposed to be freedom. But there isn't an open sky or endless field to be found where I reside, nor is there light or salvation to be discovered. "Right about now I feel as low as I ever have." ---------Jeff Weise <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>   If you'd like to help the People of Red Lake, you can send donations and care packages to: Red Lake Tribal Council C/O Leah Perkins P.O.Box 574 Red Lake, MN 56671 or phone: Crisis Center- 1-218-679-4285 or Leah Perkins at 1-218-679-3341

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