Red Lake and the stereotyping of our youth

By Robert Desjarlait

      In an interview I did with the Minneapolis Star Tribune (3/22), I was quoted as saying “on one hand there is a Columbine pattern in this…Gothic, a loner, this Nazi stuff.”

      Unfortunately, what I said “on the other hand” didn’t make it to print.  In my addendum, I said it would be wrong to assume that the Gothic lifestyle, in general, fit the Columbine pattern.  In other words, Gothic does not, in and of itself, imply a lifestyle founded on violence nor does it lead to violence.  To do so would assume a stereotype.

      We, as Indian people, know about stereotypes.  Our varied indigenous cultures and identities have been seeped in stereotypes ever since the first Europeans stepped ashore on Turtle Island.  We react strongly to any form of stereotyping that continues to imprint us today; Indian school mascots and Indian team names are but two examples.  Ironically, we, who are stereotyped, have stereotyped our own youth.

      In the aftermath of the Red Lake High shooting, we now know that Jeff Weise was not the Gothic loner as he was first portrayed in the media.  There are other Red Lake youth who, in varying degrees, have adopted a Gothic lifestyle.  And, by implication of that lifestyle, some Red Lake members, and the FBI, have assumed there was a larger conspiracy afloat.

      Two such Red Lake youth, Cartera Hart and Alyssa Roy, were quoted as saying they were getting strange looks from people and that more and more people would be tormenting them and thinking they were involved in a conspiracy.

      For these youth, one’s manner of clothing has assumed the burden of a stereotype, one that differs little from the 1880s imagery of Indian people as an ungodly, pagan people lacking family skills and social values and to whom violence was a way of life.

      But the stereotyping of our youth doesn’t end there.  Should a youth dress in hip-hop clothing and listen to rap music, he/she is invariably pegged as a gang member.  In doing so, we, as a tribal community, assume a stereotype. In doing so, we are committing something that we so strongly condemn – a form of racial profiling.

      And, the stereotyping goes much further.  The color complex is deeply ingrained in our communities.  An Indian youth of an interracial marriage may lack the physiognomy usually associated with Indian features.  The disturbing stereotype that emerges of such youth is that because they don’t look the part, they can never be useful or accepted members of the tribal community.

      We often talk about how lost our youth is but how lost are we to reach a point in which we stereotype our youth?  Who are we, of all people, to do so?  Are we giving vent to yet one more form of internalized oppression?

      It is clear that the stereotyping of our youth threatens to tear our community asunder.

      The arrest of Louis Jourdain as an alleged co-conspirator had led some Red Lake members to assume guilt before innocence.  Some have shamelessly used the arrest for political leverage in that Floyd Jourdain should be held accountable for his son’s assumed

role and therefore resign as tribal chairman.  They seem to overlook the fact that we, as parents, are not accountable for our children’s actions once they leave our homes.  We can only hope they make wise decisions. Indeed, were we to be held accountable for the all the actions of our children, we would have lost our parental rights long ago and our children would be living in non-Indian adoption homes.

      Rather than creating animosities, we need to stay focused on healing our community and helping our youth.  To condemn our youth for the way they dress, for the music they listen to, or for the way they talk only increases their alienation.  And, in doing so, we invariably place the blame on our children.

      Where does this end?  Sadly, we know where it can end.  We witnessed one such ending on March 21.  We now know where the stereotyping, and the resultant alienation, of our youth can lead.  It is time for us to come together to show our youth the way.  Not through animosity, but by reasserting an Anishinaabe value handed down to us by our elders - respect for our children.