Unlearning the Language of Conquest: Scholars Expose Anti-Indianism in America

Prologue. Red Road, Red Lake—Red Flag! (Four Arrows)

prologue: red road, red lake—red flag! Four Arrows Grandfather, don’t you know me? Grandfather, look what I have done to our world. Mother earth is on her knees. I don’t understand the language you speak Grandfather. I want my Pepsi, Levi’s and Porsche too. I don’t have time to dance in the old way Grandfather. Grandfather? Grandfather why are you crying? Grandfather, don’t you know me? —extracted from “grandfather cries,” by charles phillip white columbine and red lake On March 20, 2005, a seventeen-year-old Ojibwa boy from the Red Lake Indian Reservation (in Minnesota near the Canadian border) murdered his grandfather, his grandfather’s friend, five students at Red Lake High School, a security guard, and a teacher. As of this writing, seven other students are hospitalized. The event has been billed in newspapers as the worst school shooting since the Columbine tragedy in 1999. There are similarities between the two events. Both involved high school boys who, after killing others, shot and killed themselves. Both were young men who contemplated certain neo-Nazi assumptions about social systems. They had similar psychological profiles and similar preoccupations with media violence.1 Both had been taking antidepressant drugs. Such similarities are perhaps helpful to note in terms of understanding how to recognize and maybe prevent some of the precursors that may have moved these boys to such horror. Children, whether white, black, brown, red, or yellow, are fundamentally the same and may be susceptible to the same kinds of influences. four arrows 2 There are also differences between the Red Lake and Columbine cases. Noting the most significant ones may serve to set the stage for this text. The contributing authors herein have attempted to reveal with their unique presentations how culture has distorted the truth about the “the Red Road” (a phrase many Indigenous People use to convey a way of living in harmony with others). Perhaps their purpose will be enhanced if the reader understands the Red Lake tragedy in relation to the perspectives of this prologue. Then Red Lake may serve as a “red flag,” a warning about what may continue to happen in this world if the messages in this book are ignored. “Using” the Red Lake tragedy in this context is a sensitive undertaking. Prayers, not politics, define the response of most Indigenous People to such a happening. Prayers, however, require focus. They also benefit from increasing numbers of people participating with this focus in mind. In an age where deception keeps so many people unaware of what things need prayers and actions, Red Lake offers an opportunity to make people more aware. This is especially true since what has been happening there and on other “Indian”2 reservations will not likely be fully covered by the media. In spite of this sensitivity, a number of Indigenous People have already begun to vocalize about the political ramifications of Red Lake. On October 25, 2005, a Washington Post article entitled “Native Americans Criticize Bush’s Silence”3 reported that a number of Indigenous People were contrasting Bush’s recent preemption of his vacation to speak publicly about the Terri Schiavo case (regarding the brain-damaged Florida woman caught in a legal battle over whether her feeding tube should be reinserted) with his failure to give Red Lake at least equal attention. The Post piece seems to have prompted a response, if only a cursory one. Shortly after it appeared, Bush called Buck Jourdain, chair of the Chippewa tribe, from his home in Crawford, Texas, and “offered his prayers” and “pledged continuing federal support.”4 There are a number of likely reasons why Red Lake has not received the attention that Columbine did, such as Red Lake’s relative remoteness, the protectiveness of the tribe, or even the fact that school shootings are just not as newsworthy anymore. However, there may also be more compelling reasons—reasons that might relate to the language of conquest . Might Bush’s silence about the shootings be intentionally designed to prevent a larger national and international discussion about things best left out of the spotlight? Is this why other political leaders and the media are giving the Red Lake story significantly less attention than they prologue: red road, red lake—red flag! 3 gave Columbine? Is there something disingenuous about Bush’s pledge to Jourdain about...