Friday, March 25, 2005

Red Lake Update

Kent Nerburn, a former teacher at Red Lake High School, has a good blog entry called "A Message to Journalists about the Red Lake Tragedy".

http://www.kentnerburn.com/blog/archives/000077.html#more

If you would like to donate to the Red Lake Memorial Fund, you may do so at

Red Lake Nation Memorial Fund
P.O. Box 574
Red Lake, Minnesota 56671

Red Lake Net News also reports the following:

Red Lake Memorial Fund
Friends and family members have established a fund for
the victims of the Red Lake shootings and their families.
Donations can be made at any Wells Fargo Bank to the
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Memorial Fund.

5 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

After reading Mr. Nerburn's piece I have a better understanding of what is going on.

This whole affair is fascinating and I'm glad to see you are on top of things.

I really don't think people understand the point Mr. Nurburn made "the reservation is not a piece of land given to the Indian people on which to live; it is the last small patch of indigenous land that wasn't taken away."

That being said it is not apart of white America it is its own entity. That's a hard concept for white people to grasp.

Good job Marigold.

3:53 PM  
Blogger The Marigold Trail said...

Excellent! I am very glad you read Nerburn's article. I wish others would take the time.

I think you are right that people are either simply uninformed or even worse, wrongly informed about the way that the reservation system, sovereignty, and casinos for that matter, work within Indian Country. It breeds a lot of stereotypes and ignorance. Perhaps I'll write something about all that when I have the time. It is a big topic and the implementation from tribe to tribe.

Thanks for keeping up and for trying to understand.

10:15 AM  
Blogger Sylvana said...

I know that I have a hard time getting through to people when I try to explain that Indians aren't taking anything away from "white America", Nothing is being "given" to them like some sort of welfare. These are all agreements that they have with the government to cover the land and resources that were stripped of them to form the "New" America. Many I have talked to think that Indians have some sort of unfair sweet-deal, but it is "New" America that got the sweet-deal since the resources that were taken were far more valuable than the restitution provided.
I don't claim to know everything about these issues, I know I don't, but that is exactly why I like reading your blog. I want the non-LizTaylored lens truth about the issues.

11:46 PM  
Blogger The Marigold Trail said...

It is a *huge* misconception that Indians receive some sort of federal welfare. The meager benefits that Indians receive are services that they have *paid for* in trade with the government. And any visit to a reservation will show who the winner was in that trade.

Relatedly, there was a court case recently, Thompson v. Cherokee Nation, where the government argued that they didnt have to pay for health services it owed because it didnt have the money. Happily, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the Cherokee, effectively saying "you signed a contract, now pay up!" Unfortunately, I'm guessin the check's in the mail.

10:59 AM  
Blogger Sylvana said...

I wish that I could be exempt from paying bills by saying I didn't have the money to pay them. Thank goodness for the checks and balances in our government. It makes it a lot harder for crap like that to get approved.

11:20 PM  

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