"What [the media circus] will do, I'm afraid, is reduce this tragedy to a sociological event. 'Rural reservation' is carte blanche for journalistic speculation about social problems and cultural hopelessness.

So watch to see if that is what this story becomes. And wonder why the same story in the wealthy suburbs of Denver did not immediately become fallow ground for sociological speculation about wealth, anomie, and fundamentalist Christianity gone awry.

This Red Lake story is hidden beneath two layers of mythology and misunderstanding that pervade contemporary American culture: 'rural' and 'Indian reservation.' In each lies a series of expectations and misconceptions that obscures the truth of events and makes what takes place there something "other" than the workaday affairs of our urban and suburban lives.

Watch, now, and see if that mythology and misunderstanding obscures the truth."

Get the Story:
Kent Nerburn: Amid Red Lake's media circus, look for the truth (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 3/24)
pwlat

Relevant Links:
Red Lake Net News - http://www.rlnn.com
Red Lake Nation - http://www.redlakenation.org
Red Lake High School - http://www.paulbunyan.net/rlschools/hs.htm

Related Stories:
Indian Country sends support to community in shock (3/23)
Details emerge on tragedy at Red Lake Reservation (3/23)
Tribal Member: My resrvation will never be the same (3/23)
Opinion: Above all, this is a tribal nation tragedy (3/23)
Editorial: Tragedy at Red Lake unites all in grief (3/23)
Editorial: Solidarity with the people of Red Lake (3/23)
Column: Sacred pipe ceremony begins the healing (3/23)
Column: Media gets crash course in sovereignty (3/23)
Shooting at Red Lake Reservation leaves 10 dead (3/22)