"All Red Lakers are heading home.

Something like a quarter of the tribe's 10,000 enrolled members live in the Twin Cities, but most fiercely claim Red Lake as their home, a place of pride and connection to the land that exerts a powerful pull and takes them home for family doings and happy occasions such as powwows and holidays. But this time, going home means going home to grieve. In the parts of Minneapolis where Indian people are most concentrated, the mass murder at Red Lake hit almost as hard as it did 250 miles northwest.

'I really feel very hurt by this,' said Ruth Cloutier, a Red Lake member who went to the band's service center on E. Franklin Avenue on Thursday to apply for a $25 gasoline coupon to help cover the costs of the five-hour drive back home. A former nursing assistant now living on disability, Cloutier had to return home for the funerals. She didn't feel as if there were much choice.

'I've never seen anything like this,' she said. 'This hits close to home.'

For Red Lakers, in truth, this is more than close to home. It hit home."

Get the Story:
Nick Coleman: Red Lakers head home to grieve (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 3/25)
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:
Deadly tragedy puts focus on Native youth problems (3/24)
Response continues to tragedy at Red Lake Reservation (3/24)
Yellow Bird: Red Lake community in deep pain (3/24)
Ojibwe Leader: Answers needed to help youth (3/24)
Opinion: Violence not uncommon at Red Lake (3/24)
Column: Has media underplayed Red Lake? (3/24)
Opinion: Media circus won't get to heart of matter (3/24)
Letters: Star Trib readers respond to tragedy (3/24)
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)