National

Minnesota tribes protest Twin Cities radio station

Monday, October 29, 2007

Tribal and Indian leaders in Minnesota plan to protest today at KQRS, a popular Twin Cities radio station whose disc jockeys made offensive comments about Native Americans.

On a September 18 show, radio personality Tom Barnard and his co-host Terri Traen discussed high rates of suicide in the county that includes the Red Lake Reservation. "Maybe it’s genetic. Isn’t there a lot of incest up there," Traen said.

The hosts also criticized the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Tribe. "Shut down the roads that taxpayers fund to get to your casino and back. If you don’t want to help out everyone else then we don’t want to help you out either," one of them said [Transcript and Audio Clip].

The Red Lake Nation has filed a formal complaint. The American Indian Movement says the remarks are comparable to those by shock jock Don Imus, who was fired and lost his radio show after referring to African-American women as "nappy-headed hos."

Get the Story:
KQRS remarks upset Indian leaders (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 10/29)
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Indian leaders to meet with KQRS over remarks (The Bemidji Pioneer 10/28)
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$rl KQRS - http://www.92kqrs.com
Red Lake Net News - http://www.rlnn.com