Mar 16, 2006 5:38 pm US/Central
Red Lake Anniversary To Be Quietly Marked
Minneapolis (AP) ―
Families who lost loved ones in last year's school shooting on the Red Lake Band of Chippewa reservation plan to mark the tragedy quietly, with reflection and personal gatherings but no official community-wide event.
No large observance is planned out of respect for family members, according to a posting Thursday on the Red Lake Net News Web site. Instead, resources that would have been used for a feast will be donated to victims' families, the Web site said.
Ten people died last March 21 when 16-year-old Jeff Weise went on a shooting rampage on the reservation. Weise killed his grandfather and his grandfather's girlfriend before heading to Red Lake High School, where he killed five students, a security guard and a teacher before shooting himself.
A year later, the grief on the reservation is still a reality for many.
"People look shell-shocked," Audrey Thayer, of the ACLU of Minnesota and coordinator of the Greater Minnesota Racial Justice Project, said last week. "I see the emptiness in the look of the eyes of the families. ... Mommas lost their babies up there."
This week, the Tribal Council passed a resolution making March 21 a "Day of Remembrance." All tribal programs will be suspended so employees may observe the day as they choose.
The resolution states that the Red Lake Tribal Council is aware the one-year anniversary of the Red Lake shootings will bring "unavoidable wakening of memories and sadness."
It also states "the Tribal Council wishes to honor the privacy of each family and their tradition of mourning, while still recognizing the immense loss to the entire Red Lake Nation which the events of this day presented. ... (and) such resources as the Band would have spent on a community-wide feast will instead be distributed among the families for their benefit."
Darrell Seki, treasurer for the tribe, said he wasn't sure how much money was involved, but that the funds came from various donations and the families could use the money to hold their own feasts.
Francis Brun, father of school security guard Derrick Brun, said a memorial for his 28-year-old son will be held Tuesday morning at St. Mary's Catholic church, with a dinner following at the Red Lake Humanities Center.
"Different family members will be doing their own thing, and there is a lot of grief in my heart yet," Brun said Thursday.
A memorial dinner for Daryl Lussier is also being held Monday afternoon at the Red Lake center, according to Red Lake Net News. Lussier, Weise's 58-year-old grandfather, was a longtime tribal police officer known around the reservation by his nickname, Dash.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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