On March 21, Jeff Weise, 16, killed his grandfather and his grandfather’s longtime companion, before proceeding to the school, where five students, a schoolteacher and security officer were shot, before the teen killed himself.
While the nation, and especially the media, openly questioned that day’s unfolding, the reservation community has been reluctant to do so.
The Associated Press reported: “It simply is not their way. For much of the week, they slammed the door of their reservation to the prying eyes of television cameras and reporters who wanted to know why . . .”
As the story hit the presses, more community members came forward testifying to Weise’s mystifying and depressive behavior. Stories explained Internet sites where Weise detailed his views about himself, his depression, his fading hope in the world and the “nightmare” of a reservation he called home, his entire life.
The AP, in an article over the weekend, cited a Minnesota survey stating, “Red Lake students said they assaulted other classmates and used more alcohol and drugs than other students across the state.”
Other figures reported on life for American Indian teenagers – they “commit suicide at three times the national rate,” are “involved in alcohol-related arrests twice the national average” and “die in alcohol-related incidents at 17 times the national average.”
The majority of articles about yet another school shooting have targeted life on the reservation, but few articles are commenting on the alarming facts of violence in American school culture.
The focus shouldn’t be on violence of teens on American Indian reservations or the disparaging and emotionally charged story of another high school shooting.
Many researchers are studying youth violence and aggression. In the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s youth violence and aggression lecture series, internationally known researchers such as William Pollock and Susan Limber, and the upcoming Andy Horne and Nicki Crick, have presented their research nationwide.
But it seems America isn’t listening, or is failing to target a solution, to this seemingly American phenomenon of violence. Our question is: Why not?
With each yearly figure reported on violence in America, and each story about a school shooting that questioned the school or region, why isn’t the nation examining the source of this violence in detail?
Before the Red Lake tragedy fades to a news brief blip on the press wires, it would behoove all Americans to take a hard, long look on public school culture.
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