A Sad Day

Today is a sad day for Minnesota and for America. As you’ve heard (no doubt), there was a school shooting here. A student killed his grandparents, 9 people at Red Lake High School, wounded 13 others, and then killed himself. If you read the new accounts, you will note immediately that the killings took place within a Native American reservation. As my dear friend at Good Yarn writes very eloquently today:

This incident brings to mind the many challenges facing Native American people - the high unemployment rate, the chemical dependency and mental health issues, the lack of resources to address these issues. And the general lack of attention to children and the emphasis on not raising taxes, regardless of the impact of those decisions.

It goes without saying that this is a tragedy. Sadly, this is not an unspeakable tragedy. This tragedy involves a young man in crisis (suggestions that the crisis was known are emerging). This tragedy involves a community in crisis. I am a part of that community. You are a part of that community. The community is in crisis. We are in crisis.