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Opinion
Column: Red Lake members in Twin Cities head home


"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)
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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

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