The Red Lake Shootings...

Red Lake Shootings Expose Crisis for Youth in U.S. Society
By Canyon Lalama,
Socialist Alternative, Minneapolis

"16 years of accumulated rage suppressed by nothing more than brief glimpses of hope, which have all but faded to black.”  That is how Red Lake High School student Jeff Weise described his life in an online biography before committing the deadliest school shooting in 6 years.

The shooting has decimated the sleepy northern town of Red Lake, Minnesota.  The latest reports estimate 10 dead and 7 wounded in this massacre that has shocked the community, state and country.  We would like to express our deepest condolences to the victims, as well as their family and friends, and everyone who has been affected by this horrible tragedy.

Despite the massive coverage of the media, once again the main image and message has been to overwhelm people in the emotion of the event.  The effect has been to numb people who have seen the same scenes of grief portrayed time and again on the TV. Yet attempts serious attempts at understanding the root causes of the incident have been few and far between.

There are many parallels to the shooting in Red Lake and the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.  Both were the planned acts of extremely troubled, socially awkward teenagers.  Jeff Weise, the shooter in Red Lake, even wore a black trench coat modeled after the infamous ‘Trench Coat Mafia.’ Sadly, perhaps the greatest tragedy is that these events have almost been accepted as a normal part of life.  

After Columbine, the media and politicians used the catastrophe to point blame at anything they could.  Videogames, the failure of the parents, violence on television, school security, Marilyn Manson, and a general lack of moral values all had a hand in the heartbreak.  And, of course, all too many times, the pundits threw up their hands and blamed everything squarely on the individual shooters, ignoring the social causes.

The solutions provided most often included support for censorship, and almost prison-like lockdown of schools around the country. These ‘solutions’ are already being discussed in the aftermath of Red Lake.

While it is possible that these factors may have played a role, in many ways these shootings actually point to much deeper flaws in our society and the failure to offer young people meaningful and decent options in life.

One of the most dominant factors influencing young people is the massive level of advertising.  Corporations have learned that the earlier you develop brand identification the more likely that person will buy your product for life, rather than that of your competitors.  Also they have learned that if you advertise to the child, rather than the parent, you create a strong demand for the product, and the parent is the persuaded to open their purse or wallet.  

It use to be that young people had their own culture and sub-culture which was their own, and each of these was an expression of personality or at times their rebellion from the dominant culture.  Now MTV and the like have invaded the culture of young people.  Any time a new trend develops, it is immediately plucked up and made into the new fashion which is then homogenized and thrown back to young people as a new source of profit.

This has left a vacuum for a rebellious youth culture.  With music and dress effectively cut out, then young people are driven to the extremes. Add to this the lack of strong social movement like the civil rights movement etc. to improve conditions in society, which can lead to a healthy and self-enlightening form of protest, then often the rebellion takes an inward form around self destructive activity, drugs and suicide.  It is exactly the kids who are most fragile, who do not fit into the culture who are most vulnerable. Teenagers who commit murders and suicides most often have a history of abuse, humiliation, terror or neglect.  These kids find they have no one to turn to, they see no cultural or political avenues to find sanctuary in, and they often drift to violent activity and threats of suicide.

It isn’t just advertising that creates the sense of isolation and hopelessness that far too many young people feel today.  Due to the general economic downturn and crisis in capitalism, the “American Dream” of a descent job, home, and living conditions is growing further out of reach for the majority of youth.  For people on the Red Lake reservation, these problems are magnified.  This is one of the poorest areas in the state of Minnesota, with official unemployment estimated at 40%.  Some estimate this to be as high as 65%.  Most of the population lives below the poverty line and the high school graduation rate hovers around 50%.  

But what is really in it for young people that do well in school and graduate?  Due to lack of funding, colleges and universities are increasingly harder to get in to, especially for working class youth.  A college degree no longer guarantees a good job, and even a good job doesn’t guarantee happiness.  The very nature of capitalist society alienates people from their work.  The vast majority in the US are not able to dedicate their lives to their own hopes and dreams.  Instead, workers are forced to the position of being nothing more than a piece of equipment, completing the same mundane task over and over.  Nothing is produced for the good of society or of the individual producing, but for the profits of the bosses.  This alienation affects all workers, but particularly young people who haven’t yet resigned themselves to their position.

In Red Lake these factors came together in forming Jeff Weise’s warped world view.  A short glance at some of his internet postings show that this was a young man who didn’t quite seem to fit in anywhere.  

Another complicating factor in was that Weise appears to have been a sympathizer of a neo-Nazi group.  Troubled teenagers will often reach out to any thing that will accept them, and any solutions for their problems, no matter how far fetched.  Nazi groups often prey upon socially ostracized youth, filling their heads with pictures of Hitler and images of absolute power.  This can be attractive for a vulnerable teenager who feels utterly powerless.  Unless a clear class based, socialist, alternative is given, nationalism and racism can appear to provide solutions to the world’s problems.

School shootings are one of the greatest tragedies caused by modern capitalism.  While most young people would never commit such an act, there is a far more common tragedy that exists for similar reasons.  Depression and anxiety run rampant in our society.  Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in people aged 15-24.  The same sense of hopelessness and despair that caused Jeff Weise to murder his classmates cause numerous others to attempt to take their own lives.

A fundamental change is needed.  Columbine and Red Lake do not have to become the norm for young people.  An increase in jobs and social programs would help to alleviate the economic burden for youth and their families.  Better funding for public education would help provide hope to students for a better life after high school.  Counseling and support should be given to help aid those suffering with depression.  Public control of the media would take control out of the hands of the few corporations who are only interested in turning a profit.

We believe young people deserve this much.  The ideal to end slavery inspired a generation to sacrifice and struggle.  Out new struggle is against the domination of our lives by the big corporations.   In this struggle we need to first demand a new vision, and a new compassionate and just society.  This is what has always be described as a democratic socialist society. Not control by the corporations, but by the people working together, with full democratic accountability, with the right to dissent, and to participate in the real decisions which at present are made in the executive offices of NBC, Nike, Disney, Mobil, Boeing and other huge corporations.  We need a government that caters to the majority, not these corporations.  This is the real alternative democratic socialism offers, not the cruel distortion of the word that we saw in the Soviet Union.  It's time to stand up, and fight for a real future for us all. For the sake of the young people in this country, it's time to step forward and demand the kind of fundamental change which can save so many lives, and change the lives of so many millions of young people.

(Portions of this statement have been adapted from a 1999 article by Tony Wilson published in Justice in the aftermath of the Colombine shootings).