Transcripts

text | pdf |

---

JULIE OLSON: It's hard being a kid today when you consider all of the problems that are going on, such as the drug problems and the gang problems.

KATE SMITH: Julie Olson knows what she's talking about. A recent graduate of Heart of the Earth Survival School in Minneapolis, Julie told officials, school administrators, and teachers at the Indian Youth Summit that the allure of gangs is strong when everyone is in one.

JULIE OLSON: You go to school, you have friends there, and you grew up with these people and they're into gangs. And then after school, when you come home, you don't have anything to do. So you go-- you go with your friends, the people who you grew up with, and then they're into gangs, too.

KATE SMITH: Julie had a suggestion for officials set up after school programs so that students have an alternative. Right now, those programs don't exist. Teachers from three alternative schools for Native American students are attending the conference. Rita Guzman, who teaches elementary science at the Red School House in Saint Paul, says while students are usually not willing to talk about gangs in school, they don't hide their participation.

RITA GUZMAN: You can tell they're into gangs by their mannerisms, gestures they make, the way they relate to other kids. It's like they're in a superiority type of-- within themselves, they feel superior. The gang gives them that security.

KATE SMITH: While adults see gang participation as an automatic negative that often leads to violence, Shirley Dugan, who teaches culture courses at the Red School House, says it may not start that way.

SHIRLEY DUGAN: There's an honorable intention with these kids because they just want to belong. They want to belong somewhere. And I think that our understanding should be that it's honorable for them to want to belong and to feel a part of their community. And the only thing is that-- what's sad about it is that they're going about it in a negative way. And as teachers, I think that if we have that knowledge, and we have the understanding that we would better serve them in the schools--

KATE SMITH: Laura Waterman Wittstock, who is serving as facilitator for the Indian Youth Summit, says the timing of this conference is preventative.

LAURA WATERMAN WITTSTOCK: It's not so much what's happening in Minneapolis and Saint Paul regarding Indian youth's involvement in gangs and drug-related violence, it's the potential of what could happen. There have been plenty of signals. And if we don't take a lesson from other cities that have waited too long to address the problem, then there really is something wrong with our community.

KATE SMITH: Waterman Wittstock says they are beginning to help Indian youth by helping the professionals who work with them. She says Indian leaders realize that all the factors necessary to push young people into gang life are present in the Twin Cities.

LAURA WATERMAN WITTSTOCK: Well, any time you have the ingredients that make it possible to have increased gang activity, you can almost predict that that's going to happen. Greater numbers of people who are in poverty, housing that is substandard in a more widespread manner, kids who are dropping out of school, high unemployment, all of those features come together. Then when you introduce something like crack, you have got the potential.

KATE SMITH: Chris Leith, a professional counselor and spiritual leader, reminded the audience that although the Native American community has made strides in dealing with substance abuse, there is still work to be done to help the young people.

CHRIS LEITH: We are in a state of denial. We still are blind to what really exist around us.

KATE SMITH: Chris Leith, a Dakota spiritual leader, who along with many members of the Native American community, is attending a two-day conference on the issues facing Indian youth. I'm Kate Smith reporting.