Today we split up into two teams. One team went ahead to Red Lake, MN to make arraingements for our arrival there on the 9th. The other went ahead to our visit in Cass Lake, on the Leech Lake reservation.

The forward team went to the Red Lake Reservation, the only closed reservation in the US, meaning that it is its own sovereign nation. We met with the Secretary of the Tribal Council and she told us about how her people were being oppressed by being provided with low quality food, which results in abnormal obesity rates, for instance a five year old boy that weighed 125 pounds. To fight this, the reservation is making a large effort to increase self sufficiency, creating community gardens and trying to find higher quality food for themselves. We recieved written permission and an endorsement from the tribal council of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians.

We also went to Crookston and met with Karen from Sharing and Caring Hands, a community organization that helps single mothers and fathers find affordable and dependable housing, along with helping others in need of housing, food and clothing in the community.

The team in Cass Lake took documentation from folks living in trailers on the reservation next to resorts and jet skis, but lacking decent housing and running water with outhouses in the back. In meeting with some of the inhabitants we met with one woman who put on of our posters in her window. We took photos of some of the more devastating situations.

Later that evening we had the opportunity to meet with some of the Cass Lake elders at a cultural event and dance at one of the parks in town. They gave us the opportunity to address the crowd before the dancing started and were gracious enough to tell us in more detail about the history and details of the area.