Red Lake men helping women 'Take Back the Night'

RED LAKE -- Thirty-eight names, 38 stories, 38 lives were lost to domestic violence in 2013. The Red Lake Equay Wiigamig Women's Shelter will not let those people be forgotten.

The group met Wednesday night at Seven Clans Casino in Red Lake to honor those lives with a "Take Back the Night" balloon release and tealight vigil. Attendees wore t-shirts that said "Domestic Violence is a Crime" on the front and "Real Men Don't Hit" on the back, which men at the event wore proudly.

"We are meeting here to create awareness and attempt to end domestic violence," Wesley Cloud, event emcee, said. "Men are also coming forward."

Cloud said men are supporting their mothers, sisters, grandmothers, aunts, nieces and other family members. Attached to 38 bags lining a banquet room at Seven Clans were stories of victims who died from domestic violence last year. Some of those stories were of men, as well as women and children who have lost their lives from domestic violence.

"If you read the stories, they will make you cry," said Alyss Seki, a child youth advocate with the women's shelter.

Equay Wiigamig Women's Shelter has been hosting a remembrance event in October, Domestic Violence Awareness month, since it opened in 1998.

Darlene Lussier, Director of Equay Wiigamig Women's Shelter, said the event took place Wednesday because the Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition was meeting at the casino for its annual conference.

After a prayer led by Rose Cloud, the P-Town Boys played healing songs in their drum circle and women attending the event sang a womens song after 38 balloons were set free outside the casino.

"We challenge everyone to speak up against domestic violence," Cloud said. "Together we can make a difference."