In case you have been wondering where I’ve been the past month or so, no, I was not on a long vacation in the Bahamas. I’ve been recuperating from some medical issues. I am mostly back, and wanting to catch up on some critical happenings in Indian Country. Here’s some of what’s been going on:
#UsToo
In this age of the #MeToo movement, where women across the country are speaking out against male sexual predators, some groups, especially American Indian women, feel their voices are not included.
In observance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, one organization is reaching out to Native women survivors of abuse. The StrongHearts Helpline reports that it has just received its 1,000th call for help from a tribal person dealing with sexual and domestic violence. StrongHearts offers culturally appropriate and confidential peer to peer counseling and resources. It’s clientele includes children and elders.
In partnership with the National Domestic Hotline and the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, StrongHearts has made progress in its effort to reach people who live on tribal lands, where criminal justice systems are chronically underfunded. Indian women and men experience exceptionally high rates of sexual and domestic violence, but one third of Indian women and one in six Indian men have no access to support services. They are two-and-a-half times more likely to experience sexual assault than any other ethnic group—and most of the perpetrators are white.
One thousand calls reveals a lot of courage.
“This is a key milestone in our work to support those facing intimate partner violence, though we recognize these calls are only beginning to scratch the surface of violence in tribal communities,” says Lori Jump, the group’s assistant director and a member of the Sault Ste.Marie tribe of Chippewa Indians.
Law struck down
This month, a disturbing ruling came from the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas, striking down the Indian Child Welfare Act as unconstitutional. The state’s attorney general successfully argued that the Act unlawfully “elevates a child’s race over their best interest.”
But the decision puts in peril one the most important laws supporting Indian families and their children. For generations, the federal government forcibly removed Indian children from their homes—hauling them off to boarding schools miles away or placing them up for adoption. Many of these children were used as farm labor. In 1978, the U.S. Congress passed Indian Child Welfare Act to help keep children with their Indian families. Tribes now had the right to allow or deny the adoption of their children to white families.
But Indian Child Welfare Act did more than protect Indian children; it reaffirmed tribal sovereignty. It said that, as nations, tribes had the sovereign right to protect their children.
Representatives from various tribes have issued a statement in reaction to the Texas court ruling, warning that, “If the Indian Child Welfare Act is struck down in whole or in part, the victims will be our children and our families, native children and native families.”
No doubt tribes will fight this ruling. If they have to, they will take it to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Drier is better
It has been a year now since the state of Nebraska shut down a liquor store located just across the South Dakota border near the Oglala Sioux reservation, something the tribe had demanded for years. The store in Whiteclay, Nebraska, was a scourge to the alcohol dry reservation.
An an event marking the anniversary, Winnebago activist Frank LaMere told the Lincoln Journal Star, “Because of our work, 3.7 million cans of beer have not been sold to people who have no legal place to drink in Whiteclay.”
Columbus dud
And finally, this year’s “celebration” of the famous explorer who opened the Americas to European expansion probably went unnoticed. Other than school children chanting praises of Christopher Columbus, most of us were just plain irritated—no mail delivery and some banks and federal agencies were closed.
There has been a growing movement throughout the country to reframe how we view Columbus Day. Many cities, towns, and school districts have voted to replace the holiday with National Indigenous Day in order to recognize the history and contributions of American Indians.
A number of tribes, in defiance, keep all tribal offices open on Columbus Day. And some tribes use the holiday to mark their treaty signings with the U.S. government.
About the only good thing to come from Columbus Day were the sales. Macy’s offered great deals on bedroom suites and living room sofas.