Going Native: Indian Country Has Its Own Legacy of Abuse

Public attention has focused on the bad behavior of prominent, mostly white men. Thankfully, this spotlight is also falling on Indian men who have behaved in similar ways.

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May 5, 2018 is the first National Day of Awareness for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls to raise awareness of the terrible tragedies of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls across the United States. Indigenous women and girls are murdered or go missing at a disproportionate rates. #NotInvisible #MMIW #MMIWG

Lately, I have been reflecting on all the Indian Country stories I covered in my many years as a reporter and those I did not devote enough coverage to. There is one huge neglected story that haunts me more than any other—sexual violence against native women within tribal communities.

In recent months, growing public attention has focused on the bad behavior of prominent, mostly white men. Thankfully, this spotlight is also falling on Indian men who have behaved in similar ways.

Over the last few weeks, a number of native women have come forward with allegations that famed Spokane Indian writer Sherman Alexie made unwanted sexual advances and bullied and intimidated young native writers seeking his mentoring. Alexie has apologized, but in a way that seems to lack sincerity and genuine remorse.

Underlying Alexie’s alleged behavior is the issue of cultural hypocrisy. Every tribal community has a generational history of baseline values. Respect, love, compassion, and giving are high on every tribe’s list. When an Indian man is accused of violating the personal space of our grandmothers, mothers, sisters, and daughters, this raises a high level of concern.

I know there are those in Indian Country who blame white oppression for the disgusting sexual misconduct perpetrated by American Indian men. But I don’t buy it. Our indigenous values pre-date the arrival of Europeans. Our values eclipse the pain and suffering inflicted on our people. There never was, and never should be, any reason for an Indian man to sexually or physically mistreat women.

I am not alone in standing firm on this ground.

For more than a year, a national Native American social service organization has offered a phone helpline for domestic and sexual violence survivors in Indian Country. StrongHearts is a first national collaborative effort by the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center and the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

While the helpline is available to all native people, women are a big part of its mission. In just one year, the effort has expanded from native communities in three states to all tribal communities throughout the nation.

“Every day is a step forward in the work to support Native survivors of abuse,” StrongHearts assistant director Lori Jump said in a recent press release. “To all our native survivors out there, we hear you—we hear your stories. You are not alone.”

According to a recent National Institute of Justice report, more than four in five American Indian women and Alaska Native women and men have suffered from violence in their lifetimes. Just as disturbing is that more than one in three Indian women were unable to access support services.

StrongHearts’ mission is to provide culturally appropriate resources to survivors of abuse. That may mean reclaiming historical indigenous values.

“There is a severe gap in culturally specific or tribally run services for native survivors in the aftermath of these crimes,” says Caroline LaPorte, an advisor for StrongHearts. “We know that we cannot do this work alone—our callers need to be able to access culturally appropriate, community-based resources.”

For myself, while I make no claim to have answers, I do wonder whether learning age-old tribal values of respect and caring might help put an end to abuse, in Indian Country and beyond.

American Indians know all about the worldview of the West. Perhaps, in a real attempt to protect the human rights of all people, it might not be such a bad idea to consider such indigenous values as plain old love, respect, caring, and giving.

This column was produced for the Progressive Media Project, which is run by The Progressive magazine, and distributed by the Tribune News Service.