[Marxism] FW: Clan Star: A light in the darkness

["Craven, Jim" <jcraven@xxxxxxxxx>]

"NCAI passed a resolution calling for a halt to the abuse of Native women.
It states that Native women are battered, raped and stalked at far greater
rates than any other group of women in the United States."  Please read rest
of article below.....



Desiree Allen-Cruz

CTUIR, DVSC

PO Box 638

Pendleton, OR  97801

Office: 541.276.7011

Direct: 541.966.2895

Fax:    541.278.5391

DesireeAllen-Cruz@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:DesireeAllen-Cruz@xxxxxxxxx>




Clan Star: A light in the darkness

Posted: December 11, 2003 - 10:42am EST
by: Brenda Norrell/Correspondent/Indian Country Today ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

Alaska is the rape capitol of the nation. But the rape of American Indian
women is not restricted to Alaska. In one recent month alone, 40 women were
raped on Pine Ridge tribal land in South Dakota.

"Our women are open game," said Deborah Blossom, Western Shoshone, Tosawihii
clan, director of the Great Basin Women's Coalition against Violence in
Owyhee, Nev.

"So many are violated, and they tell us no one will do anything," said
Blossom, among the advocates for women gathered at the National Congress of
American Indians 60th Annual Convention.

In the United States there were only 54 convictions of forcible rape of
American Indian women in 2003.

"We are falling fast and we are falling hard and we need to be protected,"
said Lisa Brunner, White Earth Band of Ojibwe, outreach specialist for the
Community Resource Alliance in Detroit Lakes, Minn.

Alaska leads the nation, with eight times as many crimes committed against
Native women than any other group in the United States.

"We have dead women all over Alaska," said Jacqueline Agtuca. She points out
that federal law enforcement officers and the courts fail to protect Native
women and children from stalking, rape, molestation and death.

Citing recent court actions, Agtuca, said, "The perpetrator is given the
blessings of the federal government to beat his wife."

These women advocates comprise Clan Star, Inc., a national movement, with 14
grassroots coalitions providing technical assistance to 300 Indian tribes.
Clan Star is the Tribal Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Technical
Assistance Project.

Clan Star sprang from the White Buffalo Calf Society, initiated by Rosebud
Sioux in South Dakota, in 1978. Clan Star's catalyst to organize was the
Violence against Women Act in 1994.

In Alaska, there are 229 tribes and there are 165 off-road communities, 90
of these have no formal law enforcement. Even when troopers are called, at
times they cannot reach the victim because of weather. Other times, a lack
of jurisdiction is cited as the excuse for failure to protect Native women.

In rural Alaskan villages, coalition leaders say the answer remains in the
traditional approach, because the abusers, too, are members of the tribal
family.

Eleanor David said, "The perpetrators are dads, uncles, brothers. We do
value their lives, but we want them to change."

David, Athabascan from Allakaket, and Tammy Young, Tlingit from Sitka, are
co-directors of the Alaska Native Women's Coalition.

Seated in a circle in a conference room at NCAI, these women advocates make
it clear that they are here to fight for the rights of battered, raped and
murdered Native women and that few in America are listening. While the
murder rate of Native women in Alaska soars, few newspapers give it first
page attention.

They point out that the Bush administration is attacking Alaska because it
is isolated. The planned assault on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a
woman's issue, because caribou are the lifeway. In Gwich'in way of life,
women are the foundation and hold the tribe together.

Speaking of the need to protect the resources and way of life, Terri Henry
said, "If you can't fish, you can't eat, you cannot heal yourself."

In rural Alaska, Young said the bureaucratic system is multi-layered and
Alaskan Native women do not how to use the system or where to look for
support.

The court system in America adds to the abuse, it victimizes the victims,
said Norma McAdams, co-director of the Niwhongwh xw E:na:wh Stop the
Violence Coalition in Hoopa, Calif. McAdams said the colonized way of
thinking "winds up being genocide in a legal brief."

Letha Hall Kipp, a member of the Blackfeet Nation who works with the Great
Basin Coalition against Violence in Elko, Nev. said ex-cons - child
molesters, murderers and rapists - are living on tribal lands to avoid
detection while they abuse women and children and sell drugs.

"They come to the reservation because they are safe, and our children are
not safe," Kipp said.

In the Ojibwe region, 70 percent of the violent crimes committed against
Native women are perpetrated by non-Indians.

"They come to our tribal lands and rape us and stalk us," Brunner said.

Eileen Hudon said, "When tribes are truly sovereign, our women and children
will be safe. Right now we are in a stranglehold."

Hudon had a message for communities where women are being battered.

"It is our responsibility as community members, as citizens of the tribes,
as citizens of the United States, as citizens of the state, to end that
violence.

"It is our responsibility."

NCAI passed a resolution calling for a halt to the abuse of Native women. It
states that Native women are battered, raped and stalked at far greater
rates than any other group of women in the United States, and this fact has
attracted little attention from federal institutions whose duty it is to
respond.

One out of three Native women is raped in their lifetime. Native women
experience seven sexual assaults per 1,000, higher than any other group.
Native women are battered at a rate of 23.2 per 1,000 compared to eight per
1,000 among Caucasian women.

The resolution points out that the U.S. Department of Justice has
jurisdiction over felony crimes by or against Indians, including homicide,
rape and aggravated assault. It states "perpetrators of such violent crimes
against American Indian and Alaskan women are rarely, if at all,
prosecuted."

NCAI supported the reauthorization of the Violence against Women Act and
amendments. This includes increasing the sentencing authority of Indian
tribes in cases of domestic violence and sexual assault cases beyond one
year and $5,000; increasing criminal authority to Indian tribes to prosecute
non-Indian rapists and batterers; increasing federal support to Indian
tribes to enhance their response to violence against Native women.

During NCAI, Clan Star women placed lavender-colored fliers announcing their
session on the prevention of violence against women. It carried these words,
"A nation is not defeated until the hearts of its women are on the ground -
Cheyenne proverb."
--------------------------------------------------------------------- -This
article can be found at http://IndianCountry.com/?1071157532




_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism