For 500 years, rape has been used as a tool of conquest and an act of war against Native women. It carries with it all of the perverted power of violence that every rape survivor endures, with the added yokes of colonialism and cultural annihilation.
Vanguard's "Rape on the Reservation" premieres on Current TV on Wednesday, June 2 at 10/9c.
One in three Native American women will be raped in her lifetime. Correspondent Mariana van Zeller travels to Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota where sexual assault and violence against women has escalated to murder. What happened to 19-year-old Marquita, and how can the reservation's understaffed police force keep it from happening again?
Diarist's note- This was originally published at DailyKos and is my first diary here...if I have gotten anything wrong, leave me a comment and I will correct it.
Under American law, the various tribes of the Native Americans are supposed to be sovereign nations. The reality however, is something far less. The Nations are only entitled to govern themselves. This may sound like a trivial distinction, but other sovereign nations can enforce their laws against citizens of other countries. The Tribal Nations are not given this power. So, the Nations must rely on state and local governments to prosecute crimes committed on their land.
The local response to crimes on reservations is, at best, neglect. This lack of cooperation has led to Native American women being twice as likely to be raped as American women as a whole. Generally, 1 in 6 American women have been the victim ofrape. So, 1 in 3 Native American women has experienced rape. If you are as angry about this as I am right now, follow me over the jump.
At the Justice Department, recent scandals have dragged public confidence to an all time low. A special prosecutor is now digging into charges that former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales put political partisanship ahead of the law.
Jodi Rave investigates crimes against Native American women
Yesterday, Clammyc's diary on the Daily Kos If not for Biden, she (and many other women) may be dead, which is about Biden's authorship of Violence Against Women Act and a wrenching case of domestic violence from the 1970s,gave me an idea.
Since the Violence Against Women Act is what funds women's shelters, among other things, and since Senator Biden just lost his mother-in-law, Bonny Jean Jacobs, why don't we purchase a furnace for the Pretty Bird Woman House shelter in her memory?
Considering that Sarah Palin wants Alaskan women to buy their own rape kits and is against abortion even in case of rape or incest, and John McCain's pathetic record on women's issues buying Pretty Bird Woman House a new furnace also draws a stark contrast between our values, shared by the Obama/Biden ticket, and the McCain/Palin horror show.
This diary is an update on the Pretty Bird Woman House and a request for a few small donations. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this project, it's a women's shelter on the South Dakota side of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation that the netroots came together to help in its time of need.
Anyway, the shelter has been operating for about a month, and wonderful things have been happening since they closed on the house in February.
One exciting development has been that many members of the McLaughlin community have gone from being suspicious to being supporters. That's one reason we're raising money right now: a youth group from a local church as volunteered to paint the house.
(crossposted on the Daily Kos and Street Prophets under betson08 and Docudharma under PiledHigherand Deeper - I guess I have an unstable identity!)
I want to update everyone who has been involved in the Pretty Bird Woman House fundraiser on the situation with the house purchase.
After you read this you might also ask: Why isn't anything easy in Indian Country?
While we were running this fundraiser, the City Council of McLaughlin, which exists as a separate entity within the boundaries of the Standing Rock Reservation, passed an ordinance requiring that any nonprofit wishing to establish a boardinghouse or shelter in a residential area get the approval of the City Council first.
This means that even though Pretty Bird Woman House could have closed on the house on January 4th, they had to wait for a Council meeting on January 7th.
Everyone was certain that after hearing about the shelter, the City Council would just say "of course you can" to their request.
My apologies; I only learned of the existence of this blog today when someone at Daily Kos suggested I crosspost this announcement. I hope this is not inappropriate. Thank you.
In October, Betsy Campisi, a volunteer on the last Pretty Bird Woman House fundraising drive called Georgia Little Shield, the shelter director to check in. After all, after the previous May fundraiser, things looked great - Pretty Bird Woman House had a building, funding from the Netroots until a grant kicked in in... things were going well. But when Betsy spoke to Georgia she heard grim news.
Our shelter was burned down. They stole everything. Then they burnt it down.
Betsy asked; how much to buy a new house with a security system? The answer: $70,000. Worse, all the grants Pretty Bird Woman House depended on required a physical building to use as a shelter. They needed the money FAST. It seemed so unlikely back in October that it could even be done...
Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and just hope that the net is there to catch you. This time there was no net. But you wonderful people... you wove that net even as everything was falling off the edge. You wove the net out of blog posts and $5 donations, out of human love and compassion.
I thought I'd give you an update on what was going on with the fundraiser for this shelter. Georgia Little Shield, the director, has used the money we have raised so far to place a bid on the house you see in the photos below.
We need donations urgently right now since there was only enough money for a really low bid, so that makes things still a bit tenuous. And then there will be closing costs and a security system. But even though we haven't sealed the deal yet, we're coming very close!
The amazing part of this project is that the individual efforts of a bunch of bloggers are making such a big difference to a group of women. This is what a community is really about. And were else can you see donations doing something so huge so fast?
In honor of my mother, THE FLORA SOMBRERO LIND NAVAJO ENDOWMENT FUND has been set up to accept your donations.
This scholarship endowment has been established at the American Indian College Fund to honor Flora Sombrero Lind, as an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation who was born at Inscription House, Arizona of the Many Goats clan circa 1925. This scholarship endowment is funded by Flora's family and friends who want to see Navajo students pursue higher education and carry on their great Navajo heritage.
Please leave a comment here if you donate.
Site Donations
- Please specify what your donation is for in the notes section of the PayPal window. Either propane for Pine Ridge or Rosebud or Hosting fees for this blog. --navajo
If you like to help Aji and Wings please mail a check to them at the address here:
wingssilverwork.com
Click the contact tab for address.
About
Native American Netroots
...a forum for the discussion of political, social and economic issues affecting the indigenous peoples of the United States, including their lack of political representation, economic deprivation, health care issues, and the on-going struggle for preservation of identity and cultural history
The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) is a non-profit 501c(3) organization that provides legal representation and technical assistance to Indian tribes, organizations and individuals nationwide - a constituency that often lacks access to the justice system. NARF focuses on applying existing laws and treaties to guarantee that national and state governments live up to their legal obligations.
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Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights News by Brenda Norrell
In honor of my mother, 
