Opinion

Ray Cook: Taking a stand to put end to violence in Indian Country

Friday, July 15, 2011

"In recent weeks, Indian Country Today Media Network has reported on apparent random acts of violence on Natives and on the unfolding mess of sexual abuse at Catholic schools in the Dakotas. With this issue, however, we begin a short series titled Circle of Violence, an attempt to draw attention to the harm we do to the ones closest to us, and to touch upon the reasons for it happening. Most of all, we want violence in the home to stop, and we believe the first step towards lowering the rates of family violence is to provide the means toward an open and frank discussion of it. It’s not enough to draw a connection to root causes. Now’s the time to take a stand.

Some people tend to equate family violence with violence against women. While that surely is an aspect of the issue, it is not the case all the time. Kids commit violence against elders, wives commit violence against their own children and their male partners. Indian country, so it is said, has a disproportionate amount of violent acts being committed in the home compared to other communities and some other countries.

The common denominator in this mess? It all stems from abuse at an early age. Eventually, every abused person—if they do not kill, get killed, or get sentenced to time behind bars, or spend all their lives in front of bars—searches for a way to feel good, to feel life is worth living and that there is a real thing called peace of mind and caring between people."

Get the Story:
Ray Cook: The Circle of Violence (Indian Country Today 7/14)