"The time has come to make meaningful change. Native women need to be protected from the sexual predators who repeatedly victimize them, without consequence or repercussion.
The statistics are appalling: More than one-third of Indian women will be either raped or sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. Moreover, non-Natives (primarily white men) commit 4 out of 5 of those rapes or sexual assaults. To put this statistic into perspective, that means that if your mother, your sister and your niece are sitting on a couch across the room from you, statistically one of those three Indian women will be either raped or sexually assaulted, most likely by a non-native man (including non-tribal member male).
Equally dreadful, nearly three out of five Indian women have been assaulted by either their spouse or intimate partner, and many of these asssaults are committed by non-Indian partners. Truly dastardly acts of the lowest form right? It’s worse: Surveys analyzing murder rates in counties largely composed of tribal lands found that Native women are murdered at a rate more than ten times the national average.
That’s all bad.
It is a travesty that any woman of any race has to wonder whether or not the law will protect her from rape, sexual assault and/or domestic violence, which in most cases, leaves the victim deeply and emotionally scarred, if not dead. Indian women, like all women, deserve to feel safe in their own homes and homelands. That is a fundamental human right. Indeed it’s the very right recognized by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Article 22, which specifically affirmed that “states shall take measures, in conjunction with the indigenous peoples, to ensure that indigenous women and children enjoy the full protection and guarantees against all forms of violence and discrimination.”"
Get the Story:
Gyasi Ross and Michael O. Finley:
Circle of Violence: An Open Letter to People Regarding the Rape and Sexual Assault of Indian Women
(Indian Country Today 8/4)
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Duane Champagne:
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Charles Trimble: A crisis of faith amid abuses in
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Harold Monteau:
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Karonienhawi Thomas: Saying no more to violence
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Ray Cook: Taking a
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