"On January 3rd, the 112th Congress adjourned ended, failing to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The VAWA, which was first passed in 1994, had been reauthorized in 2000 and 2005 with little opposition. Republican opposition to the 2012 reauthorization of the VAWA, centered on the inclusion of additional protections for LGBT, immigrants and Native women. The Tribal Provision would have allowed for tribal courts to have limited jurisdiction over non-tribal members who committed certain offenses on tribal lands.

Given the high percentage of non-Indians committing acts of sexual assault and domestic violence against Native women on tribal lands, the VAWA would be a welcome piece of legislation. Recently, Sens. Leahy (D-VT) and Crapo (R-ID) have introduced legislation to reauthorize the VAWA and many of our tribal leaders are already lobbying and working with members of the 113th Congress in seeking its passage.

While I will stand with, and work alongside, our tribal leaders for the reauthorization of the VAWA, I would like to push our communities to go beyond seeking just the legal remedies from the colonial lawmakers to ending violence against women. Legal tools are needed in addressing violence against women, but in of themselves will do little to reverse the deeply imbedded colonial belief in the inferiority of women."

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Matt Remle: Violence Against Women & Violence Against Earth (Last Real Indians 1/25)