Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) seen here was an outspoken critic of the VAWA and let his disgust be known.
Melissa Merrick seen above was the victim of a twenty minute verbal beat down by Rep Kevin Cramer at violence prevention meeting.
ND Rep verbally assaults female presenter
By Brandon Ecoffey
Native Sun News Managing Editor RAPID CITY—While at the most recent North Dakota Coalition on Abused Women’s Service membership meeting on March 26, 2013, Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) verbally attacked a member of the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe and stated that he wished he could, “ring the Tribal council’s neck and slam them against the wall.” The comments came in front a large contingency of North Dakota’s anti-violence against women groups. Mellissa Merrick a member of the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe and the director for Spirit Lake Victim Assistance in Fort Totten, ND was the recipient of the verbal barrage. Ms. Merrick shared her story on the independent Native American journalism site LastRealIndians.com last week and in it she provided, in detail her experience at the coalition meeting. “We sat there in shock. We could not believe that he was doing this,” Merrick told Native Sun News. “When I looked out in to the crowd and saw other victims in tears it started to sink in that he was actually saying these things,” she added. At the coalition meeting both the offices of Sen. Courtney Heitkamp (D-ND) and Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) were invite.. Rep. Cramer and two members the Sen. Heitkamp's office ended up attending the meeting. “We invited them to the meeting because we wanted them to hear the perspective of those at the coalition meeting and the impact that the upcoming sequester would have on what we are trying to do,” said Janelle Moos Executive Director of NDCAWS. “We have a real problem with assaults up here because of all the man camps that are popping up around the state due to the oil boom,” she added. During the presentation by Merrick she fielded questions first from Sen. Heitkamp’s staffers who she said in the statement on LRI took notes and asked questions. After she finished with them however she was immediately confronted by Rep Cramer who first grilled her on how much money Fort Berthold received in oil taxes, even though Ms. Merrick is from Spirit Lake. The Representative quickly moved on to a tirade against the tribal provisions in the recently passed Violence against Women Act. The tribal provisions that were included in the bill expanded the authority of tribal courts to prosecute non-Native domestic violence offenders. Although tribes are sovereign Nations with their own laws their ability to prosecute non-Native offenders has been hamstrung by Supreme Court decisions throughout the years. The inclusion of the tribal provisions in the most recent version of VAWA has the potential to provide tribes with some relief from the misinformed decisions of past Supreme Court justices. During the debate over VAWA in Congress Rep. Cramer was one of the outspoken critics of the expansion of tribal court jurisdiction. During the coalition meeting he vented his frustrations over the bill and according to Merrick’s posting and other people present at the meeting he ran off a number of questionable quotes that Merrick detailed in her post. “Tribal Governments are dysfunctional. Tribal Courts are dysfunctional, and how could a non-Native man get a fair trial on the reservations?” Then according to Merrick, Cramer said, “As a non-Native man, I do not feel secure stepping onto the reservation now?” His tirade did not stop there however Merrick would quote him as saying, “You can’t tell me I will get a fair trial,” and would add, “I can’t get a fair trial.” The views expressed at the coalition meeting echo the same sentiments that were expressed by Sen. Chuck Grassley(R-IA) during the public debate over VAWA, at the time the statements from Grassley sparked outrage across Indian country. “This comment by Sen. Grassley is misinformed to put it nicely, arrogant and naively racist, or knowingly racist, according to his white-washed upbringing within the institutions of America, legal, educational, and otherwise, to put it truthfully,” said Chase Iron Eyes an attorney and founder of LastRealIndians.com in response to Grassley. Although this argument has been used as a critique of the recently passed tribal provisions statistics show that in states with high Native American populations, Native American criminal offenders are almost always tried in front of mostly non-Native juries. The onslaught did not stop there however; during the twenty minute barrage of inflammatory statements he went as far as express a desire to inflict bodily harm on members of the Spirit Lake tribal council. When Native Sun News initially contacted the Representative’s office they had no knowledge of the posting or that the public was being made aware of the Ms. Merrick’s blog. Later that night Rep. Cramer responded to the Grand Forks Tribune and stated that he did not recall using some of the same language that she had attributed to him. In a statement provided to Native Sun News the congressman expressed concerns that he was misunderstood. “I am quite open about my passion regarding helping those within our society that are exposed to violence. It is my understanding that certain statements I recently made regarding my frustrations with VAWA were misunderstood. This may have been the result of my tone and rhetoric, better suited for active debate in Congress rather than in addressing the protectors of our most vulnerable citizens. I apologize, and welcome future discussion to address my meaning, and to further our common cause. I am encouraged by the considerable energy available to fix the serious, societal problem of violence (against all victims). It is my hope that improving lives is always our upmost focus,” said Rep. Cramer Although Rep. Cramer has attempted to distance himself from what Merrick posted in LRI there were several people who attended the coalition meeting who were able to confirm Merrick’s story. “I was there in the crowd and I saw it all take place and from what I read from her (Ms. Merrick) post is true. Things got real uncomfortable,” said Janelle Moos the Executive Director of NDCAWS who was present in the crowd. “It was a public meeting and everything was on record. We didn’t record it or take notes so I cannot confirm the quotes completely but from what I read it seems like an accurate account,” she told Native Sun News. The response has been astronomical on social media eliciting responses from both tribal members and white North Dakotans basically expressing disgust at what took place. “Kevin Cramer displayed a complete lack of respect, and is obviously the product of his own ignorance. I would hope he would have the intellectual tact to present his pejorative, biased views in at least a superficially objective way, as a Congressman and all” said Chase Iron Eyes who is also a resident of North Dakota. The office of Rep. Cramer came short of acknowledging that the remarks were spoken by him but did tell Native Sun News that they have reached out to Merrick and have extended an invitation to her to meet and discuss what took place. Merrick did not say if she had entertained the notion of meeting with Rep. Cramer but simply reiterated her disgust with what took place in a phone conversation with NSN. “I am a survivor of abuse and what he said and the way he expressed himself were entirely inappropriate when sitting in a room full of victims of violence and advocates,” she said. She would release a statement Friday where she said that she totally stands by her account and that Rep. Cramer should be apologizing for the words he spoke. (Contact Brandon Ecoffey at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com) Copyright permission by Native Sun News
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