Gyasi Ross: Good news and horrible news from Washington, DC

INCREDIBLE NEWS: On Thursday, February 28th, 2013, the House of Representatives finally decided that Native women, LGBTQ women, and immigrant women were worthy of protections from rape, stalking and sexual assaults via Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. This was a huge deal for Tribes, ironically as it was a substantial step toward the end of “tribes” and the beginning of “nations” for Native people—being able to regulate all people within their territories. President Obama stood strong for tribal sovereignty in this very important matter for Native people.

HORRIBLE NEWS: On Friday, March 1, 2013, the Obama Administration decided that Native sacred sites were not worthy of protections from the rape and pillage via the Keystone XL pipeline. Despite pretty much every reputable scientist who is not on an oil company’s payroll saying the opposite, the State Department somehow concludes that the Keystone XL pipeline "is unlikely to have a substantial impact" on the rate of Canada's oil sands. “The analyses of potential impacts associated with construction and normal operation of the proposed project suggest that there would be no significant impacts to most resources along the proposed project route."