{"id":16151,"date":"2021-09-23T17:37:47","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T21:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=16151"},"modified":"2021-09-23T17:37:48","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T21:37:48","slug":"howard-center-historic-trauma-contributes-to-abuse-in-indian-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/09\/23\/howard-center-historic-trauma-contributes-to-abuse-in-indian-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Howard Center: Historic trauma contributes to abuse in Indian Country"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Moon<\/a>
Photo: Howard Center for Investigative Journalism<\/figcaption>\r\n
Trauma in Native American communities plays role in child sexual abuse, experts say<\/div>\r\n
Thursday, September 23, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By McKenna Leavens, Allison Vaughn, Anne Mickey, Rylee Kirk, Brendon Derr and Leilani Fitzpatrick<\/div>\r\n
Howard Center for Investigative Journalism<\/div>\r\n
azpbs.org\/littlevictims<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nChild sexual abuse is such an age-old problem that it\u2019s explained in many Native American communities with a parable known as the Story of the Moon and the Sun.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nAs retold by child psychologist Dolores Subia BigFoot, a member of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, the story is about a brother and sister who have lost their parents and many relatives and have only each other.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe sister longs for companionship and tells her brother of her \u201cdesire to share her life with someone,\u201d the parable goes.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nOne night, a man comes to her in the darkness of their camp. She cannot tell who he is, but he\u2019s kind and makes her laugh and, over time, they become lovers. Ultimately, the girl learns that the stranger is her brother, and they are devastated.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cHe became the MOON who does not shine except in the darkness of night and she became the SUN. You can still see his shame because he never shines brightly when the sun is out,\u201d the parable says.\r\n

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\"Moon<\/a><\/div>\r\n
Child psychologist Dolores Subia BigFoot retells the Story of the Moon and the Sun, which has been passed down verbally in Native communities for generations as a resource to help people learn about child sexual abuse and its prevalence. Image Courtesy of Dolores Subia BigFoot via Howard Center for Investigative Journalism <\/figcaption><\/div><\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nBigFoot directs the Native American Programs at the Center on Child Abuse and Neglect at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center<\/a>. She says some version of this parable has been shared among different tribes for generations.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nBarbara Bettelyoun is a citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota with doctorates in child development and child clinical psychology. She runs Buffalo Star People, a South Dakota-based organization specializing in healing historical and childhood traumas in Native communities. She and her husband, Francis, speak nationally on child sexual abuse in Native American communities.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cI don\u2019t think that there\u2019s an Indigenous family who has not been touched by this,\u201d Bettelyoun said, pausing. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s one; I don\u2019t know of one.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nRape has historically been used as a weapon of war, and that was true when settlers colonized Native American lands. According to Bettelyoun and other experts, this learned abuse has been passed down through generations, creating intergenerational trauma.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nU.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and the first Native cabinet member in U.S. history, noted the \u201clong-standing intergenerational trauma\u201d and its \u201ccycles of violence and abuse\u201d when she announced in June a federal investigation into the legacy of Indian boarding schools.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n \"Pine<\/a>

A group of girls walk down the street on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota on July 22, 2021. In the last decade, federal prosecutors have pursued charges less than half the time in child sexual abuse cases from Indian Country. Photo: Isaac Stone Simonelli \/ Howard Center for Investigative Journalism<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nChristian churches and the U.S. government established the schools in the 19th century to forcibly assimilate Native children into American culture. The children were taken from their families and sent \u2014 sometimes thousands of miles away \u2014 to boarding schools, where their long hair was cut short and they weren\u2019t allowed to speak their own languages, wear traditional clothing or practice their religions.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cThe intent was so that when the children came back to their own families and villages, they would be ashamed of being Indigenous,\u201d Bettelyoun said. \u201cThey did that by raping our children and molesting our children and abusing them in horrific ways.\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe remains of hundreds of children have already been found on the former grounds of Canada\u2019s largest Indigenous boarding school.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nA 2012 study by researchers from the University of Washington<\/a> found that \u201cformer boarding school attendees reported higher rates of current illicit drug use and living with alcohol use disorder, and were significantly more likely to have attempted suicide and experienced suicidal thoughts in their lifetime compared to non-attendees.\u201d \r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe survey of 447 American Indian, Alaska Native and First Nations adults from urban areas who self-identified as LGBT, Two-Spirit or having engaged in same-sex behavior also found that those who were raised by someone who attended boarding schools were more likely to have attempted suicide and experienced suicidal thoughts in their lifetime.\r\n

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