Lauren Chief Elk speaks of the brutal sexual violence crushing Native American communities
Something is very wrong here. My peers feel it, I feel it, and it’s not going away. Those of us in the Native American community know we are being targeted—and as I read about sexualized violence against civilians in war zones, I can’t help but draw parallels to the brutality against Native women.
Violence against us is at astronomical levels; it is a plague. This is not hyperbole and this not a distortion of numbers. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs described the plight of Native American women as a human rights crisis. Amnesty International called it an epidemic. Amnesty reports that our women are 2.5 times more likely to be stalked than any other population; the murder rate with respect to Native women is 10 times the national average. Most disconcerting is that Native women report that the perpetrators of more than 85 percent of sexualized assaults against them are non-Native men, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
In fact, rape and abuse in our community have always stemmed from outsiders. It is well documented through oral traditions, stories, and cultural beliefs that prior to the European invasion, sexualized and domestic violence was not accepted and virtually did not exist in indigenous society. In “Decolonizing Rape Law: A Native Feminist Synthesis of Safety and Sovereignty,” Native scholar and activist Sarah Deer states that rape was once “extremely rare in tribal communities. Arguably, the imposition of colonial systems of power and control has resulted in Native women being the most victimized group of people in the United States.”
Scholar Lisa Poupart at the University of Wisconsin notes that the “traditional spiritual world views that organized daily tribal life prohibited harm by individuals against other beings. To harm another being was akin to committing the same violation against the spirit world.” Through the process of colonization, women were subjugated to a type of pain they had never previously known. That pain has reverberated through generations and has carried over to present day.
Click here to continue reading over at Women Under Siege
–Photo: A billboard on the author’s reservation in Fort Belknap, Montana. Scholars say sexualized and domestic violence are products of colonialism. (Lauren Chief Elk)
Thank you for writing about this Lauren. I grew up next to the Blackfoot Indian Reservation (not too far from Fort Belknap) and it was (and still is) hard to see all of the wrongs that have been done to the Native American people. These problems need to be addressed on a larger scale in society.
Most disconcerting is that Native women report that the perpetrators of more than 85 percent of sexualized assaults against them are non-Native men
THAT is disturbing! Off the charts DISTURBING!
If there’s any aspect of this horror that requires deep investigation, it that~!
I was about to say something that amounts to America bashing. Then I remembered that I live in Canada and the problems with respect to Native Americans is just as bad and the same lousy situation applies to Native American women in Canada.
What a loathsome species we are. Can we ever lift ourselves up out of the slough?
I’ve previously heard about the horrifying high rate of sexual violence against native women. I’ve always gotten the impression that a lot of that happened within the communities. Thanks for correcting that impression. I am thinking about why I had that impression. I was unaware that tribal courts are unable to put non-Native people on trial. I can’t help to draw parallels to the US reluctance to sign international treaties on children’s rights and war-crime courts.
The wrong people get into positions of power, lacking respect for other human beings simply because they lack the same skin pigmentation or cultural background. Native Americans are offered so little in ways of respect that its sickened me since I was a teen and able to understand it. Best of luck in this endeavor. Hopefully as we become more accepting of women and ethnicities in America, attention will be drawn to these issues and solutions created. Unfortunately, many people don’t care about issues that don’t directly effect their wallet.