Purpose:
From Ms. blog (thanks to A.T.!):
As a Native feminist without apology, I’m thrilled that the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 has been passed to protect Native women from violence. I have fellow Native woman warrior and feminist to thank for coining that exact phrase, and in fact, the bill itself: my shero Ms. Sarah Deer.
Sarah and I first met through Facebook, then face-to-face at the Tribal Policy and Law Institute of America in St. Paul, MN. It was Indigenous feminist love at first sight.
A Mvskoke (Creek) from Kansas, Sarah is a Tribal Law Professor at William Mitchell College of Law and served on the advisory committee (while undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer) for Amnesty International’s 2007 report “Maze of Injustice: The Failure to Protect Indigenous Women from Violence“–the fire behind getting the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 passed.
It’s been a whirlwind three years–from the Amnesty report to the bill signing just days ago–but as Sarah says here it’s really been 500+ years in the making. And since women are the life-givers, matriarchs, and center of our communities, we all have a responsibility to keep fighting.
JY: How are you feeling right now?
SD: I’m feeling exhausted and exhilarated. We–the five or six of us women who were connected in making this happen–kept saying to each other outside the White House, “This is so surreal!”
JY: When did it become real for you?
SD: It became very real when Lisa Marie Iyotte–a Lakota woman from the Rosebud Sioux tribe in South Dakota who is a rape survivor–spoke [at the bill’s signing] and said unequivocally, “If the Tribal Law and Order Act had existed 16 years ago, my story would have been very different.”
JY: Watching Lisa Marie I couldn’t help but cry myself. I’m always reminded that when I feel emotional or show my feelings publicly, it’s a sign that I’ve survived the attempts to beat the feelings out of me as an Indigenous person.
from the Denver Post:
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — After pressing for months, the chief criminal prosecutor for the Navajo Nation, Bernadine Martin, finally persuaded the U.S. Department of Justice to release its internal statistics on felony investigations. It turns out federal agents last year made just 28 arrests in sexual assault cases on an Indian reservation the size of West Virginia.
That’s an arrest rate in sexual assault cases of about 11 per 100,000 people. By comparison, Denver’s arrest rate in the same category in 2008 was 38 per 100,000. In other words, federal agents investigating sexual assaults on the Navajo Nation made less than one arrest for every three by Denver police.
This kind of unfairness prompted the Tribal Law and Order Act, sponsored by retiring Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and signed by President Obama last week.
Despite the good intentions of many fine public servants, the federal government isn’t getting the job done. Violent crimes on Indian reservations are two and a half times the national average, yet tribal lands are served by half the number of police as comparable communities.
TRIBAL LAW AND ORDER ACT SUMMARY
Between 2007 and 2010, Congress held 17 hearings on various aspects of violence on Indian lands from domestic and sexual violence against women and children to drug smuggling and gang activity. On June 23, 2010, the Senate passed the Tribal Law and Order Act, as an amendment to H.R. 725, by unanimous consent.
Indian reservations nationwide face violent crime rates more than 2.5 times the national rate. Some reservations face more than 20 times the national rate of violence. More than 1 in 3 American Indian and Alaska Native women will be raped in their lifetimes, and 2 in 5 will face domestic or partner violence. The crisis is the result of a broken and underfunded system of justice.
Federal laws limit the authority of Indian tribes to punish Indian offenders to no more than 1-year imprisonment, and force reservation residents to rely on Federal (and in some cases State) officials to investigate and prosecute violent crimes on Indian lands. However, over the past 5 years, Federal officials have declined to prosecute 50% of alleged violent crimes in Indian country, including 75% of alleged sex crimes against women and children.
Less than 3,000 Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal police patrol more than 56 million acres of Indian lands. Foreign drug cartels are aware of the lack of police presence on Indian lands and are targeting some reservations to distribute and manufacture drugs.
The Tribal Law and Order Act takes a comprehensive approach at addressing these shortfalls by establishing accountability measures for Federal agencies responsible for investigating and prosecuting reservation crime, and by providing tribes with additional tools to combat crime locally.
Some major provisions include:
The bill has the support of the U.S. Departments of Justice and Interior, the National Congress of American Indians, Amnesty International, the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Episcopal Church, the Family Violence Prevention Fund, and many other tribal, state, and local governments and organizations.
From How Appealing:
“Tribal-rights advocates seek ‘fix’ in Congress”: The Providence (R.I.) Journal today contains an article that begins, “Tribal-rights advocates came in force to Capitol Hill Tuesday to ask Congress to undo last year’s Supreme Court ruling that made it harder for Native Americans to set their own rules for the use of certain lands — including the Rhode Island parcel at issue in the decision.”
More at Indianz.
Supporters of the LRBOI Fruitport casino are testifying now in front of the MI Legislature’s Regulatory Reform Committee at Muskegon Community College. From the site:
9:30 AM
Regulatory Reform
Muskegon Community College James L. Stevenson Center for Higher Education – Room 1100 221 South Quarterline Road Muskegon, MI 49442
Here’s the bill: H.R. 725.
From the Muskegon Chronicle via Pechanga:
FRUITPORT TOWNSHIP — A month ago, a resolution by the state Legislature that would allow for a casino in Fruitport Township seemed to be destined for quick passage.
The resolution — allowing the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians to operate a casino at the former Great Lakes Downs racetrack site — has hit a snag in the state House of Representatives. A vote on the resolution has yet to be taken, a committee hearing concerning the resolution is planned for the coming weeks in Lansing and the House speaker — who is also a candidate for governor — is taking some heat from locals.
State Rep. Doug Bennett, D-Muskegon Township, and Fruitport Township Supervisor Brian Werschem are blaming House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford, for the delay. Area lawmakers expect the resolution to pass if and when it reaches the House floor for a vote.
On the Senate side, Gerald Van Woerkom, R-Norton Shores, said he will not oppose the resolution.
Bennett said typically the speaker sends resolutions directly to the House floor for a vote rather than referring them to a committee.
“There’s nobody holding it up but the speaker,” Bennett said.
“Andy Dillon is intentionally stonewalling this project,” Werschem said.
Turtle Talk 
You must be logged in to post a comment.