Native women – Turtle Talk

With no anti-trafficking law of their own to deal with the crime and all signs pointing to a crisis, a group of tribal women snapped into action to work on a legislative solution. “No one said, ‘Here is the course on dealing with trafficking, and this is how you’re going to execute it,’ ” Young Bird says. “We’ve had to teach ourselves.”

“We all came together,” adds Cummings, “pulled what we could to the table, rolled up our sleeves, and got down and dirty with the whole situation.”

As an aside–there should be a collection of all the times someone writes something along the lines of “a small group of Native women made a massive difference in the face of collective indifference and ignorance.”

HT to a lot of Facebook friends who shared this.

Newly Released Video Urges Immediate Action to Protect Native Women

September 5, 2012September 5, 2012Kirsten Matoy Carlson

The Indian Law Resource Center released a new short video this week urging lawmakers to reauthorize a stronger version of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to protect Native women from violence.

In the video, Native women raise awareness about statistics that show one in three of them will be raped in their lifetime and six in ten will be physically assaulted. Even worse, on some reservations, the murder rate for Native women is ten times the national average.

“I want the rights afforded other women in this country. I want to be safe and when my safety is violated, I want justice,” says a young Native woman in the video.

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Grand Ronde Women Share Stories of Resilience

April 11, 2012Adrea Korthase

Story about the Willamette Heritage Exhibit (running from April 6th to May 28th ) is here.

Great Falls Tribune: Legislators honor Native American women

April 15, 2009April 15, 2009Kirsten Matoy Carlson

April 12, 2009

Legislators honor Native American women

By TRAVIS COLEMAN Tribune Staff Writer

Amnesty International statistics say Native American women are nearly three times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than any other group of women in the nation. Montana legislators kept those statistics in mind last week when supporting a joint resolution honoring Montana’s Native American women by trying to stop the violence against them. The joint resolution from the state Senate and the House of Representatives passed by large margins in both chambers. The resolution asks that legislators call upon federal, state and tribal officials to take action to stop domestic and sexual violence against the more than 27,000 Native American women in Montana. According to the resolution, that will be achieved through: · Working together to understand the nature and prevalence of violence against Native American women. · Supporting access to services for Native American women. · Providing adequate resources for additional criminal justice and victim prevention and intervention services. · Ensuring that the federal government investigates and prosecutes violent crime on Indian reservations. The resolution, sponsored by Sen. Carol Juneau, D-Browning, was filed with the Secretary of State on Monday. Juneau came up with the resolution after reading Amnesty International’s “Maze of Injustice” report that detailed how sexual violence against women from tribal nations is at epidemic proportions and that survivors are frequently denied justice. “I thought it would be good to have the state of Montana become more aware of the issue,” Juneau said, adding that the resolution could encourage others to take notice of the problem. Juneau said some Native American women are “falling between the cracks and their issues are being left behind” because they don’t know where to go to get justice among federal, state, tribal and county authorities. Juneau hopes that this resolution will spur action to address these jurisdictional concerns. “I’m hoping the resolution can be used as a vehicle to create some awareness and some communication between the various jurisdictions,” she said.