violence against Indian women – Page 4

The Supreme Court’s recent 4-4 tie-vote in Dollar General Corp. v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians signals a distinctive shift away from the incoherent modern framework created by Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe—a framework that stripped Tribal Nations of their inherent authority to protect Native women from non-Indian perpetrated violence. With four Justices voting for—and not against—tribal jurisdiction, Dollar General signals a return to the Court’s 1832 decision in Worcester v. Georgia, wherein the Court affirmed the exclusive authority of Tribal Nations to exercise criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians who willingly enter tribal lands. For Native women—and the Tribal Nations that seek to protect them—the Court’s 2016 result in Dollar General signals a significant victory.

High Country News: “The crisis of murdered and missing Indigenous women”

May 9, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Federal Court Rejects D.V. Convict’s Challenge to Federal Jurisdiction over Isabella Reservation Lands

May 9, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in United States v. Jackson (E.D. Mich.):

32 Motion to Vacate Sentence

37 US Response + Exhibits

Fletcher Review of David Grann’s “Killers of the Flower Moon”

April 5, 2018April 5, 2018Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is “Failed Protectors: The Indian Trust and Killers of the Flower Moon,” forthcoming in the Michigan Law Review.

Abstract:

This Review uses Killers of the Flower Moon as a jumping off point for highlighting for readers how so many Indian people in Indian country can be so easily victimized by criminals. And yet, for however horrible the Osage Reign of Terror, the reality for too many Indian people today is much much worse. The federal government is absolutely to blame for these conditions. This Review shows how policy choices made by all three branches of the federal government have failed Indian people. Part I establishes the federal-tribal trust relationship that originated with a duty of protection. Part II establishes how the United States failure to fulfill its duties to the Osage Nation and its citizens allowed and even indirectly encouraged the Osage Reign of Terror. Part III offers thoughts on the future of the trust relationship in light of the rise of tribal self-determination. Part IV concludes the Review with a warning about how modern crime rates against Indian women and children are outrageously high in large part because of the continuing failures of the United States.

Statement on the First National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls

May 5, 2017May 5, 2017Victoria Sweet

Statement from the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Link Here

The current reports of abduction and murder of American Indian women and girls are alarming and represent one of the most severe aspects of the spectrum of violence committed against Native women. The murder rate of Native women is more than ten times the national average. Often, these disappearances or murders are connected to crimes of domestic violence, sexual assault, and sex trafficking.

The NIWRC recognizes that before this crisis will be sufficiently addressed it must first be acknowledged. This past year, over 200 tribal, state and national organizations joined with NIWRC and signed on in support of a resolution to create a National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls. The Montana delegation Senator Steve Daines, Senator Jon Tester, and then Congressman Ryan Zinke introduced the resolution in memory of Hanna Harris, a Northern Cheyenne tribal member, who was murdered in July 2013. The resolution was introduced in April 2016 on the same day that RoyLynn Rides Horse, a Crow tribal member, passed away after having been beaten, burned, and left in a field to die. This past Wednesday, May 3, 2017, the United States took a historic step forward and passed the Senate resolution #60 by unanimous consent.

The NIWRC was honored to have worked with so many sister organizations at the tribal, state and federal levels to see the passage of this historic resolution. Today, May 5^th 2017, organized community actions are taking place across tribal nations in honor of missing and murdered Native women and girls. The national office of NIWRC is honored to walk with Melinda Harris, mother of Hanna Harris, Senator Steve Daines, staff of Senator Jon Tester and so many others at a walk organized at Lame Deer, Montana. Tribal actions are being held at the Muscogee Creek Nation, the Mohawk Nation, the Oglala Sioux Indian Nation, the Northern Cheyenne Indian Nation, and many other locations.

We ask all of those concerned about safety and justice for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian women to join together today to honor Native American women and girls who have disappeared and those who have been murdered. Together we can work to bring an end to this crisis endangering not only Indigenous women and girls but Indian nations.

The NIWRC is committed to organizing to increase safety and access to justice for American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, to bringing awareness to this critical issue, and to preventing future acts of violence in our Nations.

Lucy Simpson
Executive Director, NIWRC

Cherrah Giles
Board Chair, NIWRC

Ending Violence Against Indigenous Women as a Step Toward Empowerment – Event

March 9, 2017March 9, 2017Victoria Sweet

Link to the announcement here

TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER:

Ending Violence Against Indigenous Women as a Step Towards Empowerment

SAVE THE DATE

Wednesday, March 15, 2017
10:30 a.m.

Salvation Army
221 E 52nd St.
(Downstairs Room)
New York, NY 10022

Join us to recognize, strengthen, and honor the global movement to end violence against indigenous women.

Indigenous women around the world experience disproportionate levels of violence and murder and multiple, intersecting forms of discrimination because they are indigenous and because they are women. Too often, national justice systems fail to respond to this violence, leaving women without protection or meaningful access to justice. In this event, indigenous women leaders will speak to the situation of violence against indigenous women in the United States and Guatemala.

• Learn about barriers to safety facing American Indian and Alaska Native women in the United States, and their successes in restoring indigenous sovereignty to address violence against women.

• Learn about the grassroots movement to stop the trafficking of indigenous women in the United States.

• Learn about the spectrum of violence facing Mayan women in Guatemala and their strategies of resistance.

Panelists will also discuss strategies for urging states to advance the rights of indigenous peoples and women affirmed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

For more information, email Jana L. Walker, at jwalker@indianlaw.org.

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“Canada Is Finally Launching An Inquiry Into Its Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women Crisis”

September 3, 2016September 2, 2016Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here, from HuffPo.