Violence against Indigenous people a product of culture that devalues Native women, expert says8/22/2023 Tulsa World // Intern Project Julian Harvie (from left), Kylie Harvie, Melanie Harvie and others dance in a line during a memorial powwow in honor of Grace Starr Kinder and Drake Starr Espinoza on July 22 in El Reno. The event is among those intended to draw attention to Oklahoma's crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Riley Hayden, Tulsa World. By Neal Franklin Years of historical trauma, high rates of crime and violence worsen the missing and murdered Indigenous persons epidemic in the U.S., making cases hard to solve and limiting the power of Indigenous women. About 4 in 5 Indigenous people in the U.S. have experienced some form of violence, according to a study by the National Institute of Justice. “You’ve got a country that was founded on violence against Native women, and you’ve got a culture that continues to celebrate violence against women,” said Mary Kathryn Nagle, an attorney for the Montana-based National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center. The origins of the missing and murdered Indigenous women’s crisis come from centuries of genocide, colonialization and the erosion of tribal sovereignty, according to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center. Nagle explained that Halloween costumes of Indigenous people and images of Indigenous women on beer or butter products are examples of American culture devaluing Indigenous women. Through her work with the center, Nagle said lack of value in Indigenous women in American culture allows and fosters violence against them. “The people beating and abusing Native women learn that they can do that with impunity,” she said. Shawnna Roach handles missing and murdered Indigenous persons cases for Cherokee Nation Marshal Service. She also investigates human trafficking and domestic violence cases. Roach explained that historical trauma compounds the likelihood for Indigenous women to be victims of crime. Roach said trouble at home or drug dependencies can make young women targets. Roach said the history of neglect for Indigenous women make them even more likely to be targeted. “They’re not just local individuals,” she said of perpetrators. “They were coming here to find our Native American females.” In the U.S., almost half of American Indian/Alaska Native women experienced some form of contact sexual violence during their lifetime, according to a CDC’s National Intimate Partners and Sexual Violence Survey. About 25% of Indigenous women experience stalking in their lifetime, and almost 30% experienced rape at some point in their lifetime. In the 2022 Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General’s domestic violence fatality review board, the number of Native American victims increased nearly 18%. The data collected suggested a significant rise since 2018 in the number of domestic violence–related deaths of Native Americans. Violence against Indigenous people is largely committed by non-Indigenous people, according to the National Institute for Justice study. Violence against Indigenous people is a pattern that advocates like Karrisa Hodge, chair of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, have identified in the lives of people they know. “Being a Native woman, I realized how many people that I knew had been in a domestic violence situation, had been kidnapped or their families were murdered and there was no justice,” Hodge said. Whenever people reach out for help, Hodge does whatever is necessary to take care of families in need. “I have a rule that we don’t leave anyone unless they’re physically, emotionally and mentally safe,” Hodge said. Communities of color have a difficult time trusting police because of historical trauma, some advocates said. This reality is also true for Indigenous women. Nagle explained that Indigenous people, especially women, often feel pushed off by society due to this history, so oftentimes they are less trustworthy of governments or law enforcements. Police working on the cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people have to build trust to solve cases because Indigenous people often feel unseen by police, said Deputy Chief Daniel Wind III with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Lighthorse Police. “Their solution is ‘We’ll just wait. We can look at it ourselves rather than report it to a stateside agency,’” Wind said. Roach said when families’ are distrustful, they usually have a reason for their skepticism. She said law enforcement is approving, especially now that tribal nations are able to investigate and prosecute cases dealing with their own citizens. “They have to see that we are there for them,” Roach said. “Today’s law enforcement is a lot different. We have a lot more compassion.” When working with Indigenous communities, it’s important to make sure people know you’re human, said Ylenia Summerfield, a human trafficking and sexual assault survivor advocate at Domestic Violence Intervention Services in Tulsa. “There’s a lot of advocates here who actually are survivors, and that’s super helpful in the ways that we interact with our clients,” said Summerfield, who has Choctaw and Cherokee heritage. Olivia Gray, president of a grassroots MMIP advocacy organization based in northeastern Oklahoma, said she doesn’t understand why people don’t get the gravity of the situation. “Everyone that’s missing or murdered is somebody’s relative, and they matter to somebody,” Gray said. “We should be giving the same good treatment to an addict who lives on the streets that we give to a blond-haired, blue-eyed wealthy person.”
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AuthorI am a writer pursuing a career in Journalism who has covered topics in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the D.C. area and American University. Archives
April 2024
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