Sharing Our Stories of Survival: Native Women Surviving Violence (3 page)

It is something in our blood
It is something in our song
It is something in our soul
that makes Native Women strong.

Jayci Malone (Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican)

Chapter 1

Beloved Women: Life Givers, Caretakers, Teachers of Future Generations

JACQUELINE AGTUCA

The unique legal relationship of the United States to Indian tribes creates a Federal trust responsibility to assist tribal governments in safeguarding the lives of Indian women
.
¹

I
n 1994, the U.S. Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA),
²
marking the federal government’s recognition of the extent and seriousness of violence against women. In 2005, Congress reauthorized VAWA, with the inclusion of a Safety for Indian Women Title
³
recognizing the unique legal relationship of the United States to Indian tribes and women. One purpose set forth by Congress for the creation of the title is “to strengthen the capacity of Indian tribes to exercise their sovereign authority to respond to violent crimes committed against women.”
⁴
In this light, the VAWA of 2005 marks a shift in recognition by Congress of the seriousness of violence committed against Native
⁵
women and an attempt to fulfill the federal responsibility for their safety. The act, like other federal legislation, is an extension of a historical relationship between Indian nations and the United States as governments. It is this legal relationship that altered over time the existence of Native women and continues to affect their safety as a population.
⁶

It is the history of this legal relationship that constitutes the social fabric of the current violence perpetrated against Native women as a population. The findings contained in the Safety for Indian Women Title refer to research by governmental agencies that unveils the level of danger confronting Native women as a population.
⁷
The U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) reports that the rate of violent crime victimization of Native women is higher than for all other populations in the United States.
⁸
These statistics estimate that the rate of violent crime perpetrated against American Indian females is 2½ times the rate for all females.
⁹
More specifically, research by the Department estimates that one of three Native women will be raped,
¹⁰
that three of four will be physically assaulted,
¹¹
and that Native women are stalked at a rate more than double that of any other population.
¹²
These estimates reflect a constant danger in the lives of Native woman and a threat to the stability of Indian nations. The reports also reflect a high number of interracial crimes, with white or black offenders committing 88 percent of all violent victimizations from 1992 to 2001.
¹³
Nearly four in five American Indian victims of sexual assault described the offender as white.
¹⁴
Although these statistics establish that violence against Native women is dramatically higher than for any other population in the United States, most advocates believe that crimes against Native women are actually underreported and underestimated.
¹⁵

Within the United States three sovereigns exist: the federal government, tribal governments, and state governments.
¹⁶
Governmental responses available to assist Native women seeking safety from violence are defined not by a single body of law, but frequently by a combination of tribal, federal, and state laws. This combination of jurisdictional authority is the direct result of the legal relationship between Indian nations and the United States as governments. The jurisdictional gaps and inconsistent handling of violent crimes against Native women reach far beyond the failure of individuals to respond appropriately. It is the historical relationship between governments that shapes current legal authority over such crimes. This same historical legal relationship serves as the foundation for American cultural tolerance of violence against Native women.

Such violence is the contemporary mirror of the violence adopted by European nations
¹⁷
to achieve domination of Indian nations of North America.
¹⁸
Deer writes, “[W]hen speaking with Native American women who have survived rape, it is often difficult for them to separate the more immediate experience of their assault from the larger experience that their people have experienced through forced removal, displacement, and destruction.”
¹⁹
While legal reform is essential to enhancing the responses of government agencies and services available to Native women, such reform must be combined with cultural change that increases respect for Native women and intolerance of violence against them. An ending point cannot exist without a beginning point, and ending violence against Native women requires an understanding of its historical beginning. The root of violence against Native women is not found in any single code, act, or policy but is revealed in the layers of governmental laws and policies known as Federal Indian Law.
²⁰

Safety and justice in the lives of Native women, while related, exist as separate realities. Safety, or the prevention of immediate violence against a Native woman, is within our reach. It is the goal driving advocates, justice personnel, and tribal leaders to work endless hours with scarce resources. Brutal beatings, rapes, and murders have been prevented because of the efforts of these dedicated women and men. Justice, on the other hand, is more complicated. In the words of Moana Jackson, a Maori leader in Aotearoa,
²¹
“colonization is only over when the colonized persons say it is over.”
²²
Reaching physical safety is but one part of the path to justice in the lives of Native women.

Following the legal, cultural, and spiritual journeys Native women have taken is a revealing story of strength, courage, and wisdom. Understanding the journeys of the grandmothers and Indian nations to defend and protect women is a challenge to the living. The first journey in this chapter is one to understand the concept of safety for Native women in a time prior to foreign domination by Europe or the United States. It was a time during which Native women experienced safety within their nations as
covenants
of their respective peoples. The second journey is one to understand the cultural changes that socially normalized violence against Native women.

Tillie Black Bear, founding member of the White Buffalo Calf Women Society, links her day-to-day work to enhance the safety of Native women to traditional teachings of White Buffalo Calf Woman.
²³
“It is our belief that we are spirits on a human journey. In that way every step we take in our human life is a spiritual act. Every word we speak is a conversation with the creator.” In this context, this chapter attempts to share the impact of the laws and policies of governments upon the lives of American Indian and Alaska Native women.

The Time before Colonization: Understanding That Violence Against Women Is Not Traditional

Two types of important resources are available to help explain the original status of Native women prior to contact with Europeans. While they represent divergent worldviews, both the foreign and indigenous sources agree that Native women have always performed essential, multifaceted roles within their nations.

Written historical documents of early contact between Indian nations and explorers chronicle Europeans’ first impressions of the relations between Native men and women; specifically the authority women held within their nations. These observations, although sometimes skewed by Eurocentrism and racism, serve as documentation of the original status of Native women of North America.

In 1724, a Jesuit missionary named Lafitau wrote a detailed account of the customs of the Iroquois and other northern Indian nations. In his writing, Lafitau made specific reference to the status of Native women within Iroquois society. Lafitau’s record demonstrates the importance and corresponding social status of Iroquois women.

[T]here is nothing more real than this superiority of the women. It is they who constitute the tribe, transmit the nobility of blood, keep up the genealogical tree and the order of inheritance, and perpetuate the family. They possess all actual authority; own the land, and the fields and their harvests; they are the soul of all councils, the arbiters of peace and war; they have the care of the public treasury. . . .
²⁴

The original status of Native women is also preserved in the teachings handed down over generations by the oral historians of Indian nations. These teachings from the cultural life bearers convey beliefs that define the lives and roles of women and their nations. These beliefs did not isolate women from their societies, but instead reflected the reality that Native women were essential to the existence of their nations. In many ways these beliefs are still operational in what is known today as
customary law
. This body of law is based upon the beliefs and practices developed within the respective Indian nations in many instances over thousands of years. Today, customary law continues to operate effectively as tribal
common law
within many Indian nations. Unlike the written reports of foreign explorers and missionaries, oral teachings are the living memories indigenous to each Indian nation. The conceptual foundations of these teachings are helpful in understanding the safety Native women experienced prior to European contact.

In general, Native women experienced the concept defined by the English word “safety.” This was not due to individual actions but to cultural beliefs and practices that defined societies. This relationship is described in the words of Christine Zuni: “The word that comes closest to ‘law’ in Tiwa is the word for tradition—
keynaithue-wa-ee
, which translates ‘this is our way of living’. That way of life is elaborated upon in prayer.”
²⁵
The way of living was not defined by a single individual’s life but was reflective of the relationships between all members and things. Therefore, the concept of safety as a “way of living” was present in a Native woman’s life as part of her existence within her tribal society.

The concept defined by the English word “respect” has been a foundational belief that prevented the abuse of and assured the safety of Native women. Marlin Mousseau,
²⁶
quoting elder Jessie Johnnie,
²⁷
describes the relationship of respect to safety as “whatever you respect, you don’t mistreat” and “if we lived by our value of respect we wouldn’t mistreat our partners by abusive behaviors.”
²⁸
Although the concept of respect is universal, the roles and responsibilities of women were defined by each individual nation. Karen Artichoker explains, “In the circle, everyone and thing had a role and function. None was above or below. The gifts that anyone or thing had to offer were valued and validated.”
²⁹
Within these worldviews, Native women had a place that was respected. Behavior that did not support their status was considered socially unacceptable and responded to accordingly.

A fuller understanding of the original social position of Native women can be understood by exploring the concept of the English word “spirituality.” Pauma Yuima leader Juana Majel-Dixon explains, “Indian nations after all the things we have experienced . . . after all our differences . . . languages ... religions . . . it seems spirituality is our universal bond.”
³⁰
From their unique historical experiences, Indian nations developed specific spiritual beliefs and lifeways that came to define social norms and roles within their societies, such as the identities of women and men; the proper relationship between women and men, boys and girls; and relations within immediate and extended families. These relationships were critical to the stability of the entire community and therefore to each Indian nation in its entirety. The story of White Buffalo Calf Woman is one example of the relationship of the spiritual beliefs of the Lakota people to the safety of Lakota women. Tillie Black Bear,
³¹
speaking of the work of the White Buffalo Calf Woman’s Society shares: