Decline in violence bypasses Indians

| Saturday, September 23, 2006

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Editor’s note: Reporter Jodi Rave has spent much of the past year reporting on the reasons for — and solutions to — the disproportionate rate of domestic violence against American Indian women. This is the first installment in a series.

By Jodi Rave, Lee Enterprises

FORT BELKNAP, Mont. — Neoma Abbott can feel the firefighting season ending, and that means violent flare-ups on Fort Belknap Indian Reservation are about to begin.

That’s because so many men who were away fighting fires will soon return to fight loved ones, she said.

At least one woman used the firefighting season to file for divorce before her abuser returned.

“She’s waiting for the explosion,” Abbott said. “But she’ll be out by then.”

During the rest of the year, Abbott offers women protection.

Abbott offers women on Fort Belknap reservation — not far from the Canadian border in northern Montana — protection from the men who rape, beat and abuse them.

Some stay for weeks at the refuge for beaten women. Some stay for a year.

Some arrive beaten or when they sense trouble.

For 21 years, Abbott, a shelter volunteer, has helped women heal from broken arms, broken legs and broken hearts.

Some injuries aren’t so obvious. She remembers a woman whose face looked OK. But her back was blue, and her memory bruised

with thoughts of a molested daughter.

“She’s the one who didn’t go back to the abuser,” Abbott said. “The rest go back.”

Beaten bodies

Domestic violence isn’t unique to Fort Belknap.

Nationally, a woman is battered every 18 minutes. They represent all social, economic, racial, ethnic and educational backgrounds.

And even though the White House announced last fall that domestic violence decreased 59 percent in the past decade, the same can’t be said in American Indian communities.

“The numbers seem to be going up,” said Sarah Deer, Tribal Law and Policy Institute attorney in Minneapolis. “But we don’t know if domestic violence is becoming more frequent or because more people are reporting.”

It is estimated that in their lifetimes, one in three Indian women will be raped. Six of 10 will be physically assaulted.

Indian women experience 66 percent of violent crimes committed against Indian people.

And there are likely several reasons why Indian women are victimized at rates higher than any other population in the United States.

Federal and state jurisdictions often conflict with reservation land bases, hampering tribal law enforcement’s ability to arrest and prosecute non-Indian abusers.

And the higher rate of other-race abusers for some crimes could be the result of Indian women living in urban settings and border towns.

Grassroots leaders such as Karen Artichoker, director of the Sacred Circle women’s resource center in Rapid City, S.D., have been leading efforts on behalf of indigenous women for decades.

Ten years ago, groups such as Sacred Circle succeeded in getting Indian women recognized in the 1994 Violence Against Women Act.

But for the first time in the act’s 12-year history, a task force consisting of Indian coalitions and leaders from the National Congress of American Indians succeeded in amending the law to meet Indian women’s needs.

The effort has been praised as one of the greatest collaborations in Indian Country in recent years. Together, they brought Indian women’s need for protection before lawmakers.

Harvard’s Honoring Nations program will honor the task force on Oct. 3 in Sacramento, Calif.

“As a unified force, the two navigated the political waters in D.C., and the Indian voice was heard,” said Amy Besaw, director of Honoring Nations. “This is a model that Indian Country should consider for other issues that face our nations.”

The result: Congress approved the Violence Against Women Act’s Title IX - Safety for Indian Women - increasing the authority of tribal governments to protect women.

“This year has been monumental,” said Jackie Agtuca, a national Violence Against Indian Women task force member. “You saw grassroots Indian women and tribal leadership step up to really make it well-known that we need a stronger response to prevent violence to Indian women.”

The new law brings anti-domestic-violence advocates closer to realizing a vision that transforms indigenous communities: where respect is restored to women, where change can infuse law enforcement practices and where healing can find its place among families.

Agtuca is heartened by what she defines as the foundation of the Safety for Indian Women provision. It expressly recognizes the need for tribes to have greater authority in protecting indigenous women.

“At the end of the day, the tribal leaders are responsible for passing laws that will protect Indian women,” said Deer, of Minneapolis.

Additionally, Title IX of the law will improve federal response to crimes of violence against Indian women. And it will infuse unprecedented amounts of federal funding to groups and tribal program services for Indian women.

Although Congress has authorized $1 billion for Violence Against Women Office programs, President Bush has requested about half that amount in his 2007 budget.

If approved, tribes could access 10 percent from other parts of the VAWA budget, or about $54 million. Eric Holland, a Department of Justice spokesman, said the department could not comment on proposed appropriation figures.

Finally, the provision requires the U.S. attorney general to host an annual consultation with tribal governments.

The first meeting between tribal leaders and Department of Justice officials was scheduled for Sept. 18 and 19 in Prior Lake, Minnesota.

Rage and violence

They need the help on the Fort Belknap reservation.

There, 31 people per 1,000 were victimized by a parent or spouse, according to charges filed by the tribal prosecutor at the Fort Belknap Community Court in 2004.

For comparison: two of 1,000 people in the United States were abused by a parent or spouse, according to the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence.

About 3,000 people live on the reservation, home to the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre tribes, where the unemployment rate hovers around 70 percent.

That contributes to domestic violence, because too much idleness stirs up trouble, said Kate Taylor, a domestic violence advocate for the STOP program.

“If they’re not busy and feeling good about things, they get miserable and throw it off on everybody else. Usually, it’s the ones they love,” Taylor said.

In a recent six-month period on the reservation, 230 domestic-violence calls were made to 911. That didn’t include victims who go directly to the hospital, tribal social services or to domestic violence advocates working for a pair of programs that offered support to domestic violence victims.

Budget cuts have since closed those two programs.

But the violence continues.

“More people would seek help if more services were provided,” said Rosie Maine, the tribal court clerk. “So it’s kept in the home and not reported. It’s hurting our community.”

Jodi Rave covers Indian issues for Lee Enterprises. She can be reached at (800) 366-7186 or jodi.rave@lee.net.