Member of Cherokee Nation Appointed to Key White House Post

Even more good news from the Obama Administration.

From the Miami News Record:

Kimberly Tehee of Oklahoma City and a member of the Cherokee Nation will serve as senior policy advisor for Ameirican Indian Affairs.

Great news on appointments two days in a row!

There's a great article today (June 29th) on her over at Indian Country Today.

More good news on an Obama Appointment

Today Vice President Biden, who authored the Violence Against Women Act while he was in the Senate, announced that Lynn Rosenthal has been named White House Advisor on Violence Against Women. OK, now we have this issue positioned at the ear of the President.

Here, from the Washington Post:

A longtime advocate for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault was named to a new post Friday as a White House adviser on violence against women.

In announcing the appointment of Lynn Rosenthal, Vice President Biden said that creating the job allows the White House to revive a focus on domestic violence issues -- which Biden said were not at the forefront during the Bush administration.

"What I'm about to say is not a knock or a criticism on the last administration or anybody else," Biden said, but "one of the sins of omission is this has not been a front and center issue for the last eight years on the national agenda. It used to be."

The White House said Rosenthal will advise President Obama and Biden and work with government agencies to ensure that violence against women isn't ignored and the perpetrators are held accountable.

A former director of a women's shelter, Rosenthal was executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence from 2000 to 2006. And she worked as director of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Good work, Joe and Barack!

Lets Make Sure the Violence Against Women Act is fully funded

Sorry for the absence, I've been in Nicaragua for the past couple of weeks.....

This is an important action. This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee is beginning its work on the budget. Given the state of the economy, it's important that we make sure that the programs funded by The Violence Against Women Act, such as women's shelters like Pretty Bird Woman House, don't undergo funding cuts.

Here's a message from the National Network to End Domestic Violence:

Ask your Senators to Support Full Funding for VAWA in the CJS Budget!
Senate Subcommittee to Vote on VAWA CJS Spending Measure.

Background
Tuesday, June 23, 2009. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) will begin work on its FY 2010 budget, which includes funding for Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) programs.

Last week the House passed their version of the FY 2010 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill (HR 2847), which, thanks to your efforts included an increase of $17.5 million over the FY 2009 budget and the President's FY 2010 budget proposal for VAWA CJS programs.

Today we need you to call the members of the Senate CJS Subcommittee and ask them to fully fund VAWA programs at $683 million and raise the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Cap to $705 million.

Take Action Now!

Call the members of the Senate CJS Subcommittee and ask them to fully fund VAWA programs at $683 million and raise the VOCA Cap to $705 million.

Click here to see if either of your Senators sits on the CJS Subcommittee.

Never called your Senator before? Don't worry, it's easy!

Call 1-866-305-9428 toll free to be connected to the Capitol Switchboard. Tell them the name of your Senator and they will connect you to their office. Your call will be answered by a receptionist. Tell him or her:
"Hello, my name is ____ and I am a constituent, from [include your state and town or zip]."

"I urge Senator [last name] to fully fund the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) programs at $683 million and raise the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) cap to $705 million. VAWA programs have helped to make our country a safer place for families, victims and communities. By fully funding these vital, cost-effective programs, Congress will help to break the cycle of domestic and sexual violence in our country.
"Thank you."

Outlook and Next Steps

After the CJS subcommittee passes its budget, the full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote on the CJS budget on Thursday, June 25th before the full Senate votes on the final CJS budget. Please stay tuned for updates.

Please Forward This Email

Send this email to your friends, family and colleagues and encourage them to call. Our strength is in our numbers and your calls make a difference! For more information please contact Tralonne Shorter at tshorter@nnedv.org or 202.543.5566

Go HERE for a briefing book on the Violence Against Women Act.

Huge Health Disparities in Health Among States, Esp. Among Women fo Color

From PR Newswire, a press release. This info shouldn't surprise you, but now at least we're accumulating a lot of documentation of this problem.

WASHINGTON, June 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A decade after U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher called for the elimination of racial disparities in health, women of color in every state continue to fare worse than white women on a variety of measures of health, health care access and other social determinants of health according to a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The report, "Putting Women's Health Care Disparities on the Map: Examining Racial and Ethnic Disparities at the State Level," documents the persistence of disparities on 25 indicators between white women and women of color, including rates of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, AIDS and cancer, as well as insurance coverage and health screenings. It also documents disparities in the factors that influence health and access to care, such as income and education. Women of color fared worse than white women on most measures and in some cases the disparities were stark.

National statistics mask substantial state-by-state variation in disparities. The report moves beyond national figures to quantify where disparities are greatest, providing new information to help determine how best to combat the problem. The analysis also provides new state-level data for women of many racial and ethnic populations that are often difficult to obtain.

"This report demonstrates that disparities in health are not one problem but many and vary from state to state -- and that a variety of strategies will be needed if we hope to turn things around," said Kaiser President and CEO Drew Altman.

American Indian and Alaska Native Women Experience Some of the Greatest Challenges

Among different racial and ethnic groups, American Indian and Alaska Native women had among the worst outcomes on many health indicators, often twice as high as white women. The percentage of American Indian and Alaska Native women in serious psychological distress was more than 1.5 times that of white women. They exhibited the highest rates of smoking and cardiovascular disease and had considerably higher rates of access problems, such as not having a recent checkup and not getting early prenatal care. One in three American Indian and Alaska Native women lived in poverty, and the median household income for such women was less than half that of white women.

At the same time, the report reveals tremendous variation among states within racial and ethnic groups. For example, among white women, the rate of diabetes was 7.5 times as high in West Virginia (6.0%) as in the District of Columbia (0.8%). Among women who are Asian American, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 10% in Ohio had late or no prenatal care compared to 34% in Utah. Forty-three percent of Hispanic women in Oklahoma had not had a mammogram in the past two years, compared to 14.5% in Massachusetts.

"We conducted this study in an effort to shed light on the many challenges and the variety of experiences women of color face across the nation," said the Foundation's Cara James, the study's lead author. "We hope that states can use this information as guidance in developing effective solutions to eliminating disparities."

Disparities In States Vary, As Do The Factors That Shape Them

Many forces contribute to the levels of disparities in the states. The report examined underlying factors such as poverty levels and high school graduation rates that are often beyond the control of state health officials. It also looked at some factors that officials do have a hand in shaping, such as the scope of states' Medicaid programs, which can influence how many people have health coverage in a state.

The report illustrates that there are substantial gaps across the board in some states, whereas in other states the differences among racial groups are narrower. For instance, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia and Hawaii all had relatively small disparities between women of color and white women on health outcomes, health care access and the social factors that influence health outcomes and access. In contrast, disparities were larger in Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and South Dakota.

In some states with relatively small disparities, such as Maine, white women and minority women were doing similarly well. In other states, such as Kentucky and West Virginia, they were doing similarly poorly.

The Foundation released the report today at a briefing at the Foundation's Washington office. Concise state-specific fact sheets detailing the disparities data and access to interactive data tables are available at http://www.kff.org/womensdisparities. A companion video produced by the Foundation that puts a human face on the data through interviews with patients and providers at a clinic in Northern Virginia is available online at http://www.kff.org.

The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit private operating foundation, based in Menlo Park, California, dedicated to producing and communicating the best possible analysis and information on health issues.
Website: http://www.kff.org

AddThis

Dakota Activists take on ICE

This is a really great act of solidarity, so I'm sharing the whole article. HERE'S the link.

Dakota and Immigrant Rights Activists Serve A Deportation Notice
Monday, June 01 2009 @ 10:29 AM CDT

Contributed by: YaBasta!

On the morning of Friday, May 22, 2009 Immigrant and Indigenous Rights activists disrupted an event organized by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) held at Fort Snelling in St. Paul, MN. Present at the meeting were representatives of several local and federal law enforcement agencies including, but not limited to, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Minneapolis and St. Paul police, the FBI, and the ICE Office of Detention and Removal.

Also present were representatives from local human rights groups, immigration lawyers and other non-profit advocacy organizations. Members and supporters of the Dakota community and the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition (MIRAc) demanded answers to human rights abuses perpetrated by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. Among the abuses mentioned were the 92 documented deaths of detainees under ICE custody due to physical and psychological abuse and lack of medical attention, the deplorable and inhumane conditions at detention centers, the illegal deportation of U.S. citizens due to racial profiling, the separation of children from their parents as a direct result of ICE raids and deportations, and the lack of due process and legal representation.

Pointing out the hypocrisy of holding an event organized by an agency dedicated to deporting individuals considered "illegal," representatives of the Dakota community accused ICE agents of occupying stolen ground where the Original Peoples were rounded up, forcibly removed, and murdered.

Public relations representatives from DHS's Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) office refused to address the civil rights concerns brought forth by members of the community. Activists refused to be silenced and continued their demands for answers and accountability by ICE. The meeting was terminated as members of the Dakota community presented the ICE agents with Notices of Deportation for the illegal occupation of Dakota land.

Activists demanded an immediate end to the meeting, and disallowed further proceedings with chants. The police then ended the meeting, forcing all attendees to vacate the building.

Activists made this statement:

ICE raids have torn children from parents whose only "crime" is to seek work and make a better life for their loved ones both here and in their home countries. These raids have terrorized and silenced workers who have attempted to organize their workplaces against wage theft, dangerous working conditions, and exploitation. Hundreds of detained immigrants have died in ICE custody and been denied essential medical care. Recent reviews conducted by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Government Accountability Office have all found that the rights of detainees are regularly violated, and that the systems supposedly set up to allow detainees to lodge complaints are unreliable at best.

One can no more refute the destruction of families and communities by raids, and the deaths and denial of human rights in I.C.E. detention centers, than one can deny genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the concentration camp that existed right here at Fort Snelling. Yet we continue to ignore these facts in order to uphold the illusion that we live in a just society. The "Homeland" Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties claims to exist to uphold civil rights yet does little more than create a false image of attentiveness used to rationalize the continuing injustices.

Though it is rarely acknowledged in our history books, Fort Snelling was an army post for the U.S. military that presaged the invasion and colonization of Dakota lands and extermination and ethnic cleansing of Dakota people. It was a concentration camp site where the U.S. government imprisoned Dakota people, primarily women and children during the winter of 1862-63. It also served as a training ground for American soldiers to participate in other campaigns and wars of imperialism against indigenous peoples, such as the Spanish-American War of 1898 which resulted in further expansion of U.S. colonialism. For all these reasons and more, Fort Snelling stands as the most prolific symbol of colonialism and genocide in our state.

We find it indefensible that I.C.E. has the audacity to attempt to justify raids, deportations and the detention of so called "illegal immigrants" while on the site of a colonial concentration camp aimed at wiping out the original inhabitants of this land. We seek to expose this hypocrisy, and make it clear that I.C.E. cannot claim legitimate authority to detain or deport anyone, much less those indigenous to the continent.

Neoliberal restructuring and free trade agreements such as NAFTA have negatively affected indigenous peoples throughout Latin America. Many have lost their land and viable forms of employment and have been forced to migrate north in order to support their families. We believe that when capital and commerce are able to operate without borders, it is hypocritical and disingenuous to discuss civil rights and liberties which presuppose state recognition. As such, we ask that people's human rights be respected.

Furthermore, there is evidence the raids aren't even meeting their stated goals. In a study conducted by the Migration Policy Institute, it was found that only 18% of the nearly 90,000 immigrants arrested through home raids had any prior criminal record, not even for entering the country without documents or low-level crimes like trespassing. More than 400 of those with no criminal record had been incarcerated for at least a year. In total, over 30,000 immigrants are detained every day, triple the number detained just ten years ago. It should be clear that these raids and deportations are a form of terror and have sowed fear in the hearts of many immigrant men, women, and their children. They must stop.

These raids are undertaken in an increasingly racist and xenophobic environment where hate crimes against Latinos have dramatically skyrocketed. These raids have also encouraged the most bigoted and hate-filled vigilantism. We believe that those, regardless of nationality, who earn a paycheck and have mouths to feed understand that these necessities override lines drawn upon a map. One does not wait in the face of a rumbling stomach. The cry of a hungry mouth requires no translation.

Because of the abundant evidence demonstrating the lack of true willingness to uphold human rights and civil liberties by ICE and the gross disregard for the Dakota people, we reject the legitimacy of this event and demand that it stop at once.

###

Amnesty International Raps Canada on Native Women's Issues Too

This from CaTV:

Amnesty International's annual report on human rights is criticizing Canada for its failure to protect native girls and women who are killed or go missing.

The survey also slams the Harper government for stalled native land claims, and for cutting funds to groups that advance women's rights.

...snip...

On the issue of missing and murdered native women, the Native Women's Association of Canada recently reported that 520 native girls and women have been killed or have vanished since 1970. About half the cases occurred in the last nine years.

Almost one-quarter of the total number of women are still missing. Among the 348 victims who were murdered, no one has been charged in 150 confirmed cases.

The federal government has said it is responding to the problem by spending $5 million on the Sisters in Spirit research campaign, and is also working on a second phase

You can read the whole article HERE

Read the Amnesty International 2009 Annual Report on the Global Status of Human Rights HERE.

Emotional Abuse in a Canadian School

Well, you could also call it a form of assault......

When you think of Canada, don't you think of peaceful people? And just? My grandfather was from Nova Scotia, so that's how I always thought of Canadians. Well, Canada has had the same attitude toward First Nations peoples as the U.S. has - "kill the Indian, save the man," and all the abuses that went along with boarding schools. They also have a huge problem with Native women disappearing.

Well, when I read this article it really made me think of classic boarding school abuse, except it's not 100 or 50 or 20 years ago, it's LAST WEEK!

Read on and get pissed off. You can find the whole article on the CBC news here.

A Thunder Bay woman is demanding an explanation after a teacher's aide at her son's school cut his long hair — an action her lawyer says is clearly assault while the Crown insists there are no grounds for charges.

CBC has agreed to the mother's request to remain anonymous.

The seven-year-old boy had chin-length hair before the incident last month. His mother said staff at McKellar Park Central Public School were aware her son was letting his hair grow so that he could take part in traditional First Nations dancing.

The mother told CBC News she was stunned when her son told her it was a teacher's assistant who lopped off 10 centimetres of his hair.

"I said, 'Why did she do this? Did she say anything?'" said the mother. "And he said, 'No, and after she cut my hair, she took me by the shoulders and forced me to stand in front of the mirror. She made me stand there and said look at you now.'"

Here is a statement posted in the comments section by someone who knows what he's talking about:

The Canadian Justice system and the school board are part of the systemic problem, a double standard.

There many questions needing to be asked. What are the school board policies and rules of conduct for staff towards students? What experience, if any, do the teachers and administrators have with First Nations cultural protocols and traditions. These would be First Nations policies and rules of behavior.

For First Nations groups the body is sacred as it is for many other cultures. More specifically, the hair of a First Nations person is directly connected to the spirit of that person. Only a family member is permitted to touch some one's hair.

This teacher's aid violated a sacred cultural protocol. We hope this aid has learned from this, but by not responding with equity, we endorse the wrongs of the past. This cultural violation screams a need for systemic reforms of cultural inclusion within both the justice system and the educational system.

William Morin
Chief Administrator
First Peoples National Party of Canada
fpnpoc.ca

Why in the world would a teacher's aide cut a child's hair without getting parental permission first? Hey, that's just basic.

Native Insight Competition for $10,000

This is a really good opportunity.

From the Native Insight Website:

For thousands of years Native communities have thrived in challenging conditions. What wisdom does your community have to share? How can Natives support and participate in the transitions facing our great nation? This is your chance to help shape America’s successful tomorrow!

Share your unique insights on the economy and our prospects for recovery… and you may be one of six Native winners chosen to receive $10,000 and have their opinions published!

Submit your 500-1,600 word original written work by September 15, 2009 to compete!

NPR Reports on Bill to give Hundreds of Millions of $$ to tribes for police response to rape

Read the whole story HERE.

The federal government has recently announced plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to improve medical clinics, buy more rape kits and bolster the police response to what authorities say is an epidemic of rapes on Indian land.

The February stimulus bill injected $500 million into Indian Health Services, the agency that handles most medical needs for Native Americans, while the appropriations bill that passed in March is also adding funds. The March bill increases the budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs by $85 million to provide additional law enforcement on reservations.
..snip...

Advocates say it would be a sea change for tribes, which are largely dependent on the federal government when it comes to law enforcement on their lands.

Two years ago, the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, which straddles North and South Dakota, had five Bureau of Indian Affairs officers to patrol an area the size of Connecticut. Officials there, and on many reservations nationwide, described a rampant problem of rape where hundreds of cases were going unreported, uninvestigated and unprosecuted.
..snip...

In many ways, those offenders may be right. Few cases of sexual assault in Indian country make it to the courthouse. In the 1978 case Oliphant vs. Suquamish, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that only federal prosecutors can prosecute crimes on Indian land. But those federal prosecutors are also responsible for terrorism cases, white-collar crime and drug racketeering. Rape cases are often shuffled aside. Many officials told NPR that cases involving the rape of a single woman on a reservation just don't hold the kind of prominence those other cases do.

If this bill passes, this the BEST news yet for the safety of all Native American women.

Lakota Woman Wins Unprecedented Rape Case

This is really amazingly great news. Check it out: the Fort Laramie Treaty has never been used this way before.

From the Argus Leader:

A Native American woman from Wounded Knee won a historic ruling in federal court based on a century-old treaty between the U.S. government and the Oglala Sioux Tribe after she was sexually assaulted by a military recruiter.

The U.S. government must pay Lavetta Elk, formerly of Wounded Knee, almost $600,000 in damages after she was sexually assaulted by Army recruiter Staff Sgt. Joseph Kopf in his car January 2003, according to court documents. Judge Francis Allegra based the ruling on a "bad men" provision in the April 29, 1868, treaty between the government and the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

That provision of the Fort Laramie Treaty "provides that if 'bad men' among the whites commit 'any wrong' upon the person or property of any Sioux, the United States will reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained," court documents filed Tuesday indicated.

Go to the link above for the rest of the article. Thank you Sarah Deer for forwarding this news.

Is Rape Serious?

Did that question infuriate you? It's the headline of Nicholas Kristof's OpEd in the New York Times today.

Why does he even ask this? The beginning of the article says it all:

When a woman reports a rape, her body is a crime scene. She is typically asked to undress over a large sheet of white paper to collect hairs or fibers, and then her body is examined with an ultraviolet light, photographed and thoroughly swabbed for the rapist’s DNA.

It’s a grueling and invasive process that can last four to six hours and produces a “rape kit” — which, it turns out, often sits around for months or years, unopened and untested.

Stunningly often, the rape kit isn’t tested at all because it’s not deemed a priority. If it is tested, this happens at such a lackadaisical pace that it may be a year or more before there are results (if expedited, results are technically possible in a week).

So while we have breakthrough DNA technologies to find culprits and exculpate innocent suspects, we aren’t using them properly — and those who work in this field believe the reason is an underlying doubt about the seriousness of some rape cases. In short, this isn’t justice; it’s indifference.

He then goes on to tell the story about a serial rapist in Los Angeles who went on raping women while the rape kit lingered at the lab.

This is REALLY infuriating. Apparently the only place in the country that takes rape seriously enough to process these kits with proper speed is New York City. It's a serious problem in the rest of the country, especially in Los Angeles.

Human Rights Watch has THIS video on the problem in Los Angeles, which apparently is terrible.

Imagine if you're an American Indian or Native Alaskan woman. You can hardly get access to these kits, and then when you do......who knows.

Lets all write to our Congressional reps. Congress.org is a good place to start that process.

Pope Apologizes to Canadian First Nations for Boarding School Abuses

On Wednesday, the Pope issued a statement of sorrow to leaders of Canada's First Nations, after a meeting with a delegation.

Here is part of the story from a Candian Broadcasting Corporation report:

On the eve of its private audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Wednesday, a small delegation from Canada's Assembly of First Nations hailed the event as "historic and momentous."

During the meeting behind closed doors, the Pope is expected to read a statement about the Roman Catholic Church's role in the residential school system in Canada.

The church administered three-quarters of residential schools across Canada, but has yet to apologize for the abuse suffered by many of the 90,000 former students still alive.

Assembly of First Nations Leader Phil Fontaine is part of the delegation, which also includes elders and survivors.

The statement drew mixed reactions from other First Nations groups back in Canada, as reported by the CBC. Inuit leaders are scheduled to meet with the Pope later.

Here's an excerpt from some of the reactions. You can read the whole article here.

Now this is great, but note that the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a government apology last year. That was more meaningful for some people, given the level of denial that a lot of Catholic Churches are still displaying in Canada and the U.S.

What about American Indians and other Native Americans who are U.S. citizens? I think we've got a good opportunity with President Obama. There is a move underway to have him apologize too.

You can sign a petition toward that end HERE. They're not even half way to their goal and it only takes a couple of minutes.

Lakota Woman Wins National Award

This story is from the Rapid City Journal

A member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and White Buffalo Calf Woman Society has won a national honor recognizing her work and dedication in addressing and preventing sexual violence.

Tillie Black Bear, executive director of White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, the oldest shelter on a Native American reservation, has been awarded The National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s 2009 Visionary Voice Award. Black Bear is considered a leading expert on violence against women and children.

She is a founding mother of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and a founder of the South Dakota Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. She is the first woman of color to lead the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Black Bear has worked as a therapist, school counselor, administrator and a college instructor.

Equal Pay Day is April 28, 2009

Equal Pay Day is April 28, 2009

Thank you Debra Kay Adams for sending this to me in an email.

On Tuesday, April 28, 2009 thousands of women from across the United States will join in a national day of action against unfair pay practices, Equal Pay Day. April 28 is the numeric day in the new year that a woman, on average, must work through in order to earn the same wages that a man was paid in the previous year. Red is worn on this day as a symbol of how far women and minorities are "in the red" with their pay because of pay discrimination. Women working full-time, year-round are paid only about 78 cents for every dollar earned by men. Because women earn less, they must work longer for the same dollars earned.

Even though laws such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963 protect workers from wage discrimination, the pay gap still exists. Wage discrimination laws are poorly enforced, and cases are difficult to prove and win.

Ledbetter Bill Becomes Law. On January 29, 2009 President Obama signed the historic Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law, making it the first legislation of his administration. The Act reverses the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling in 2007 (Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.) and restores the ability of victims of wage discrimination to hold their employers accountable for injustice and challenge the practice in court. Lilly Ledbetter was with the President when he signed the bill. (VIEW VIDEO from the signing http://www.nwlc. org/fairpay/ presidentsigns. html)

As an organization that is committed to empowering women, the national YWCA USA and local YWCA Clark County is working to raise awareness in our community about the wage gap that exists between women and men. The YWCA Clark County’s Public Policy Committee has chosen women’s economic justice as one of its top priority issues. Our board of directors approved a public policy statement on this issue (http://www.ywcaclar kcounty.org/ policy_weconomic advancement. htm). This is the second year the Women’s Economic Justice work group has led the agency’s advocacy work on this issue, spotlighting this specific form of discrimination.

On Equal Pay Day, here are some facts that you can share to help raise awareness about this issue:

The wage gap isn’t just a woman’s issue. Equal pay for women raises family income which means more money to spend on groceries, housing and child care. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, nationwide, working families lose $200 billion on income annually to the wage gap. Lower wages also mean less income from pensions and Social Security, making women more likely than men to enter poverty at an old age.

The wage gap harms most women of color. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, for women of color, the numbers are even worse — African-American women earn 69 cents and Latinas earn 59 cents for every dollar paid to men.

Pay inequity happens at all levels of employment. Today, women make up a majority of college students; however, the wage gap still exists. According to the American Association of University Women, in 2004, a typical college-educated woman working full-time earned $31,223 a year, compared to $40,798 for a college-educated man – a stark difference of $9,575.

Washington state ranks 38th in the equal pay comparison of states, according to the AFL-CIO Public Policy Department (http://www.pay- equity.org/ PDFs/payequitysu mmarytable. pdf), with a difference of 75.6% when women’s wages are compared to men’s wages. We are proud to share that our organization, which has a predominantly female workforce, acknowledged the importance of compensating our employees in a way that models our own values of equity and empowerment by establishing a goal to increase wages and benefits.

Resources

http://www.pay- equity.org/ day.html, National Committee on Pay Equity

Congress Must Act to Close the Wage Gap for Women, National Women’s Law Center, November 2008

http://www.nwlc. org/fairpay/ wagegap.html, National Women’s Law Center

Behind the Pay Gap, American Association of University Women, April 2007

Gaps in Learning, Gaps in Earning, American Association of University Women on the pay gap among college-educated women and men, state by state, 2008

Women's Economic Status in the States: Wide Disparities by Race, Ethnicity, and Region, Institute for Women's Policy Research

Women’s Earnings: Work Patterns Partially Explain Difference between Men’s and Women’s Earnings, General Accounting Office, October 2003

For more information on pay equity visit http://www.ywca. org/atf/cf/ {3B450FA5- 108B-4D2E- B3D0-C31487243E6 A}/Equal% 20Pay%20PDF. pdf

You can go the link below to join us in support of equal pay for women

http://www.nwlc. org/fairpay/ getinvolved. html




debra k adams, safechoice d v shelter director

YWCA Clark County ? 3609 Main Street ? Vancouver, WA 98663

Phone: 360.695.2655 ext. 212 ? Fax: 360.695.6677

Email: dadams@ywcaclarkcou nty.org

Website: www.YwcaClarkCounty .org

eliminating racism

empowering women

ywca

$500 Million for American Indian Tribes

It's almost too good to be true, but check out this AP article from the NY Times:

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Saturday that $500 million in federal stimulus money would go to American Indian tribes across the nation for schools, housing, infrastructure improvements and job programs on reservations.

Mr. Salazar made the announcement at the United Tribes Technical College here.

He was in North Dakota to visit several places, including an energy center on the Fort Berthold Reservation and the Great Plains Synfuels plant to look at its carbon capture project.

He also planned to visit North Dakota communities that were flooded this spring.

Serious business. We'll see what really happens.

The Forced Sterilization of Native Women

by WinterRabbit, Cross posted with permission from the Daily Kos.

Native American Holocaust, Forced Sterilizations, Leonard Crow Dog, Anna Mae Aquash, Dr. Connie Uri

The sterilizations of indigenous women were covert means of the continuation of the extermination policy against the Indian Nations. At least three indigenous generations from 3,406 women are not in existence now as the result. The sterilizations were not unintentional or negligible. They were genocide. What would the indigenous culture and political landscape be now? One can only imagine, but the sterilizations like the relocations - were forced.



First, the forced sterilizations must be seen in historical and a more modern context.

Leonard Crow Dog and Richard Erdoes. “Crow Dog.” pp. 6-7.
Only when we saw them building roads through our land, wagons at first, and then the railroad, when we watched them building forts, killing off all the game, committing buffalo genocide, and we saw them ripping up our Black Hills for gold, our sacred Paha Sapa, the home of the wakinyan, the thunderbirds, only then did we realize what they wanted was our land. Then we began to fight. For our earth. For our children. That started what the whites call the Great Indian Wars of the West. I call it the Great Indian Holocaust.

Native American Women and Violence
Native American women experience the highest rate of violence of any group in the United States.
A report released by the Department of Justice, American Indians and Crime, found that Native American women suffer violent crime at a rate three and a half times greater than the national average. National researchers estimate that this number is actually much higher than has been captured by statistics; according to the Department of Justice over 70% of sexual assaults are never reported.

Here’s a historical example of violence against Native American women during this general time, to complete laying the foundation.

Anna Mae Aquash
On February 24, 1976, Aquash was found dead by the side of State Road 73 on the far northeast corner of the Pine Ridge Reservation, about 10 miles from Wanblee, South Dakota, close to Kadoka. Her body was found during an unusually warm spell in late February, 1976 by a rancher, Roger Amiotte.[2] The first autopsy (reports are now public information) states: "it appears she had been dead for about 10 days." The Bureau of Indian Affairs' medical practitioner, W. O. Brown, missing the bullet wound on her skull, stated that "she had died of exposure." [1]

Subsequently, her hands were cut off and sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters in Washington, D.C. for fingerprinting. Although federal agents were present who knew Anna Mae, she was not identified, and her body was buried as a Jane Doe.

On March 10, 1976, eight days after Anna Mae's burial, her body was exhumed as the result of separate requests made by her family and AIM supporters, and the FBI. A second autopsy was conducted the following day by an independent pathologist from Minneapolis, Dr. Garry Peterson. This autopsy revealed that she had been shot by a .32 caliber bullet in the back of the head, execution style.[3]

The general historical foundation being laid, I ask what would the population of indigenous people be now, approximately three generations after the forced sterilizations?

Genocide or Family Planning?
According to the GAO report, 3406 Native American women between the ages of fifteen and forty-four were sterilized between 1973 and 1976.

The Scythe and the Scalpel:
Dissecting the Sterilizations of Native American Women in the 1970's
In the old days, genocide used to be so simple. Such things as biological warfare used to keep Indians warm with small pox infested blankets furnished by the United States government, and the only thing barren and infertile was the land set aside for reservations.In the 1970s, genocide became a little more complex.
Biological warfare invaded the reproductive rights of Native American women, making their wombs as barren and infertile as reservation land. The sterilization policies during this time perpetuated the genocidal tendencies that have made the eugenics movement a viable legacy of terror in the biological history of Native Americans.

Next, the specifics of who uncovered the forced sterilizations and why that conclusion was reached are vital. The dark moment of discovery came from a Choctaw- Cherokee physician named Connie Uri.

Kurt Kaltreider, PH.D. “American Indian Prophecies.” p. 71.
A Choctaw-Cherokee physician, Connie Uri, uncovered this program (large-scale sterilization) when she was asked by a young Indian woman for a womb transplant.

The Indian Health Service and the Sterilization of Native American Women

A young Indian woman entered Dr. Connie Pinkerton-Uri's Los Angeles office on a November day in 1972. The twenty-six-year-old woman asked Dr. Pinkerton-Uri for a "womb transplant" because she and her husband wished to start a family. An Indian Health Service (IHS) physician had given the woman a complete hysterectomy when she was having problems with alcoholism six years earlier. Dr. Pinkerton-Uri had to tell the young woman that there was no such thing as a "womb transplant" despite the IHS physician having told her that the surgery was reversible. The woman left Dr. Pinkerton-Uri's office in tears. 1

Kurt Kaltreider, PH.D. “American Indian Prophecies.” p. 71.
She (Connie Uri) scoured the records of the BIA-run Indian Health Service Hospital in Claremont, Oklahoma, and discovered that 75% of the sterilizations were nontherapeutic. Many of the women did not understand the true nature of the surgery, thought it was a kind of reversible birth control, or even signed the consent forms while groggy from sedation after childbirth.

A Look at the Indian Health Service
Policy of Sterilization, 1972-1976 by Charles R. England
The hospital records show that both tubal ligation and hysterectomies were used in sterilization. Dr. Uri commented: "In normal medical practice, hysterectomies are rare in women of child bearing age unless there is cancer or other medical problems" (Akwesasne Notes, 1974: 22). Besides the questionable surgery techniques being allowed to take place, there was also the charge of harassment in obtaining consent forms.

In addition, Montana also had instances of forced sterilizations.

The Indian Health Service and the Sterilization of Native American Women

Two young women entered an IHS hospital in Montana to undergo appendectomies and received tubal ligations, a form of sterilization, as an added benefit. Bertha Medicine Bull, a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, related how the "two girls had been sterilized at age fifteen before they had any children. Both were having appendectomies when the doctors sterilized them without their knowledge or consent." Their parents were not informed either. Two fifteen-year-old girls would never be able to have children of their own. 2

Kutr Kaltreider, PH.D. “American Indian Prophecies.” pp. 71-72.
Following Dr. Uri’s lead, Senator James Abourezk initiated a federal investigation of the General Accounting office. The resulting report gave the results of a survey from four out of twelve regions with Indian Health Services hospitals. In a three-tear period, over 3,400 sterilizations were performed; 3,000 of them on Indian women under the age of 44. In not one instance were the women offered consent forms that met the federal guidelines and requirements. About 5% of Indian women were being sterilized -

The Indian Health Service and the Sterilization of Native American Women

Native Americans accused the Indian Health Service of sterilizing at least 25 percent of Native American women who were between the ages of fifteen and forty-four during the 1970s.

Albuquerque, Aberdeen, and Phoenix also shared in “inconsistent and inadequate” medical forms. As was mentioned above, there was a federal investigation.

And Then There Were None by Kamet Larson
Most of the 3,400-plus cases involved women who have been sterilized by Indian Health Service doctors (by specially hired physicians in one-third of the cases) -- whether voluntarily or for reasons of medical necessity is unclear, since IHS records blur that critical distinction. Going through three years of files in four of the 52 IHS service areas, federal investigators could find no conclusive proof that the sterilized patients had given their fully informed consent as HEW (which operates the IHS) defines it. For “voluntary, knowing assent” HEW requires a description of what the surgical procedure or experiment is, its discomforts, risks and benefits; a disclosure of appropriate alternatives; an offer to answer questions; and an assurance that the patient is free to withdraw consent at any time without losing benefits. Forms on file in Albuquerque, Aberdeen, Oklahoma City and Phoenix were found to be incomplete on these basic points, inconsistent, inadequate, and “generally not in compliance with the Indian Health Service regulations.” Among the stacks of material looked at were physician complaints that preparing the required summaries of conversations with patients was “too time-consuming.” Had the IHS been as careless with its patients as with its own record-keeping?

What would the population of indigenous people be now? What would the indigenous culture and political landscape be now?

I don’t know, but one thing is clear to me: the sterilizations, like the relocations – were forced.

Source
"And...if ever we are constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, " he wrote, "we will never lay it down till that tribe is exterminated, or is driven beyond the Mississippi." Jefferson, the slave owner, continued, "in war, they will kill some of us; we shall destroy all of them". (Ibid)

sterilizations in the 70's
The following is a copy of an article by Joan Burnes which appeared in the Lakota Times last August 24th (1994).
- snip -
Emery A. Johnson, then-director of the IHS, told a congressional committee in 1975 that IHS "considered non-therapeutic sterilization a legitimate method of family planning... We are not aware of any instance in which such services have been abused."

To conclude, this is a video Sigrid shared with me. It says what I want to say in this conclusion.

We shall live again.

Editor's Note: You should also be aware that the U.S. was also up to this crap with Puerto Rican women (btw, as residents of a U.S. colony, Puerto Rican women are also citizens). From the 1930s to the 1970s ONE THIRD OF ALL PUERTO RICAN WOMEN WERE STERILIZED. Seems the only ones the government wanted reproducing were white northern Europeans. Good lord.

Please Sign this Petition

I'm putting this on top of the page again. Signing this takes all of 2 minutes, won't you do it?

White Bison is currently running the Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness, to heal from boarding school abuse. I've been putting info on this here on the blog.

Part of this effort is also to pressure President Obama to issue a formal apology from the U.S. for sending Native Americans to boarding schools.

So, if you would sign the petition, we need to show the President that we're paying attention to this issue. Other governments, such as Australia, have issued apologies, so there's no reason the U.S. can't as well.

Go to the petition HERE.

Thanks.

Montana Legislature Calls for an End to the Violence Against Native American Women

OK, if we can get all 50 legislatures to pass these kinds of resolutions, we will really have increased public awareness of this issue. Good on you Montana representatives!

Here are some excerpts from an article from the Great Falls Tribune:

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.

Thank you Montana!

Member of Pawnee Nation to head BIA

Gee, I really hate to quote Fox News, but the Utah station has the following report, which is more good news.

WASHINGTON - An American Indian who served as the attorney general of Idaho was nominated Friday to become the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. President Barack Obama nominated Larry EchoHawk, a law professor at Brigham Young University and a member of the Pawnee tribe, to the post. EchoHawk was the first American Indian elected to a constitutional statewide office when he assumed the post of attorney general in the early 1990s, the White House said.

Go to the story at Indian Country today for more details.

Oh finally is all I can say! As well as THANK YOU PRESIDENT OBAMA. Now we're getting somewhere with those nominations affecting Indian Country. This nomination wasn't without some initial concerns if you look at the ICT article, but at the end he's being supported by everyone.

Please Sign This Petition

White Bison is currently running the Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness, to heal from boarding school abuse. I've been putting info on this here on the blog.

Part of this effort is also to pressure President Obama to issue a formal apology from the U.S. for sending Native Americans to boarding schools.

So, if you would sign the petition, we need to show the President that we're paying attention to this issue. Other governments, such as Australia, have issued apologies, so there's no reason the U.S. can't as well.

Go to the petition HERE.

Thanks.