Murder and Rape of Indigenous Women and Women in General

I recently read an article on violence against women, but especially indigenous women. Although we are 22 years into the 21^st Century,  American women continue to be raped and/or murdered at a very high rate. However, as much as they are suffering, their plight pales when compared with attacks against native American women. Thankfully, a federal bill was updated, improved, and reauthorized back in 2013. More on that later in this article.

How much more likely are Native women to be murdered?  Indigenous Women are murdered at a rate 10 times higher than all other ethnicities!

• Murder is the 3rd leading cause of death for Indigenous Women (Centers for Disease Control).
• More than 4 out of 5 Indigenous Women have experienced violence (84.3%) (National Institute of Justice Report).
• More than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native adults (83 percent) have experienced some form of violence in their lifetime.
• Slightly more than 1 in 3 Native American Women [34 percent] are raped in their lifetimes.

Who is committing these crimes?

Although the exact number of victimizations per person is unknown, it is clear that most American Indian and Alaska Native victims have experienced at least one act of violence committed by a perpetrator who is not an Indian (97 percent of women and 90 percent of men). Fewer victims (35 percent of women and 33 percent of men) have experienced one or more acts of violence by an American Indian or Alaska Native perpetrator.

These statistics illustrate the need for the sovereign right of federally recognized tribes to criminally prosecute non-Indian perpetrators. Until this bill was updated 9 years ago, federally recognized tribes did not have this authority, even for crimes committed on tribal lands. This gap in jurisdictional authority provided immunity to non-Indian perpetrators and compromised the safety of tribal communities.

The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 partially corrected this problem by providing special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction to federally recognized tribes. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that women in general, are victims of numerous assaults and murders. In 2013, the following federal bill was updated and reauthorized.

REAUTHORIZING THE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT: KEY PROVISIONS

While tremendous progress has been made since the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was first enacted, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking are still significant problems facing women, families, and communities.

• Domestic violence causes 3 deaths a day to women
• 1 out of 4 women have experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner.
• 1 out of 5 women were raped in their lifetimes.

The VAWA bill, signed into law by President Obama, made targeted expansions to address the needs of especially vulnerable populations. Here are the Key Provisions.

• Researchers estimate that for every woman killed in a domestic violence homicide, nine more are nearly killed.
• The bill integrates screening for homicide risks throughout existing VAWA programs and requires states to develop goals and activities to reduce domestic violence homicides.
• Native American women suffer from one of the highest rates of domestic violence. The bill closes gaps in jurisdiction and recognizes the authority of tribes to prosecute domestic violence crimes against Indian and non-Indian perpetrators
• The bill addresses high rates of dating violence and sexual assault on college campuses by requiring colleges and universities to provide information to students about domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and inform students and staff about the number of these crimes that occur on and near campus.
• Colleges will be required to create and disseminate policies describing the protections, resources, and services available to victims to help them safely continue their education.
• Sexual assault is one of the most underreported violent crimes in the country, and victims often suffer long term physical and emotional trauma.
• The bill creates state grant funding for law enforcement, prosecutors, and victim services to work together to respond to these crimes and helps law enforcement agencies tackle their backlog of rape kits.
• The bill addresses the high rates of dating violence and sexual assault experienced by teens and young adults. The bill will help schools, youth organizations, and domestic violence agencies work more effectively with youth and engage young people in stopping violence before it starts.

Although we’ve seen tremendous progress over the years reference opportunities for women, and women’s rights, it’s very said to learn that some things never change. I wish I could come up with a solution, but I don’t have one.

The Impact of Alcohol in Our Lives

Everyone knows having fun and/or celebrating in our culture is almost always associated with alcohol. Hey, someone just graduated or got a new job, let’s open a bottle of wine and celebrate. When single men or women want to meet someone, where do they go? It’s almost always suggested that can happen at a bar. I never perceived meeting the woman of my dreams at a bar, but that’s just me.

The relationship between alcohol and fun is a concept almost everyone accepts as perfectly normal. But I never understood why people think like that. I’m one of those rare Americans who never consumed a single drink, and I don’t believe having fun or celebrating means alcohol is an integral part of the process. I never had a glass of wine, I did taste beer once on very hot day, and I never tried whiskey.

There’s a prevailing myth that a small amount of alcohol, such as one glass of wine a day, is good for you. More on this later in the article. But let me start with a boyhood experience which helped formulate my lifelong attitude towards drinking.

When my brother and I were growing up in Brooklyn, we literally lived in the schoolyard, where we played basketball and football every day.  When I was about 13 years old, I remember going to the schoolyard on a Sunday morning to play basketball. There was a guy named Billy, who was about 19 years old, and he wasn’t playing with us as he normally did. Billy was sitting on a park bench looking miserable. I asked the older guys what was wrong with him. They told me Billy went out drinking Saturday night and had a hangover, that’s why he doesn’t feel like playing basketball.

I then asked the older guys, if drinking gives you a hangover and makes you feel miserable, why do people do that. Of course, I never received a good answer.  Many decades have passed since that boyhood experience, but I still vividly remember the visual of Billy looking like a zombie. After all these years, I still don’t understand why people do that to themselves.

Thankfully, I never had any desire to smoke or drink. When I was a young guy in his early twenties, I would go to dance clubs or parties and have tons of fun dancing and laughing. I always wondered why so many people felt the need for alcohol in order to relax and have fun. When I was at those dance clubs or parties, I often saw one or more people, who were drunk, slobbering over themselves, acting like an imbecile. As an impressionable young man, I would ask myself why someone would do that to themselves. Of course, I never came up with a good answer. But I knew that I would never become one of those fools.

It’s essentially the same mind-boggling question I ask about cigarettes. If smoking causes cancer and an array of serious health issues, why do people smoke?

I regularly watch real life murder mysteries [Dateline, 20/20, Investigation Discovery, 48 Hours] and I’ve seen so many stories about people who are murdered, and alcohol played a major role. Family members of the murdered victim often describe alcohol as a major factor. Sometimes if she was lucky enough to be a survivor of an attack, the wife or girlfriend would tell us the relationship with their husband or boyfriend was normal, unless he was drinking. Of course, the boyfriend or husband was almost always drinking. That’s when the verbal and physical assaults started, and often led to murder.

Putting aside murders, how many marriages were destroyed because of alcohol?

Many murders are committed by a perpetrator who is under the influence.

We know, or you should know, that DWI motor vehicle accidents cause over 10,000 deaths annually in America. In addition to fatalities, how many serious injuries and/or property damage accidents are caused by drunk drivers every year? I’m sure the number is huge.

We become very righteous when it comes to illegals drugs, but we accept the negative impact of alcohol as a routine part of our lives. Yes, I realize I’m talking about people who take it to an extreme, but it’s still something worth thinking or talking about.

Just as with the health issues caused by smoking, I read many articles which discussed the impact of alcohol on your body. I remember reading several research articles which talked about liver and brain damage as a result of routine drinking. Man, even if I had a desire to drink, those articles scared me so much, I would never consider it.

My father, who was not a heavy drinker, enjoyed having a few beers after he came home from work every night. He died at a relatively young age, primarily from cirrhosis of the liver. Mom, who was not a drinker, was 22 years older than dad when she died. Was there a correlation? If there is, would you want to live an additional 22 years?

There’s been a medical myth being spread for over 2 decades that a small amount of alcohol was actually good for you. One of the myths was moderate drinking helped protect you against heart attacks. I never believed it and now we know that isn’t true! For more than two decades, I’ve been reading health and fitness research articles from a guy named Dr. Mirkin. His summary of the latest scientific research on the relationship between smoking and liver damage, destroyed that myth. If you want more info, visit his website at https://www.drmirkin.com/ where you will find a wealth of articles on medical research reference health and fitness.

Finally, nothing I said in this article was directed at anyone who enjoys an occasional drink. Come on, virtually everyone I know has a glass of wine or a beer when they go out. I’m not criticizing somebody who derives pleasure from an occasional drink. If you enjoy a glass of wine or an occasional beer, go for it. I just want people to think about alcohol and how it negatively impacts our lives in so many ways.