This week has been really hard. Sometimes at work I see things that make my heart hurt. Some days there are a lot of those things. Some days it makes me angry that as a society we choose to let people hurt each other these ways.
Last week was a day the governor of Alaska, Sean Parnell, declared "Choose Respect" Day. Across the state, communities took a stand against domestic violence. It was pretty cool to see how many people showed up to "Choose Respect." It was pretty cool to see how many men stood with women at the rally in Fairbanks. It was great to see pictures of men and boys from communities across the state wearing t-shirts that said "Alaska Men Choose Respect."
But then we all go back to real life. In real life, in Fairbanks Alaska, homeless people don't get respect. Drug addicts don't get respect. People in recovery don't get respect. Victims of violence don't get respect. Women are ashamed when their husbands or boyfriends beat them. Victims are ashamed when they are raped. Multiply the shame and disrespect by 10 if the person being judged is Native, or black.
A great privilege of my job is getting the opportunity to connect in an honest and direct and open and trusting way with people. Women let me into their inner worlds so that they won't have to walk alone. I do my best to honor this privilege by giving them utmost respect and making every effort to be worthy of the trust they have taken the risk to give me. I want to be safe and loving and open and honest and reliable. In those moments of really connecting with someone, I feel like we are part of something bigger. That by loving one another, by walking together, we experience strength and safety and connection in a world that is big and lonely and scary and often seems pretty pointless. Loving another person and being of service to her makes both of us part of something bigger and more hopeful and with more meaning.
I have learned that connecting with others honestly and respectfully and lovingly is what gives my life purpose and meaning and fulfillment. Loving others fills you up. Hurting others makes you empty. So why do we spend so much of our energy and time being more and more selfish and more and more alone? When are we really gonna Choose Respect?
This week my heart hurts.
Friday, April 5, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
AK Native women excluded from some VAWA provisions
The Violence Against Women's Act was renewed on March 7. It gives me hope for our new Congress. Thanks to everyone who called their congressmen in support of getting this important legislation passed.
In a bizarre turn of events, though, Alaska Native women were specifically excluded from some of the protections of the new version of VAWA through a "Special Rule for Alaska." Historically, if a man beats his Native wife, tribal governments have the right to issue a protective order on her behalf, but only if the perpetrator is Native. The newest version of VAWA extends the right to the tribe to hold non-Native perpetrators accountable for domestic violence or sexual assault against Native women. But Alaska's Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) fought for and won an exclusion from this power for AK Native tribes.
Alaska has the highest per capita rate of homicide of women by male perpetrators in the US. Three out of four Alaska Native women will be physically assaulted, and one in three sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. Many villages in rural Alaska do not even have the benefit of having state troopers posted locally; a call to law enforcement requires a trooper to fly into the village on the next flight. In such isolated situations, it is necessary for local tribal governments to have the authority to detain violent people to protect victims. I don't understand how we can justify preventing tribes from protecting women from non-Native perpetrators of violent crimes while the state continues to under-commit resources to enforce the law in rural areas. Alaska Native tribes are nominally "sovereign." Yet we tie their hands legally when non-Native people assault Native women; meanwhile the state of Alaska is not able to adequately protect those women.
I would encourage you to contact your senator and let them know if you also are concerned that such a dangerous exclusion was made into law. For more information, you can read here, from the Native American Rights Fund.
In a bizarre turn of events, though, Alaska Native women were specifically excluded from some of the protections of the new version of VAWA through a "Special Rule for Alaska." Historically, if a man beats his Native wife, tribal governments have the right to issue a protective order on her behalf, but only if the perpetrator is Native. The newest version of VAWA extends the right to the tribe to hold non-Native perpetrators accountable for domestic violence or sexual assault against Native women. But Alaska's Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) fought for and won an exclusion from this power for AK Native tribes.
Alaska has the highest per capita rate of homicide of women by male perpetrators in the US. Three out of four Alaska Native women will be physically assaulted, and one in three sexually assaulted in their lifetimes. Many villages in rural Alaska do not even have the benefit of having state troopers posted locally; a call to law enforcement requires a trooper to fly into the village on the next flight. In such isolated situations, it is necessary for local tribal governments to have the authority to detain violent people to protect victims. I don't understand how we can justify preventing tribes from protecting women from non-Native perpetrators of violent crimes while the state continues to under-commit resources to enforce the law in rural areas. Alaska Native tribes are nominally "sovereign." Yet we tie their hands legally when non-Native people assault Native women; meanwhile the state of Alaska is not able to adequately protect those women.
I would encourage you to contact your senator and let them know if you also are concerned that such a dangerous exclusion was made into law. For more information, you can read here, from the Native American Rights Fund.
Friday, March 1, 2013
cowboys and Indians
White domination is so complete that even
American Indian children want to be cowboys.
It’s as if Jewish children wanted to play Nazis.
—Ward Churchill, Fantasies of the Master Race
This week in one of my classes we read an article written by my instructor, Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, entitled Cowboys and Indians: Toys of Genocide, Icons of American Colonialism.
The article described how deeply racism against Indigenous people is embedded in our culture. For instance, did you know that George Washington sent troops to burn Seneca villages, including people's homes and their winter food stores? I didn't. Abraham Lincoln ordered the mass hanging of 38 Dakotas, the biggest mass execution in U.S. history, and a world record for the most people ever to be hung on one gallows. And you probably do know about Andrew Jackson and the Cherokee Trail of Tears. These are the faces we honor on the $1, $5, and $20 bills.
But what made me think more was what Dr. Yellow Bird pointed out about the iconic roles of cowboys and Indians in our culture. Sure, I knew that cowboys were often the agents of the genocide of the Indigenous people of this continent. But it had never clicked in my mind how messed up it is for kids to play cowboys and Indians. He rightly pointed out that it would be pretty horrifying to watch kids play African slave and white plantation owner, where the slave owner split up families at a slave auction, or whipped people. And I can't even imagine American kids trying to play Nazi concentration camp, putting Jewish people in gas chambers. How about Chinese sweat shop for a fun game? Especially because the part of cowboys and Indians that kids play is typically the part where the cowboys kill the Indians. In other words, our culture totally condones children re-enacting the violent genocide of our nation's original inhabitants. Western movies, toy cowboy and Indian figures, and Indian head dresses, bows and arrows, cowboy hats and pistols are all normative parts of the play and acculturation of American children. Including American Indian children. Wow.
I recognize racism when it comes in the form of racial slurs or jokes, when someone is labelled by a racial stereotype, or where the service afforded to people of different races is different in a public establishment. But it surprised me to realize how I have participated in the embedded racism against the Indigenous peoples of North America by playing cowboys and Indians myself as a child, or embracing the cowboy image as an adult.
Things won't change if we don't recognize them. So I feel compelled to share with as many people as possible this "aha moment" I've experienced, where something that was right in front of my face became visible for the first time. Check out Dr. Yellow Bird's article. And notice and point out the ways that embedded racism subjugates Native people in our culture.
American Indian children want to be cowboys.
It’s as if Jewish children wanted to play Nazis.
—Ward Churchill, Fantasies of the Master Race
This week in one of my classes we read an article written by my instructor, Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, entitled Cowboys and Indians: Toys of Genocide, Icons of American Colonialism.
The article described how deeply racism against Indigenous people is embedded in our culture. For instance, did you know that George Washington sent troops to burn Seneca villages, including people's homes and their winter food stores? I didn't. Abraham Lincoln ordered the mass hanging of 38 Dakotas, the biggest mass execution in U.S. history, and a world record for the most people ever to be hung on one gallows. And you probably do know about Andrew Jackson and the Cherokee Trail of Tears. These are the faces we honor on the $1, $5, and $20 bills.
But what made me think more was what Dr. Yellow Bird pointed out about the iconic roles of cowboys and Indians in our culture. Sure, I knew that cowboys were often the agents of the genocide of the Indigenous people of this continent. But it had never clicked in my mind how messed up it is for kids to play cowboys and Indians. He rightly pointed out that it would be pretty horrifying to watch kids play African slave and white plantation owner, where the slave owner split up families at a slave auction, or whipped people. And I can't even imagine American kids trying to play Nazi concentration camp, putting Jewish people in gas chambers. How about Chinese sweat shop for a fun game? Especially because the part of cowboys and Indians that kids play is typically the part where the cowboys kill the Indians. In other words, our culture totally condones children re-enacting the violent genocide of our nation's original inhabitants. Western movies, toy cowboy and Indian figures, and Indian head dresses, bows and arrows, cowboy hats and pistols are all normative parts of the play and acculturation of American children. Including American Indian children. Wow.
I recognize racism when it comes in the form of racial slurs or jokes, when someone is labelled by a racial stereotype, or where the service afforded to people of different races is different in a public establishment. But it surprised me to realize how I have participated in the embedded racism against the Indigenous peoples of North America by playing cowboys and Indians myself as a child, or embracing the cowboy image as an adult.
Things won't change if we don't recognize them. So I feel compelled to share with as many people as possible this "aha moment" I've experienced, where something that was right in front of my face became visible for the first time. Check out Dr. Yellow Bird's article. And notice and point out the ways that embedded racism subjugates Native people in our culture.
Friday, February 15, 2013
tell your Congressman to pass the Violence Against Women Act
The Violence Against Women Act is once again up for renewal in the House. On Monday the Senate passed a version of the act. This same version of the act, passed by the Senate, was voted down in the House at the end of the last session of Congress.
VAWA was first passed in 1994 to provide legal protections and funding to women who are victims of domestic violence. VAWA funds domestic violence programs across the country, as well as providing for the confidentiality of victims of DV in shelters, among other things. The last Congress allowed VAWA to expire when it came up for renewal, mostly because House Republicans oppose two new provisions of VAWA.
The first controversial provision opposed by House Republicans would extend the protections of VAWA to women in same-sex relationships. I'm not sure how one determines that the moral high road is to deny a victim of a violent crime legal protections for her safety because of her sexual orientation, but many House Republicans voted down the VAWA renewal because they opposed this provision.
The second controversial provision would allow tribal governments to prosecute people who were not members of their tribes for crimes of domestic violence committed against Native women on tribal land. Currently, if a white man assaults his Native girlfriend on a reservation, this crime is under the jurisdiction of the state, while if a Native man assaults his Native girlfriend, the tribe has jurisdiction. In practice, this means that many violent crimes that are committed by non-Native people on reservations and tribal lands are never prosecuted. Many House Republicans oppose turning jurisdiction over crimes of domestic violence on Native land to tribal governments.
Lesbian women are forced to fight for recognition of their relationships by the dominant culture, even to the point that women who are assaulted by their partners are not provided with the same legal protections as women assaulted by male partners. Native women are victims of domestic violence at rates much higher than the rest of the population; frequently these crimes are not prosecuted, even when reported to law enforcement. The Violence Against Women Act was designed to keep women in America safe. Right now, with the act expired, all women are at risk of losing essential safety measures that protect their confidentiality when they seek services for safety.
Let your Representative in Congress know how you want him or her to vote.
VAWA was first passed in 1994 to provide legal protections and funding to women who are victims of domestic violence. VAWA funds domestic violence programs across the country, as well as providing for the confidentiality of victims of DV in shelters, among other things. The last Congress allowed VAWA to expire when it came up for renewal, mostly because House Republicans oppose two new provisions of VAWA.
The first controversial provision opposed by House Republicans would extend the protections of VAWA to women in same-sex relationships. I'm not sure how one determines that the moral high road is to deny a victim of a violent crime legal protections for her safety because of her sexual orientation, but many House Republicans voted down the VAWA renewal because they opposed this provision.
The second controversial provision would allow tribal governments to prosecute people who were not members of their tribes for crimes of domestic violence committed against Native women on tribal land. Currently, if a white man assaults his Native girlfriend on a reservation, this crime is under the jurisdiction of the state, while if a Native man assaults his Native girlfriend, the tribe has jurisdiction. In practice, this means that many violent crimes that are committed by non-Native people on reservations and tribal lands are never prosecuted. Many House Republicans oppose turning jurisdiction over crimes of domestic violence on Native land to tribal governments.
Lesbian women are forced to fight for recognition of their relationships by the dominant culture, even to the point that women who are assaulted by their partners are not provided with the same legal protections as women assaulted by male partners. Native women are victims of domestic violence at rates much higher than the rest of the population; frequently these crimes are not prosecuted, even when reported to law enforcement. The Violence Against Women Act was designed to keep women in America safe. Right now, with the act expired, all women are at risk of losing essential safety measures that protect their confidentiality when they seek services for safety.
Let your Representative in Congress know how you want him or her to vote.
Friday, February 8, 2013
trauma stewardship
I am starting this blog for my class.
I am curious to see where it will lead.
Today I went to a training by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky of The Trauma Institute. She co-authored the book Trauma Stewardship. We spent the morning thinking about the way that bearing witness to trauma at our jobs affects us in our lives. For instance, it did not really occur to me that it was not normal to do a background check on everyone you date. To me it just seems smart. I know that when I bring up domestic violence at a party, it can kill the mood. I feel like I have some obligation to remind people of the atrocities that take place in our community. Now I see that my need to do this is a sign to me that my work is giving me hurts that I carry around, and can learn to metabolize. Also apparently most people don't meet couples and scan their interactions for dynamics of power and control, or suspect that men who pick up kids or put them on their laps are child molesters.
We spent the afternoon thinking about how to keep ourselves healthy, so that we can be resilient enough to keep showing up and being supportive during other people's traumas. The emphasis was on prioritizing your time so that you have islands of peace, moments when you can re-regulate your emotions and come back to a place of equilibrium. I have no idea how to do this while I work a pretty stressful job and go to school, and try to maintain relationships to the people in my life. But I think a good starting point is ending my homework now at 9 pm on Friday night and going to spend time with my friends.
I am curious to see where it will lead.
Today I went to a training by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky of The Trauma Institute. She co-authored the book Trauma Stewardship. We spent the morning thinking about the way that bearing witness to trauma at our jobs affects us in our lives. For instance, it did not really occur to me that it was not normal to do a background check on everyone you date. To me it just seems smart. I know that when I bring up domestic violence at a party, it can kill the mood. I feel like I have some obligation to remind people of the atrocities that take place in our community. Now I see that my need to do this is a sign to me that my work is giving me hurts that I carry around, and can learn to metabolize. Also apparently most people don't meet couples and scan their interactions for dynamics of power and control, or suspect that men who pick up kids or put them on their laps are child molesters.
We spent the afternoon thinking about how to keep ourselves healthy, so that we can be resilient enough to keep showing up and being supportive during other people's traumas. The emphasis was on prioritizing your time so that you have islands of peace, moments when you can re-regulate your emotions and come back to a place of equilibrium. I have no idea how to do this while I work a pretty stressful job and go to school, and try to maintain relationships to the people in my life. But I think a good starting point is ending my homework now at 9 pm on Friday night and going to spend time with my friends.
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