Rape on the Reservation

(Watch the video to get a better understanding of what is really going on for Native women, and the attitudes of the men, living on reservations located in the United States of America.)

Many of us who live in cities or metropolitan areas probably don’t give much thought to Indian reservations, or Native Americans, except to think in terms of western movies, casinos, and turquoise jewelry or kuchina dolls. What we have failed to do is to take notice of how far this population has come in terms of being “westernized.”

Once a proud and free people, many of the youth have lost the culture and the old ways taught to each upcoming generation. The old ways of the ancients have been lost, giving way to a totally new mindset and culture, and instead of having the ability to live freely and govern themselves, Natives are hampered by boundaries and laws set by our government.  

Many reservations are like a free for all for crime, in which reporting and prosecution has been handled, not by the tribe itself, but by the federal government, the FBI, and is historically given very low priority, therefore seeing justice running rampantly out of control. Violent crime towards women, in particular, rape, sexual assault and domestic violence has been virtually ignored and seldom prosecuted, especially when perpetrated by someone from outside the reservation.


After filming the documentary, Vanguard (http://current.com/shows/vanguard/blog/92465106_where-rape-on-the-reservation-started.htm) questioned the statistics and what they found was quite different than what was earlier reported, citing an error in the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the blog post linked corrects those statistics as well as states:

So with the 86 percent stat debunked, we had to ask ourselves, “Is this a dead story? Should we move on?" But this is what I value the most about working with Vanguard—instead of dismissing the story, we said to ourselves, “OK, well this doesn’t change the fact that Indian women are being raped at a rate 2.5 times the national average. So let’s forget about trying to tell the story of 'who' and focus on how we can tell the story of why.” 

On July 29, 2010 The Tribal Law and Order Act was enacted which will allow tribal jurisdiction over non-Natives and offenders for the crimes of sexual violence.  It also allows tribal police access to the government’s database, NCIC, as well as funding and programs to help those who are affected by sexual and domestic violence.

This is only a beginning, a small step, but one long awaited, and probably taken for granted by those of us who don’t think too much about victims outside of our own small piece of the world.  Yes, abuse is everywhere, and yes, many victims fall short in finding justice, and it's going to take everyone who comes in contact with either the victims or the perpetrators to enforce this law, use the resources wisely, and make sure that another treaty isn't broken.