The Lost Colors of The Wind...

By: Gyovanni Boston-Crompton

         Many Americans have forgotten about the people who graced this land long before the crusaders came to take it over. After enduring diseases, murder and rape from the crusaders they were then forced to live on reservations. People have a misconception that these tribes live on their reservations and have a life like Pocahontas but they are naïve to the real danger that many of these Native Americans face every day. These once rich souls that once ruled this land have been lost due to this society including rape.

            I’m pretty sure if Disney had included a scene of how Pocahontas was raped while she captured after the First Anglo-Powhatan War that the movie would not have been as popular as it was.[1] Just as Disney blocked out the piece of history, many people today block out the issue of rape on these reservations. The rape of Native American women historically goes back to when the settlers first came over to the new land which was prominent during the time of the Trial of Tears. Rape was used as a mechanism for colonization in which they would rape these women to keep them in order. [2] These women have grown up in a culture throughout history where rape has been a part of their everyday life not only from outsiders but also inside the family as well. Statistics show that rape within Native American women is twice the amount of the national average of rape in America.[3] Most of these women are not only left with the scares of the rape, but the fact that the pain that they have endured will never have its justice.

            There are several issues that the United States faces when it comes to prosecuting a rape on reservations. This relationship between America and the Native American reservations are complex, in which that America has made it maze-like for women who want to report their sexual assault to any type of police whether they are tribal, state, or federal. The main factors deterring women from reporting these crimes are: determining if the person accused of the action is in a tribe that is on a federal level, determining if the victim lives in a tribe that is recognized on a federal level,  and if the sexual assault had taken place on the tribal land. To go along with these initial problems the law enforcement in these tribes have insufficient amount of funds from the government that would help with training and maintaining suitable officers that could help reduce the amount of rapes. [4] Even after all of that the women in these tribes are unable to have proper and adequate resources to for health issues that may occur after the rape. Such as contracting an STD or even having Plan B to prevent an unwanted pregnancy.[5]

            Although through the hardships that these women face, there have been several things implemented to stop this treatment and degrading of women. The law of Violence against Women Act was first passed in 1994 and actually last year was passed again with revision in order to protect these women from the abuse that they face every day. The law will take effect in March of 2015 and will protect women from everyone including people who are not Native Americans and people that are strangers to the victims.[6] This introducing the first actions of that should have been implanted many years ago to protect these women from this type of life.

            Having a great grandmother, who was a Cherokee Indian; it devastates me to think about the torture that these women have to endure every day. The thought that my ancestor, a strong willed woman, was potentially rape by someone whom she may or may have not known and simply because she lived in a certain location that she was unable to receive the proper care and attention that I would be able to receive today, makes me angry. As a young woman being in raised in an over sexualized society, which is already hard, hearing about other young women finding rape to be a social norm is just shocking to me. I can’t imagine growing up thinking that one day that I will be raped and when I get raped it will be fine because everyone else gets raped too. Society is truly messed up to allow this happen to the women who grazed this land before us.

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[1] Pocahontas Archive." Last modified 2014. Accessed April 28, 2014. http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/pocahontas/mattaponi.php.

[2] Amnesty International USA. "Maze of Injustice." Amnesty International USA. http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/women-s-rights/violence-against-women/maze-of-injustice (accessed April 28, 2014).

[3] Williams, Timothy. "For Native American Women, Scourge of Rape, Rare Justice." The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/us/native-americans-struggle-with-high-rate-of-rape.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (accessed April 28, 2014).

[4] Amnesty International USA. "Maze of Injustice." Amnesty International USA. http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/women-s-rights/violence-against-women/maze-of-injustice (accessed April 28, 2014).

[5] Williams, Timothy. "For Native American Women, Scourge of Rape, Rare Justice." The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/us/native-americans-struggle-with-high-rate-of-rape.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 (accessed April 28, 2014).

[6] Horwitz, Sari. "New law offers protection to abused Native American women." Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/new-law-offers-a-sliver-of-protection-to-abused-native-american-women/2014/02/08/0466d1ae-8f73-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/new-law-offers-a-sliver-of-protection-to-abused-native-american-women/2014/02/08/0466d1ae-8f73-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html (accessed April 28, 2014).