Reznet

Violence in Indian Country in the Spotlight

By Kevin Abourezk

Whether turning on my computer, opening my newspaper or flipping on my television, it seemed every time I sought a news update in recent weeks I've found another story about murder.

A 22-year-old man with an AK-47 who feared Barack Obama would confiscate his guns unloads on three police officers in Pittsburgh, killing all three.

Another four dead police officers in Oakland, victims of an assault rifle-wielding convict.

A withdrawn Vietnam immigrant armed with a Glock and a Beretta slaughters 13 in an immigration services center in Binghamton, N.Y.

In light of the 57 who have died in mass shootings in the past month in America, it seems an appropriate time to address the issue of law and order in Indian Country.

In fact, that's what national leaders have done this past week as the Senate and the U.S. Department of Justice announced legislation and additional funding for tribal law enforcement and justice.

It's a conversation whose time is long past due.

Consider these statistics:

• The violent crime rate in Indian country is nearly twice the national average and more than 20 times the national average on some Indian reservations.

• Thirty-four percent of Indian and Alaska Native women will be raped in their lifetimes, and 39 percent of Indian and Alaska Native women will be subject to domestic violence.

• Alcohol and drug abuse are factors in more than 80 percent of crimes committed in tribal communities.

These have become facts too easily accepted in Indian Country.

We shrug our shoulders when hard-drinking husbands abuse and murder their wives. We shake our heads and then try to forget it when we're told yet another child has been sexually abused or has died in a car accident. We grit our teeth but do nothing when yet another perpitrator of a violent act walks away with nothing more than a wrist slap.

When will justice return to our Native communities?

Justice, that prodigal father whose presence once warmed our villages and reassured our ancestors that even the slightest of trespasses would be addressed.

At what point did fear and chaos take hold of our families and reservations, threatening to forever hold us and our children in its icy grip?

In the end, it matters little the name of the historical tragedy that has led us to our current state of lawlessness. All that matters is where we go from here.

One lawmaker would like to help us get where we're going.

Last week, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) introduced the Tribal Law and Order Act, a bill he hopes will address chronic underfunding of tribal law and justice programs and the "broken, divided system for policing Indian lands" that he sees as the cause of epidemic levels of violent crime on reservations.

"American Indians deserve to feel safe in their homes, and safe in their communities, and the federal government has treaty and trust obligations that are supposed to see that they do," Dorgan said. "This legislation will not solve every problem overnight, but it is an important effort to significantly change things for the better in many communities."

Then on Monday, the Department of Justice announced plans to distribute more than $248 million in economic stimulus funds to tribes for criminal justice programs. The money is to be directed to tribal correctional facilities, domestic violence and sexual assault programs and other tribal programs.

Increased tribal law enforcement and justice funds and efforts to address the jurisdictional nightmare that plagues many reservations are much needed steps toward bringing order back to tribal communities.

That said, government programs can only go so far in addressing the root causes of our violence-sick reservations.

The real answer to that, I believe, lies within each of us.

It's up to every Native man, woman and child to find the light within ourselves and the will to lead ourselves out of the darkness of addiction, depression and trauma.

Because only then can we find the strength to repair our broken homes and communities.

Kevin Abourezk's "Red Clout" columns are available for syndication. Please contact reznet to purchase republishing rights.

Kevin Abourezk, Rosebud Lakota, is a reporter and editor at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. He writes reznet's "Red Clout" political blog and teaches reporting at the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute. Abourezk was awarded a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism in 2006.

To send Kevin Abourezk a message please click here