Pretty Bird Woman House: Saving a Sioux Women's Shelter...and the larger issue

What I am about to discuss contains a great condemnation of our society as well as a great act of charity. Some of you will already have read about it, but as usual, I will try to take my own, personal, integrated slant to it.

Amnesty International just published a report that became the focus of a series of Daily Kos diaries. The jist of the Amnesty International report is that, one in three Native American women are victims of rape...and most of those rapes are committed by outsiders, not fellow Native Americans. This Daily Kos article covers some pretty nasty aspects of American law covering Native Americans that allow this kind of crime to thrive with almost no consequences. Many laws relating to American/Native relations were written in the 19th century during a period of extreme abuse by the dominant American culture against Native cultures...and many of those laws are still in force.

A side story in that Daily Kos diary discussed a single women's shelter on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, the Pretty Bird Woman shelter, that was just about out of money. This shelter, one of the few facilities set up to help those one out of three Native American women who are raped, mostly by outsiders, was about to close due to lack of funds. Daily Kos, for all its faults, can do wonders. In no time a site was set up to collect funds for the Pretty Bird Women shelter, and within days thousands of dollars were raised, saving it from immanent closing.

This is great...though how well it will help long term is unclear to me. Believe me, they could use some more funds if you possibly can help. Talk about a good cause!

But I am the sort who looks at much broader patterns and longer term. This whole story, right down to the need for one of the few women's shelters serving Native Americans had to be saved last minute by a handful of white bloggers, shows what a gross disadvantage Native Americans have right here in their own territory. Yep, folks, we are almost all immigrants here whether we speak Spanish, English, Dutch, Chinese...whatever. Some of you reading this might have Native blood, but I sure don't. I am descended from immigrants and so, most likely, are you. And the Natives are among the most abused, spat upon and unappreciated members of our society.

Something is seriously screwed up about that.

I believe the ways to success, is through economic, educational and political opportunity. Lacking economic stability, education or political voice, you are almost nothing in the eyes of our society. You are something to be abused and face laws that make it nearly impossible to fight back.

We need to save Pretty Bird Women House...but we need much, much more. I CERTAINLY urge you to donate above to save Pretty Bird Women House. But below I want to suggest other groups you can support that are trying to address deeper issues, longer term issues.

First, though, I would like to highlight another Women's shelter and health center in the Sioux Nation that could use help. The Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center was set up on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in 1988 and added a women's shelter in 1991. Here's a bit about what they do:

The Resource Center has expanded to include many programs benefitting people locally, nationally, and internationally. Some examples are the Domestic Violence Program, AIDS Prevention Program, Youth Services which include the Child Development Program and the Youth Wellness Program, Adult Learning Program, Environmental Awareness and Action Project, Cancer Prevention, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Awareness Program, Clearinghouse of Educational Materials, Food Pantry, Wicozanni Wowapi Newsletter, Diabetic Nutrition Program, Scholarships for Native American Women, Reproductive Health and Rights, "Green Thumb" Project, and Community Health Fairs.

This is another center that needs support in another part of the Sioux Nation. They support themselves by selling items to support the center. Purchases made through this site will support their efforts.

As a Jew I come from a culture that has always believed that EDUCATION is the best path to success. No other single thing correlates with reduced crime, reduced addiction and improved life than improved education. In this spirit I recommend support for the American Indian College Fund. Donations through the above site or purchases through their store will help students achieve a college education. In my world view, almost nothing is better than this for gradually, generation by generation, lifting up a people's self respect and success.

Economically, too often Native Americans face rampant unemployment, or work catering to a tourist industry either through casinos or trinket stores. I have two suggestions to build Native Americans' economic strength. First there is Native American Bank. Obviously if you are looking for a neighborhood bank this probably won't help you. But for a Certificate of Deposit, online banking, or some loans, where you don't need a nearby branch, you can do your banking while helping build an economically strong Indian Country. Here is the Dream this bank is built on:

In 2001, twenty Tribal Nations and Alaskan Native Corporations set out with a dream “ to create a national bank to serve all Native people, communities, governments and enterprises across the country” and established Native American Bank, N.A. (NAB).

NAB recognizes that among the many issues facing Native Americans, the absence of access to financial capital and services has been a significant impediment towards the realization of self-sufficiency and financial freedom across Indian Country.

Here are their locations, and here are some of their services. If you are looking for a bank, particularly for online banking, please consider patronizing the Native American Bank.

My second suggesting goes along with my continuing focus on Global Warming solutions. Native Energy is a group that seeks to build alternative, green energy production on Native American land, providing jobs, energy and an economy for Native Americans WHILE also weaning America from its oil addiction. Currently they are building three wind farms and a methane gas plant and already have a bunch of successful projects completed. Here are their current and past projects. Democracy for America has just moved to offset its carbon footprint through carbon offsets through Native Energy. Al Gore and his family offset their entire carbon footprint through Native Energy. You can too. For an average of $12/month (those of us in NYC average only $4/month!) you can offset your personal carbon footprint by investing in alternative energy projects through Native Energy. This could be one of the most significant things you can do to mitigate global warming, and you will be creating a real, solid economy for Native Americans in the process.

Finally, there is political voice. Native Americans have had little voice in politics in America, though that has been changing in recent years. The best organization fighting to get more Native Americans elected, hence improving the voice of Native Americans in American society, is the Indigenous Democratic Network. Founded by Kalyn Free of Oklahoma, this organizations helps train and fundraise for Native American candidates around the nation...and their efforts have been very successful in 2006. They well deserve your support and you will find I plug their efforts from time to time. One thing they are doing is the Prez on the Rez project, designed to bring the Democratic Presidential Candidates to Indian Country. So far, only Bill Richardson has agreed to participate, which is one reason he has gotten my attention recently. You can donate to the Prez on the Rez project, and, if you support a candidate other than Richardson, you might want to contact their campaign and urge them to join Richardson in participating in Prez on the Rez events. The message participation would send would be HUGE...and the message a lack of participation sends is one of a continued disregard for those whose land we immigrated to.

I hope this helps to link Immigrant America with Native America and to help build a stronger Indian Country. Such a strengthening would help reduce the abuse that Amnesty International recently revealed.

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