Free Sharing Our Stories of Survival: Native Women Surviving Violence by Jerry Gardner

repositions domestic violence into an individual context of one where a batterer is not directly accountable for his choice to use violence in his relationship. Instead of a criminal act, domestic violence becomes a disease. It places responsibility on the battered woman for her victimization and further reinforces the batterer’s violence.
    Working to understand that different mainstream theories of domestic violence can serve to raise our ability to effectively create social change requires us to recognize that society needs to change—and to place indigenous values at the center.
We become activists by default. Suddenly, we’re representing our tribes, the Red Race, in everything we do—whether we want to or not.
—ARIGON STARR 16 (KICKAPOO/CREEK)

    Native Ways of Life
    Over 560 federally recognized tribes have a commonly held traditional value of respect for women, both physical and emotional. Yet we all face the challenge of incorporating this value into our everyday lives. Our traditional lifeways worked to deter violence in our tribal communities in our past and again will serve to provide us with indigenous solutions to violence against women in our future.
    If we are not actively engaged in ending violence against women, we are reinforcing the violence through complacency. It is important that we recognize the interconnectedness of our efforts. We have made some strides toward establishing a foundation for this work and can now see a range of responses to domestic violence across Indian Country. In addition, we are learning from each other as we develop our programs. We are also reaching out to our communities to change attitudes and beliefs that were once foreign to us but have now become common and destructive. There is still much work to be done.
    Today we are being challenged to find a way to reclaim the traditional values in order to return women to their rightful status in society. We are also striving to restore balance to our communities. The very foundations of our societies depend on our success. Our work will gain strength as we incorporate a response to domestic violence that does not rely on mainstream models, but instead turns to our memories of how things worked in our tribes before colonization. We will succeed when we can design contemporary solutions with traditional values at the core.
I want to 6e remembered for emphasizing the fact that we have indigenous solutions to our problems.
—WILMA MANKILLER 17 (CHEROKEE)

    Figure 3.3 . Sacred Circle Natural Worldview Wheel. Source: Courtesy of Sacred Circle, Natural Resource Center to End Violence Against Native Women.

    Figure 3.4. Creator Wheel. Source: Developed by Mending the Sacred Hoop.

    Notes
    1    www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/ipvoverview.htm
    2   Patricia Tjaden and Nancy Thoennes, Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey (National Institute of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NCJ 183781, November 2000), pp. 21—23. American Indian/Alaska Native women were significantly more likely than white women or African American women to report they were raped. In addition, they were also significantly more likely to report they were stalked. Data from the survey by type of victimization and race reflect the following percentages: rape—American Indian/Alaska Native 34.1; white 17.1; African American 18.1; Asian/Pacific Islander 6.8; Mixed Race 24.4; physical assault—American Indian/Alaska Native women 61.4; white 51.3; African American 52.1; Asian/Pacific Islander 49.6; Mixed Race 57.7; stalking—American Indian/Alaska Native women 17.0; white 8.2; African American 6.5; Asian/ Pacific Islander 4.5, Mixed race 10.6.
    3   According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, Intimate Partner Violence and Age of Victim 1993—1999 (USDOJ, 1999).
    4   Serle L. Chapman, We, the People of Earth and Elders, vol. 2