Native American Women, Invisible Victims Of American Misogyny.

It was only a movie, but the reality was disconcerting.  A white rancher tracked down two white men who had raped and murdered a woman.  Before he killed them, one was incense by the rancher’s determination and wanted to know, “Why?!!  “She was just an Indian squaw!” To which the rancher screamed, “She was my wife!” Unfortunately, even the response, “She was my wife!” was not reason enough for some white men to understand why a white man would kill another white man over the rape and murder of a woman who was “just an Indian squaw”. While the reality of abject prejudice and disrespect for Native American Women may not be so blatantly obvious as was portrayed in the movie, it is not invisible. Vile, obscene, and immoral anger directed at Native American men and women is clearly visible in  social media circles.  And yet, invisible, seems appropriate to describe the Main Stream Media’s ignorance of the life and plight of Native American Women.  Native American Women carry much more than their “fair” share of the personal and governmental based domestic abuse all American women suffer in the aptly named “Conservative (GOP, Republican, Christian Right) War On Women”.  They suffer much more of the personal and governmental domestic abuse in the War On women than some non-native American Women even imagine.  Three years ago when Congress needed to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act for it to remain in force, some Republican congressmen, including some who later ran for the office of President Of the United States Of America, voted against the act.  Some even admitted that they voted against it because of the “unfair” protection it afforded Native American Women. According to the most current U.S. Census, there are approximately 5.2 million Native Americans in the United States.  Statistics suggest that more than 75% of Native American Women have experienced some form of domestic abuse, domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault.  This is an obscene pornographic statistic for a nation that claims it is committed to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for its citizens.  Almost none of that rings true for most Native American Women. The immoral acts of violence, obscene abuse, rape, and sexual assault of Native American women by various legal arms and departments of the United States Government are prolific and beyond disconcerting.  We will allow two of them here. 1.  The United States Government admitted to forcibly sterilizing 3, 406 Native American Women between 1973 and 19776.  Other estimates claim as many as 70,00 Native American Women  were forcibly sterilized. And before any apologist express outrage over the fact the that was “more than 40 years ago”, the real outrage is that is happened at all.  And it happened long after they had been forced to “live” on “Indian Reservations”.  Even more disturbing, given their numbers in the United States Population, that amount of forced sterilization would be equivalent to forcibly sterilizing more than 400, 000 non-native American Women.  If that had happened, the “Moral outrage” likely would have been resounding.  But it was only “Indian Squaws”, so mostly nobody knows and mostly nobody cares. 2.  Reminiscent of Sandra Bland, the African American Woman who died in jail after a routine traffic stop, violence and mishaps while in police custody are commonplace for Native American Women. Sarah Lee Circle Bear, pictured above, a 24 year old mother and pregnant South Dakota Lakota woman, supposedly “died of a meth overdose” after being in jail for 2 days.  Following her death in police custody, many people knew about Sandra Bland. But very few people know about Sarah Lee Circle Bear.  Like most Native American Women, she was and is invisible, except when it was her time to suffer the abuse too many Native American Women suffer.Two years after the Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized, despite vehement obstruction and objections of it Republican opponents, Native American tribes ar

Origen: Native American Women, Invisible Victims Of American Misogyny.