Today, Native Women’s Society of the Great Plains and First Nations Women’s Alliance will be guest on Native America Calling. The calamity at Penn State concerning a former coach molesting young boys has shed a national spotlight on the issue of sexual abuse. Native women and children are victims of more acts of rape and violence than white or black women and children. Often, these violent acts are committed by someone within their own community, which leads to the crime being swept under the rug. Is violence against Native women and children being kept quiet to protect the reputations of the guilty? Guests are Linda Thompson (Chippewa) Director/First Nations Women’s Alliance, and Carmen O’Leary (Cheyenne River Sioux) Director/Native Women’s Society of the Great Plains. The link to listen is at Native America Calling.
This beautiful star quilt will make a lasting gift. Purchase this beautifully, designed turtle star quilt for $250.00 plus postage and your contribution will help stop domestic violence. The size of the quilt is full size, 74”x 84” and has turtle image within the large star with four broken stars on the edges. Native people recognize the turtle as the symbol of Mother Earth. Mother Earth provides protection for women through the turtle…. The strength and wisdom of the turtle is needed as we struggle against and survive the violence aimed at us because we are women. Every woman who experiences violence is recognized as a Sacred Turtle Woman. In the spirit of the turtle, we reclaim and celebrate the strength, wisdom, and sacredness of the feminine spirit within women. (From South Dakota Ending Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault website). If you are interesting in purchasing the quilt, contact Native Women’s Society of the Great Plains at (605) 850-1640 or 1332.
On October 10 to 13, 2011, Native Women’s Society of the Great Plains will be sponsoring a Men’s Re-Education Facilitator’s Meeting at Cedar Canyon Camp in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Facilitator of the training will be John Eagle Shield. Priority in registration will be to NWSGP membership. This Men’s Re-Education training can be used to enhance Batterers Intervention classes. For more information click here for the Information Flyer and for the Registration Form. Click here for Directions to Cedar Canyon Camp.
Native Women’s Society of the Great Plains board of directors membership will be having a business meeting on the evening of June 20 and 21, 2011 in Billings, Mont. On Tuesday and Wednesday, June 21 and 22, 2011 membership will receive training on Program Management Capacity Building coordinated by First Nations Development Institute. For more information contact Carmen O’Leary at 605-850-1332 or 605-200-1844.
South Dakota’s U.S. Attorney’s Office has rescheduled the Second Tribal Listening Conference Addressing Violence Against Women, from July 12, 2011 at Pierre, SD to Sept. 29, 2011 Oacoma, due the recent flooding in Pierre. The first listening conference was held on Sisseton-Wahpeton Reservation on April 29th. Detailed agenda and registration information will be sent out. For more information contact the United States Attorney’s Office. Heather Thompson: (605) 343-2913 Ext. 2122 Heather.Thompson@usdoj.gov or Marlys Big Eagle: (605) 343-2913 Ext. 2107 Marlys.BigEagle@usdoj.gov.
More than 25 women and men walked with signs and t-shirts promoting awareness on sexual assault on Wednesday, April 6, at St. Francis, S.D. The ‘Walk With Us to Stop Sexual Violence’ was sponsored by White Buffalo Calf Women’s Society of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Reservation, they offered sack lunches and gave away “NO means NO.” Other community walks are planned, one on April 13 at Parmelee starting at the St. Agnes Church at 5:30 p.m. and another walk on April 20 in Winner, starting at the community building at 5:30 p.m.
RST President Rodney Bordeaux signed a proclamation declaring April as sexual assault awareness month on the reservation. The proclamation sites statistics of 2010 where 53 calls to Rosebud dispatch reported sexual assaults, 75 victims were assisted by sexual assault advocates from WBCWS and 12 cases were indicted by the tribal prosecutor. Also cited in the proclamation was the formation of a sexual assault protocol and response team in 2003 and the team was officially implemented in 2004.
According to Amnesty International, Native women are 2.5 times more likely than other minorities to be victims of sexual assault. The purpose of the National Sexual Assault Awareness Month is to increase your community and the public’s understanding of sexual violence.
From Vanguard of Current TV, ‘Rape on Reservation’ a searing documentary on how violence is affecting the lives of Native American women. One in three Native American women will be sexual assaulted in her lifetime. In South Dakota, where Native Americans make up just 9 percent of the population, more than 40 percent of the incidents of domestic and sexual violence take place on the state’s reservations. Vanguard journalists view sexual assault on the reservation, most of the filming takes place on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. View the documentary in its entirety. Rape on Reservation
How do we shape a world in which girls and women are safe from all forms of sexual violence? This February 22, 2011 workshop will explore and dialogue about a comprehensive model that emphasizes the role of bystanders in addressing gender based violence. It acknowledges that all community members are potential bystanders and, or facilitators to violence and seeks to empower them through awareness, education, and intervention skills practice.
On Feb. 22 to 24, 2011, the Dakota Tiwahe Service Unit of the Santee Sioux Tribe and Mending the Sacred Hoop of Minnesota have collaborated to provide a free training to area tribal programs on facilitating a men’s batterers program. Click here for brochure
Misty Thomas, of the Dakota Tiwahe center, said they recognize the shortage of Men’s Batterers programs in tribal communities and will be offering the training to a limited number of men who are interested in facilitating men’s groups in their communities. The training be held at the Marina Inn in South Sioux City, Neb. continental breakfast and lunch will be provided for participants.
Facilitator trainers are Don Chapin and Jeremy Nevilles-Sorell. Chapin has been working to end violence against women for nearly 30 years. He serves as faculty for Mending the Sacred Hoop, Sacred Circle, and Red Wind Consulting, Inc. providing technical assistance, trainings, and on-site trainings/meetings for tribal governments and tribal communities for the Office of Violence Against Women, Office of Justice Programs. Nevilles-Sorell has worked in the field of domestic violence since 1994 on issues affecting children who have experienced domestic violence. He worked for four years at the Duluth Family Visitation Center and for several years at the Women’s Transitional Housing Coalition in Duluth, Minns. and has also been involved with Men As Peacemakers, a community group devoted to promoting non-violent lifestyles for men, conducted groups with teenage boys on domestic violence, and has co-facilitated groups for Native men who have battered. For more information on the training and for registration information contact Lorene Thomas or Karen Red Owl at 800-655-0828 or 402-857-2342 or email Lorene at tatankawastewi@yahoo.com.
The 6th Annual National Sexual Assault Response Team Training conference will be May 25-27, 2011 in Austin, Texas. The Office for Victims of Crime is providing funding to support three types of scholarships for the 2011 Sexual Assault Response Training Conference. Tribal SART scholarships for groups of four members representing at least three disciplines are available for the first time. The Tribal Team scholarships will be offered in addition to the 25 team scholarships for SART teams of four members representing four different disciplines and 50 individual law enforcement officers’ scholarships. The deadline has been extended to Feb. 4, 2011.
