This short story by Perry G. Horse, who is from the Kiowa reservation, means exactly what the title says, Native American Identity. The author was trying to answer the main question of his existence, “Who are we as indigenous beings as to what we were basically branded as”. The story explains the impacts of colonialism and the struggles that the Native Americans have overcome only to come out stronger. Struggles such as language, religion, and practices, all things that the author makes the reader understand that are in the past but still very much of the future. As we Native Americans are still here.

A story about an Okanagan community, speaks on the Identity, responsibility, sanity, self, place, and four capacities of the self of a person, etc. All of these are instilled in the Okanagan people and their kin. Within this short story, it is an explanation of who Janette Armstrong is as an indigenous person, starting with identity. Moving into the responsibility of being a mother, daughter, and native woman. As she explains it all, it all starts from her birth to her experiences and teachings. One of the most important being the four capacities of life. The four capacities of life are the physical self, emotional self, The thinking-intellectual, and the spiritual self, all “individual life forces within our skins,”. Overall, Armstrong portrays a story of who she truly is as a Native American woman and how her upbringing reflects the kind of person she strives to be as well as is.

This was an informational article on, “contributions of domestic violence (DV) to homicides in women in New Mexico and to examine differences in ethnicity, mechanism, previous documented injuries, incidence of sexual assault, and use of alcohol or illicit drugs between DV- and non-DV-related homicides”. The studies included analysis of reports of the state office and the medical investigator (OMI) reports from all female homicides from 1990 to 1993 in New Mexico. All of this information is very critical, so instead of summarizing it, I left it in. The authors state that, “ A homicide was defined as being related to DV if the perpetrator was a current or former male intimate partner. The OMI investigated 134 homicides in women for an overall fatality rate of 4.3 per 100,000.

This is an informational article based on how American Indian spousal abuse is not often talked about to discuss, moreover forgotten about. Starting off, the study discusses the use of alcohol within Native communities. Studies show that young Native American adults, particularly males, roughly 95% were linked to excessive drinking. But, linking this to Domestic Violence the studies showed that, “After conducting fieldwork at three battered women shelters on reservations over 75% of the women interviewed described assaults by their husband as pre anticipated or escalating after the consumption of alcohol”. Meaning that women are seeking shelter elsewhere, other than with their abuse, but there are others still out there that are too scared to leave.

The article, “In recognition of Domestic Violence Month; Domestic violence still plagues millions of women in the U.S.” written by K. Chandler, it explains the definition/ statistics of Domestic Violence, along with the types of abuse and ways to leave that lifestyle. The author states that over 2,00 women are murdered by their boyfriend or significant other each year. Another astonishing fact was that a woman becomes a victim of DV every 15-20 seconds in the US. Moreover, the author then explains the 3 cycles of DV, 1- The Tension Stage, when a man was just about ready to blow up and hurt the woman but not quite there. 2- The abuse, when the trauma would start, and the victim would be struck. Lastly, in cycle 3, when the abuser was very apologetic and would plead for forgiveness, trying to win the victim back. This last step is very important because that is the only time when the victim may feel brainwashed and would just like to move on instead of getting help. She also expresses the outside resources and ways to leave this type of relationship. Overall this was an informative article on the signs of Domestic Violence and how to stop them while going to look for help.

In this article, the author wants the readers to consider the relationship colonization has to both historical trauma and violence against Native Americans, and in particular violence against Native women and children. As well as present-day factors that may contribute to domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in tribal communities. There is so much information in this article that explaining one section would leave out much more valuable information. But the author included this in the article as well:

"The honor of the people lies in the moccasin tracks of the women.

Walk the good road…

Be dutiful, respectful and modest, my daughter.

And proud walking …

Be strong with the warm, strong heart of the earth.

No people goes down until their women are weak

and dishonored, or dead upon the ground.

Be strong and sing the strength of the Great Powers

within you, all around you".

—Village Wise Man, Sioux 1961

In the article from The Guardian, children and women who live within the dynamics of a domestic violence relationship have no escape from their abusers during this epidemic. In countries from Brazil to Germany, Italy to China, survivors, and activists are already seeing a rise in abuse. According to the local media, “In Hubei province, the heart of the initial coronavirus outbreak, domestic violence reports to police more than tripled in one county alone during the lockdown in February, from 47 last year to 162 this year”(Graham- Harrison, 3). Clearly showing how individuals feel trapped within their own homes. More examples include, “The Catalan regional government said that calls to its helpline had risen by 20% in the first few days of the confinement period; in Cyprus, calls to a similar hotline rose 30% in the week after 9 March, when the island had its first confirmed case of coronavirus. In Spain – where lockdown rules are extremely strict, and many people are being fined for breaking them – the government has told women they will not be fined if they leave home to report abuse” (Graham- Harrison, 14).

The beginning of this article explains the life of a survivor who was pregnant and very vulnerable. She told her story and thoughts, which made it easier to understand what types of feelings the victims must be going through in this time of hardship. It then moves forward with how that particular case relates to many others around the world. According to The Washington Post, “Fifty-four percent of vulnerable women surveyed by CARE in Lebanon reported an increase in violence and harassment during the pandemic; 44 percent said they felt less safe at home”. I received from that quote that families and individuals are losing their safe place to people who choose to harm them. As the authors stated, “The closure of schools and day-care centers means teachers and social workers have been unable to identify and report abuse. A growing body of evidence suggests incidents of domestic violence are rising as families struggle with restrictions on movement and mounting economic hardship”. So many factors affect individuals from seeking help or reporting it.