"Finding Our Voice": Surviving Sexual Abuse Within Native Communities

Chino, Destiny. “Self-Portrait”. 3 June 2024. Author’s Personal Collection.

"Sharing One Skin: The Okanagan Community" by Jeannette Armstrong

Jeanette Armstrong focused on discussing her “traditional view” on the “way of life”. She acknowledged her responsibility as an Okanagan Native who looks after the river and mountains within her community. Then, Armstrong explained the “Four Capacities of Self” in detail, those include the “Physical Self”, “Emotional Self”, “Thinking-Intellectual Self”, and the “Spiritual Self”. Together these four selves help define who we are and how we are seen within our community. The “Four Capacities of Self” also help us understand how we can strengthen our bonds with everything around us, even with ourselves. In the words of Armstrong, “...the capacity to know when we are everything that surrounds us; to experience our humanness in relation to all else and in consequence to know how we affect the world around us” (p. 464). By maintaining a connection to our “roots”, we’ll begin to understand how we impact the world around us and create an identity for ourselves.

Armstrong, Jeanette. “Sharing One Skin: The Okanagan Community,” in Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith (eds), The Case Against the Global Economy. San Francisco, CA, Sierra Club Books, 1996. Pp 460-470.

“How place names impact the way we see landscape” by B. Toastie

Memories and stories are connected to our land as described by B. Toastie in the article, “How place names impact the way we see landscape”. Toastie did this by introducing the idea of “place identity”: how an individual subjectively views and feels about a landscape or physical environment. He voiced the significance of stories in determining our “place identity” with the landscapes around us. Toastie discussed why people are so stubborn about changing names of historical sites to their original name or meaning of what they represent. “It’s fairly common, and it is a part of the unwillingness of the colonial structure and history to change in recognition of these tragedies and traumas and injustices” (p. 6). As a result of Americans’ refusal to acknowledge our Native sense of belonging and the resiliency that we possess.

Toastie, B. “How place names impact the way we see landscape.” High Country News: Know the West, 1 May 2022, https://www.hcn.org/issues/54.5/people-places-how-place-names-impact-the-way-we-see-landscape.

"And Then I Went to School" by Joe Suina

Joe Suina talked about his own personal experience with colonized education in his article, “And Then I Went to School”. His writing brought to light the emotional and mental impacts he faced, of having to choose between participating in Indigenous or Westernized customs. At the age of 6, Mr. Suina attended school, however, he faced harmful circumstances of being punished for speaking his language and constantly being oppressed for the stereotypical perceptions that didn’t follow the “western way of life”. After being treated this way for some time, Suina started to become aware that he was unconsciously changing himself to fit into the only “acceptable” lifestyle: “There was no choice left but to compete with the white man on his terms for survival. To do that I knew I had to give up part of my life” (p. 4).

Suina, Joseph “And I went to school” memories of a pueblo childhood,”. New Mexico Journal of Reading, Winter 1985, Vol. V, No.2.

"Sarah Deer Interview with Paul Peppis" by Oregon Humanities

Director of the Oregon Humanities Center, Paul Peppis’ interview with Sarah Deer took a deep dive into the connection between sexual violence and the history of settler colonialism. Sarah Deer’s background of being a professor of law at Kansas University and a volunteer victim advocate for six years, she had valuable statistics, historical information, and laws to share. Such as “over 50% of Native women will experience sexual violence within their lifetime” (Deer 2017) and how “over 80% of Native women will experience some form of violence within their lifetime” (Deer 2017). Deer expressed how these high statistics date back to Columbus’ 2nd Voyage, because these sexual violence crimes are mainly committed by non-Native men. Especially since men from Europe considered women as property. In which sexual perpetrators use strategies such as isolation, humiliation, and degradation to destroy their victim’s sense of identity and self. With this information, Deer also conveyed how the Tribal Law & Order Act (TLOA) of 2010 gave tribal courts the ability to prosecute non-Native for certain crimes, and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 2013 allowed for tribal courts to have more jurisdiction over sentencing an offender up to 3 years in prison.

Peppis, Paul. “UO Today with Sarah Deer”. Youtube, uploaded by Oregon Humanities Center, 13 June 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USrOFhONHRs. Accessed 1 Oct. 2024.

“The Cycles of Violence Against Native Women: Analysis of Colonialism, Historical Legislation, and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013” by Genevieve M. LeMay

 Genevieve M. LeMay related the exploration of Columbus to the prominent statistics of abuse and violence happening within Indigenous communities. LeMay explained why rape was used as a social weapon by European men to conquer Indigenous land. LeMay further addressed how sexual abuse has caused generational trauma within Native communities by describing statistics from a report made in May of 2016 by the Department of Justice and the National Institute of Justice. It concluded that “One in three Native women will be raped during their lifetime” (p. 3), and “56% of Indigenous women will experience sexual abuse” (p. 7). Lemay’s intriguing legal perspective on the 2013 Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) clarified how it improved protections, awareness, and access to law/medical services for Indigenous women who have experienced some form of violence.

LeMay, Genevieve M. (2018) “The Cycles of Violence Against Native Women: An Analysis of Colonialism, Historical Legislation and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013,” PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal: Vol. 12: Iss. 1, Article 1. https://doi.org/10.15760/mcnair.2018.1. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

“American Indian residential Boarding Schools” Historical trauma and the Role of Government, Churches and Tribes in Healing Indigenous Communities" by Briana Slaubaugh

Briana Slaubaugh brought to light the true relationship between Native Americans and Western Colonialism in her article. Slaubaugh sets the scene by expressing how Colombus’ colonizers and the U.S. Government wanted to get rid of their “Indian Problem” - referring to Native Americans. The U.S. government implemented the 1819 Indian Civilization Fund Act to assimilate Indigenous people by missionaries running schools for Native children. To further implement this act, Richard Pratt - a young army lieutenant - founded government sponsored boarding schools, based on the principle of “Kill the Indian, Save the Man”. Slaubaugh even conveyed the abuse that took place within these boarding schools, especially sexual abuse. She provided information such as “rapes being covered up by murdering the infants born from priests” (p. 20), and how “children were involuntarily sterilized” (p. 21). In 1987, there was a circumstance that occurred at the Hopi boarding school, where “the FBI found that John Boone sexually abused over 142 boys but the school’s principal had not investigated any of the allegations of abuse” (p. 20).

Slaubaugh, Briana. 2023. “American Indian Residential Boarding Schools: Historical Trauma and the Role of Government, Churches, and Tribes in Healing Indigenous Communities.” Eleutheria 7, (1). https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/eleu/vol7/iss1/3. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.

"Sexual Abuse within Canadian School Settings" by Simona Jellinek

Simona Jellinek’s blog post, “A Failing Grade: Sexual Abuse In School Settings”, illuminates the idea of sexual abuse taking place when an authoritative figure abuses their power. In 2022, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) examined disciplinary records from the past 5 years to discover how sexual abuse was affecting Canadian schools. The result of this study was that “252 school personnel in Canadian schools committed or were accused of committing sexual offenses against 548 children between 2017 and 2021” (p.2). About 85% of the offenders were men and 15% were women. Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook were social media platforms used to facilitate inappropriate contact or communication. To prevent the drastic situation from continuing on, the Ontario College of Teachers collaborated with the C3P to create an online sexual abuse prevention training that teachers have to complete in order to become certified. If they fail to do so before July 2025, these individuals will have their licenses suspended. This approach stops the imbalance of power within school settings by helping academic personnel understand ethical behavior.

Jellinek, Simona. “A Failing Grade: Sexual Abuse in School Settings.” Gluckstein Lawyers, 14 Jan. 2025, https://www.gluckstein.com/news-item/a-failing-grade--sexual-abuse-in-school-settings. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.

"Sexual Abuse Lawsuits Against Social Media Platforms" by The Guardian Newspaper

Child sexual abuse extends beyond face-to-face interactions; these two articles demonstrate how Meta and Snapchat Inc. play a role in this issue. In December 2023, Attorney General Ray Torrez filed a lawsuit against Meta because its social media platforms allowed predators to exchange child sexual abuse content for sexual acts or favors. The first article stated that “about 100,000 children using Facebook and Instagram endure online sexual harassment each day” (p. 3). In September 2024, Torrez initiated legal action against Snapchat Inc. He argued that minors experienced greater sexual interactions on the app compared to other social media platforms. To address this issue, Snapchat Inc. updated its technology to filter content and enable direct messaging. Furthermore, Meta launched an investigation called “Operation MetaPhile”, where undercover agents posed as children to see which app users were willing to sexually extort minors. As a result of this operation, three men were arrested and charged with child solicitation and attempted criminal penetration of a minor.

"Inquiry into child sexual abuse on Meta platforms leads to arrest of three men; New Mexico attorney general highlights real-world consequences of online dangers prevalent on firm's Instagram and Facebook apps." Guardian [London, England], 8 May 2024. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A793172132/AONE?u=nm_s_santafeis&sid=ebsco&xid=b903e933. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.

"New Mexico's attorney general files a suit saying Snapchat allows child sexual extortion." Daily Record [Rochester, NY], 9 Sept. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A808513940/ITOF?u=nm_s_santafeis&sid=ebsco&xid=043b4c96. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.

"Funding for Sexual Assault Programs in N.M." by Maria Jose Rodriguez Cadiz

The title of the article, “State must do more for survivors of sexual assault”, highlights the primary concern of Maria Jose Rodriguez Cadiz. Cadiz serves as the executive director of the Solace Crisis Treatment Center here in Santa Fe. Her team strives to provide accessible sexual assault services to residents in northern N.M. The N.M. Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs - which oversees the Solace Center - is facing a dilemma due to the Legislative Finance Committee offering no new funding for the year. The coalition proposed that the Legislative Finance Committee invest $7 million from N.M.’s $10.8 billion budget to support services for survivors of sexual assault. Lack of funding is a concern because the coalition could risk losing initiatives like the N.M. Sexual Assault Hotline, which barely launched in 2024. This could affect the “two-thirds of N.M. residents who have never received professional support” (p. 2) and the “54% of residents who have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime” (p. 2).

María José Rodríguez Cádiz. “State must do more for survivors of sexual assault.” Santa Fe New Mexican, 1 Feb. 2025, https://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_view/state-must-do-more-for-survivors-of-sexual-assault/article_fd531e04-df48-11ef-82c1-17530bd00ad5.html. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.