"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - Indian Women More Likely to Suffer Abuse

TAHLEQUAH, Oklahoma – American Indian women are more likely to be victims of rape, sexual assault and domestic violence than any other group of women, a recent study found.

The two-year study released in April by Amnesty International U.S.A. titled “Maze of Injustice” found that the problem has been going on a long time, and it’s not any closer to being resolved.

American Indian and Alaska Native women “suffer disproportionately high levels of rape and sexual violence” while the federal government creates barriers to accessing justice. American Indian and Alaska Native women are more than 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than women in the United States in general.

The study looked at three regions with high numbers of American Indians, particularly American Indian women – the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North and South Dakota, Oklahoma and Alaska.

The study was conducted in 2005 and 2006 through research, interviews with survivors of sexual violence and their families, activists, support workers, service providers and health workers.

The 100-page study focused on the reasons Indian women fail to report or are reluctant to report rapes when they happen. The reasons cited include jurisdiction issues, problems of policing, barriers to prosecution and issues with forensic examinations, as was the case with Cherokee citizen Jami Rozell.

Rozell, 25, said she was raped by a male acquaintance four years ago while they were both students at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah.

Her alleged rapist now roams free, and she has been forced to relocate.

Her story began one night after a party she attended with several friends. She said she and one of her male friends went back to his apartment thinking that she could trust him because they had been friends since junior high. Then the unthinkable happened.

“I just wanted him to stop,” Rozell said. “He didn’t care that I was crying and screaming and begging him to stop.”

Her ordeal didn’t get any easier when family members took her to W.W. Hastings Hospital – an Indian Health Services facility. Hastings staff members informed Rozell that they weren’t “equipped” to handle her situation. She was sent to Tahlequah City Hospital, she said.

The Amnesty International study states, “Many IHS facilities lack clear protocols for treating victims of sexual violence and do not consistently provide survivors with a forensic sexual examination.”

The online Indian Health Service Manual states that IHS policy is to perform “only medically related care and treatment” in cases of rape.

Sexual assault nurse examiners are registered nurses with advanced education and clinical preparation in forensic examination of victims of sexual violence, but the study reports that there are no sexual assault nurse examiner programs at Oklahoma IHS facilities.

Hastings staff refer sexual assault victims to Tahlequah City Hospital because the local SANE programs are housed at TCH, a Hastings official said.

“It’s not that we can’t or won’t (handle rape cases) we just decided that’s where it will take place,” the official said.

After a TCH nurse performed a rape forensic exam, took pictures and evidence, a detective arrived to get a statement.

Tahlequah Police Chief Stephen Farmer said police officers and detectives are required each year to attend training on what to do in those situations.

Rozell’s father spoke to a family friend, who was also a defense attorney. He told her father to just forget about it and move on.

“He said, ‘don’t do it, the court system will just rape her again,’” she said.

Rozell said after about five months she decided to go forward with the charges.

She said during a court proceeding she was on the witness stand for two hours while her family, her alleged rapist and his family members watched silently.

“Going through the preliminary hearing was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through,” Rozell said.

Cherokee women who are victims of domestic or sexual abuse can receive some assistance through the CN, and the Nation supports several local agencies that offer direct care to victims.

In the past year, Cherokee Nation has donated more than $168,000 to women’s shelters and crisis services in Adair, Cherokee, Delaware, Muskogee, Ottowa, Rogers, Sequoyah, Tulsa, Wagoner and Washington counties. Programs receiving donations included Help-In-Crisis, Safenet Services, Inc., the Zoe Institute and Hope House.

“Victims of domestic violence and rape are referred to those agencies that we have partnerships with,” said Norma Merriman, Cherokee Nation Human Services group leader. “They do an excellent job and have the skills and resources to best handle the complex situations that are a part of domestic violence.”

Merriman added that Cherokee Nation provides many additional support services to victims including Indian Child Welfare, health services, donated foods, family assistance and even career training to help victims get back on their feet financially.

Help-In-Crisis was created in 1980 in Tahlequah by mental health professionals, ministers, law enforcement officials and medical personnel who thought there was a need for 24-hour assistance for people in crisis. There are three locations in Tahlequah, Sallisaw and Wagoner.

Lois Fuller is an advocate for the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians’ Tribal Victim’s Assistance Program.

Fuller said the TVA program is funded by a grant and serves all American Indian women, regardless of tribe. The program assists women who’ve been victims of domestic violence, sexual assaults and other abuse and assists in getting protective orders against their attackers.

Many of their clients are Cherokee women who turn to the UKB because there aren’t any programs offered through the Cherokee Nation.

For more information about Help-In-Crisis, visit its web site, helpincrisisinc.org, or if you need assistance call its Crisis Line, 1-800-300-5321, or 456-HELP.

For more information about the UKB’s Tribal Victims Assistance program go to unitedkeetoowahband.org, or call 1-800-794-6514. Advocates are on-call 24 hours a day.