As promised, the team at Buffalo’s Fire is making this site into a forum for topic experts to share their views and news on Indian Country. Here is an opinion piece sent in by Gloria Wells. Note, if you have an analysis or opinion you would like to share, send it to our editors. Thank you. — Jodi Rave
Submitted by Gloria Wells, Chippewa:
In 1998, six percent of the then 68 women in prison were Native American. Today in Montana
over half of the 194 residents are Native American. This is the “Code of the West”.
Why are the correctional institutions growing with an over abundance of N D N women?
Are judges pre-judging? Is there racial profiling in Montana? Yes, yes and hell yes!!Tribes are being invited to come to the Women’s Correctional Center in Billings,
Mont. on Dec. 8 to hear what our Native women are saying. We have a
need for our tribal members to become involved in the support of our people who have
felt the sting of an unjust system. Our sisters and brothers are in need of
housing, child care, drug and alcohol support system upon their release from the
system. When we return to our old ways of caring for each other then and only then
will we be able to overcome the social problems that have chained our people since
the white man invaded our land.We can overcome this, just as we have overcome every issue presented. A revival,
for lack of a better word, to our traditional and spiritual ways is a must for all who
are facing the drug world. The streets call your name when you are a newbie in
getting straight. You fight the outer definitions created by society. A judgement is
placed upon you for the color of your skin. Then come the inner demons of self..low
self…low self esteem, low self worth, low self respect. Every N D N in Montana
has faced it on and off the reservation. We have regressed as far as the judicial
system goes, for we are not sentenced to the same time as our counterparts, hell no,
if they get 10 an Indian will get 30 for the same crime. It is the “Code of the West
Mentality” that has continually kept the cowboy and the Indian at bay, redneck again
redskin, with the Indian bringing a bow and arrow to a gun fight.
We need to upgrade to a higher level of battle weapons, and that is where our
spirituality comes in. Once that is in place the rest of the world is at times a
little easier to take.It is just that, traditional spirituality that took me to the women’s prison, for
there was a need for sweat rocks. I’ve got rocks. I have a pipe, sweet grass, cedar and sage, for my sisters on the inside.
This has not happened for the Native women in years, and it is past due!
Most of the Native women have been physically abused, beaten and or raped by a
non-Indian individual. Drugs and alcohol are used for the get away. The problem, that this is at
the best or least a temporary escape from the indifference felt by our people when
we report an abusive situation. I turned in a tape recorded message left on
answering machine by an ex-boyfriend who had beaten his girlfriend
beyond recognition. “You are so dead, so f’ing dead,” he said. He said all he needed was an alibi before he tore apart the woman’s body. “I cannot wait to give you what you have coming,” he
said. The man did beat his ex. She ended up walking four miles to get away, barefoot and bloody, her perp was not
even charged. Instead she was charged with felony aggravated assault.Other women have suffered. Susan Jones died of blunt force trauma to the face and her body dumped out on Hanover Road northeast of Lewistown, Mont.
Mary Garlic ‘s body was found floating in Spring Creek. The newspaper reads, “No
foul play was suspected.”These are not the only unsolved murders in Lewistown. Lets take a look at
how many have died inside jail. Look at how many have been found in the Missouri River Breaks. The count
is unbelievable.When those in power are left unchecked, evil abounds. Believe me, I lived it, and I
survived it. Susan and Mary, well they were not as fortunate.
