Indigenous People

by: Lia

Native Americans are the only ones who can rightfully call themselves American. This was their land until the “white men” took everything from them. We took their homeland, their pride, their lives, and in return we gave them diseases, reservations, alcohol, and casinos.

Native American substance abuse levels are higher than those of any other group and
the death of Native Americans due to alcohol is three times higher than everyone else.

Their propensity to alcohol, that we introduced them to, along with their lack of pride, we stole from them, has lead to a great amount of physical and sexual abuse.

Native American women experience the highest levels of sexual and domestic abuse of any group in the United States.

According to Amnesty International, "Many experts in the movement believe that Native women are raped more often simply because there is very little done to stop it. Tribal courts and tribal law enforcement agencies have not been provided with the resources necessary to provide sufficient protection from sexual assault."

What are we doing to change this?

In a monologue a Native American woman tells her story of abuse, ending with, “They took our land. They took our ways. They took our men. We want them back.”