Violence Against Native American Women

The speaker discusses two articles that highlight the exploitation and oppression of Native peoples. The first article by Winter Rabbit focuses on forced sterilizations of Native women, which were non-consensual and wiped out generations of women. The second article by Jen Derenwater explores the various forms of oppression faced by Native communities, including high rates of violence, incarceration, homelessness, and inadequate healthcare. The speaker emphasizes the importance of amplifying the voices of marginalized communities and acknowledges the emotional toll of activism. The personal approach in Derenwater's article deepens the meaning of both articles by evoking empathy and prompting action. Hello, everyone, and today I will be discussing two articles that explore the exploitation, marginalization, and oppression of Native peoples. Forced Sterilization of Indigenous Women by Winter Rabbit discusses the prevalence of forced, and here I do want to emphasize the word forced because they were non-consensual and wiped out generations of women, so forced sterilizations of Native women. I'm coupling this article with an article of similar content, Indigenous Lives and Disability Justice by Jen Derenwater. I picked these two articles because I, a black woman, am all too familiar with the silencing of violence against marginalized communities. I usually study that of black women, so I felt like I really wanted to highlight Native American women who face the same type of oppression. Okay, I want to discuss how each article deepens the implications and thesis of the other because both discuss violence, but in a very different way. To begin, Winter Rabbit's article is incredibly formal and direct. We are provided with historical evidence and context of general violence against Native women. I want to stop here and just give a content warning. I will be discussing murder and violence. For example, Anna Mae Awash was found dead on February 24th, 1967. Her hands were chopped off, and an autopsy revealed that she had been shot in the back of the head, quote, execution style, end quote. Native women experienced highest rate of violence in the United States out of any group in the United States. As for the sterilizations, roughly, quote, 3,406 Native American women between the ages of 15 and 44 were sterilized between 1973 and 1976, end quote. This is a silent genocide. Jen Darewater's article is a little more general. It discusses the variety of ways in which oppression affects Native communities. They have a lower life expectancy, as 42% of the population is under the age of 25. Murder is the third leading cause of death, and suicide is unfortunately frequent in Native communities. They also have the highest rate of incarceration and homelessness. Moreover, they face a healthcare crisis, quote, access to healthcare is the lowest in the United States, and the quality of care we receive through Indian Health Services, IHS, a federally funded and operated healthcare system for those enrolled in state and federally recognized tribal nations, consistently remains the worst ranked care in this undeniably wealthy nation, end quote. Besides the very broad approach that Darewater takes that differentiates the two articles, Darewater's personal approach definitely deepens the meaning of both articles. What I mean by this is the vulnerability within their article. Towards the end, Darewater admits, quote, I've shared so many of these statistics and realities with non-Natives more times than I care to count. This takes a heavy toll on me. I sat crying almost the entire day reading this essay, end quote. Activism is exhausting, and I'm sure that winter rabbit is exhausted too. By showing this vulnerability, the readers can see and feel the mental toll that activism takes on a person. Sterilization is something that happened. It was genocide. I am angry. By adding feeling and emotions to articles, what happened and what currently happens to Native Americans not only feels all too real, but it prompts activism and it spreads the word. I love the way that Darewater used their emotions, even anger, which is sometimes frowned upon, but anger to show that this is something that they truly care about and something needs to be done and it isn't being done. I think that that really deepens the meaning of winter rabbit's article because we see just how tiring even writing an article like that can be. Thank you.