Family Violence Training
Violence against Native American Women in New York State
Supporting Training Manual
Barbara General, MSW, PhD Student
Kate Kost, Associate Professor, SUNY Buffalo
Barry White, Project Associate, BSC College Relations Group
Meg Brin, Child Welfare Administrative Director
Vivian Figliotti, CPS Child Welfare Trainer
Diane Porcelli, Child Welfare Trainer
Wendy MacPherson, Senior Child Welfare Trainer
Bettey Flemming, CPS Child Welfare Trainer
Award: 34930
Project: 1044831
Task: 2
Violence against Native American Women in New York State
Purpose: to provide participants with a general information of (a) overview of Native Americans policies affecting family breakdown of native culture (b) to provide an understanding on the lack of research date and lack of native researchers (c) consideration of protocols when working with native victims of violence (d) to bring an understanding on the need for cultural competency with Native Americans (e) the need for appropriate outreach by mainstream shelters to urban and reservation communities (f) the pursuit in the establishment of native women shelters in urban and reservation settings.
Rationale: Epidemiological studies report Native American females have the highest rate of victimization than any other racial group in the United States, yet there is little understanding regarding this social problem and a very small amount of research on this topic. The connection between violence against native women and child abuse is not conclusive as the research for this specific group is limited.
Targeted Population: caseworkers, supervisors, and child welfare staff.
Objectives of Training:
Cognitive
§ Pre-test on knowledge of tribal nations and culture in New York State
§ Provide a brief historical perspective on the colonization of Native American people
§ Demonstrate the historical roots of oppression of Native American people
§ Provide a general understanding of family violence in Native American communities
§ Provide an understanding of protocol in Native American communities in an urban and reservation setting when working with victims of family violence.
Operative
§ Look at existing services available to native American Women in regards to shelter services:
- cultural and community understanding of native women seeking help
- brainstorm
- piece from video can be inserted on psychological impact
Time Frame: 3-4 hours
Methods
Lecture, brainstorm, pre-test, post test, handouts, role play, large group activity, video viewing
Violence against Native American Women
Power Point Slides: 1-4
a) Room Set Up:
-Throughout workshop chairs are in a circle or semi-circle- allowing nothing to lean on or hide behind-need to demonstrate a world view on how people are connected-later in workshop.
- No writing by participants except for pretest and post-test
b) Welcome & Introductions by facilitator and participants
c) Provide overview of the training
d) Handout pretest-general knowledge of Nations in New York State
Power Point Slide 5
a) Hand out 12-question pre test. Provide pencils
Power Point Slide 6
a) Reference terms
b) Ask how many are familiar with the term. If familiar ask them where they learned about the terms-training, school etc.
c) Native American & American Indian- common terms in the United States and New York State to refer to the Haudenosaunee or Ongwehonwe people.
-Haudenosaunee (people of the longhouse)
- Ongwehonwe (original people)
- Both are also known as the Iroquois (French term for flesh eaters or cannibals) or Six Nations confederacy-makes reference to the six nations: Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Mohawk, and Tuscarora.
d) The terms, aboriginal, indigenous and first nations are sometimes use by Haudenosaunee or Ongwehonwe people in NYS but are used much more in Canada by native and non-native people. Native American or American Indian is hardly used in Canada. They will sometimes make reference to the term native.
Power Point Slide 7
a) The Tribal nations in NYS are as follows:
Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Mohawk, tuscorora. Note: these tribal groups are also referred to as the: Haudenosaunee & Ongwehonwe, Iroquois Confederacy
Power Point Slide 8
a) Algonquian Tribal Nations in NYS are as follows:
Sinnecock Indian Nation & Unkechaunge Nation- (Long Island, NY)
Power Point Slide 9 & 10
- Maps demonstrate reservation communities but not urban communities
- Haudenosaunee live on both sides of the border (NY and Canada)
- # of reservations in NYS/ # of reservations in Canada
Power Point Slide 11 & 12
a) NYS Native American Population
- American Indian and Alaska Native: 82,461
- American Indian or in combination with one or more other races: 171,581
b) USA Native American Population
- American Indian Alaska Native: 2,475,956 (number reflects individuals who reported being Native American only)
- The number increases to 4,119,301 or 1.5 % of the population when individuals report Native American and another race.
- Ask participants what does this figure of 4,119,301 mean and how should they interpret the number? Look for answers regarding diversity and multiculturalism etc.
- Example: A Native American client may appear to look African American, Caucasian, Latino, etc…There may be several reasons why a client may associate or self identify as Native American. Haudenosaunee follow a matrilineal system; they are an enrolled member of a tribe; a strong family ties on the father’s side of the family; child or adult may have been raised by Haudenosaunee relatives.
* Number of tribal nations federally and state recognized- again demonstrate diversity within
Power Point Slide 13-15
a) Epidemiology
- The 1999 Department of Justice, American Indians and Crime Report stated that American Indians experience per capita rates of violence that are more than twice those of the US resident population. It also described the rate of violent crime against American Indian women as nearly 50% higher than that reported by Black males.
- Native American victims of intimate and family violence are more likely than victims of all other races to be injured and need hospital care (Medical costs were more than 21 million over a 4 year period).
- The rate of violent crime experienced by Native American women is nearly 50% higher than that reported by black males aged 12 and over.
- Violent Crime rate among Native American women was 98 per 1000- more than twice that of whites at 40 per 1000 or 56 per 1000 for African Americans
b) Brainstorm-why is the prevalence rate so high?
- Use flip chart and write answers down- compare to available empirical evidence on the literature in general (need to submit references on economic, education, and age as determinants.)
Power Point Slide 16
- A study by the Ontario Native Women’s Association found that 9 out of 10 Aboriginal women in Ontario had personally experienced family violence. Of these women, 87% had experienced physical injury and 57% had been sexually abused.
- It is estimated that between 75% and 90% of women in some northern Aboriginal communities are abused. The same study found that 40% of children in Northern communities had been physically abused by a family member.
- There are 15 native women shelters throughout Ontario, Canada. * If you have a client who is enrolled in a Canadian tribe in Ontario or another province and is serious in leaving her abusive spouse or needs respite, you can make referral to a shelter in Ontario, Canada.
- One Native American Shelter in NYS- Alleghany Reservation.
Power Point Slide 17
a) Tracking of Domestic Violence Cases in NYS
- In an interview with a domestic violence specialist (police officer) in Erie County in April 2005. He reported that cases are not tracked by race.
- A non-native participant (police officer) in a focus group from Oneida reservation reported that the county he worked in did track cases of domestic violence by race.
b) Focus Groups in NYS
- Four focus groups were conducted in native communities in NYS on violence against Native American women. The groups consisted predominately of Native American case workers, social workers and community leaders.
- One out of four focus groups reported having a domestic violence program. The numbers increased from 21 clients to 80 in one year. This programs two workers that provide linkage and referral; support and transportation to family court. It is not a shelter.
- There is one native women’s shelter in NYS but is open to tribal members only.
- These two communities have the capability of tracking statistics.
c) Further Research needs to be conducted with shelters in urban settings
Power Point Slide 18 & 19
a) Colonization- building a conceptual model from a Native American perspective.
Gerald Alfred (Mohawk, PhD in Public Administration) defines colonialism as: not an abstract notion but a real set of people and relationships and structures
McGillvray & McComaskey (both non-natives, both PhD in sociology) defines colonization as: refers to a position in which a dominant group embarks on a process to alter or eliminate laws, customs, and belief systems of a community. It is an invasive structural and psychological relationship between the colonizer and the colonized which is ultimately reflected in the dominant institutions policies, histories and literatures of the occupying powers.
Power Point 20
a) Native American World View
- In many Native American cultures, the circle is sacred
- More specifically for the Haudenosaunee- the cycle of life is circular, birth death and renewal. Ceremonies follow a circular and seasonal calendar- symbol of unity, strength and cycles of life
- All life is interconnected-all life is sacred
- Haudenosaunee opening to ceremonies and greetings- acknowledges all life on earth
b) Western World View
- Life is sacred but in the same breathe all living things can be conquered-even nature-means justifies the ends.
- Sovereignty-western term for dominance-came from the church
- Linear thought-circular not good
Power Point 21
- Epistemology-ways of knowing of many Native American tribal groups have either been extinguished where all is forgotten or eclipsed by the western ways of knowing
- Epistemology
Violence against Native American Women in New York State
Pre-Test
1. Name as many of the 6 Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.
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2. What are the two states that recognize tribal nations in NYS?
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3. There are 10,000 Native Americans in NYS. True or False (Circle one)
4. In general, violence against Native American women is not an issue in native communities. True or False (Please circle one)
5. If native women are experiencing domestic violence they are able to obtain support such as access to a shelter, advocacy and qualify for transitional housing in their tribal communities. True or False (Please circle one)
6. Native women are culturally understood when they attempt to access shelters in urban communities. True or False (Please circle one)
7. Native Women do not experience rates of abuse as other racial groups such as Caucasian or African American Women. True or False (Please circle one)
8. There are no real differences in providing services for Native American women and women of other races when it comes to domestic violence. True or False (Circle one)
Federal Policies
Through federal policies every effort was made to existentially enclose the non-Western world into a European schema, and then to blame unwilling elements for being backward, ignorant, or without vision (Dorris, 1979).
Civilization Fund Act
An act making provision for the civilization of the Indian tribes adjoining the frontier settlements.
On March 3, 1819, Congress passed legislation, excerpted here creating a “civilization fund” and setting aside $10,000 annually to support it. It looked forward to the “further decline and final extinction” of Indian tribes and was meant to introduce among them “the habits and arts of civilization,” including agriculture and reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Source: “Commentary on civilization Fund Act.” American Journey Online: The Native American Experience. Primary Source Microfilm 1999. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. http://galenet.galegroup.com.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/servlet/HistRC/
Indian Removal Act
By the end of the 1820’s, Indian affairs in the United States had reached a crisis. The Indian tribes in the East were surrounded by white settlers who pressed upon the Indian lands and wanted the tribes out of the way. The solution to the problem adopted by the United States government was the exchange of Indian lands in the East for lands in the West, a policy that sought to satisfy the white and at the same time save the Indians from destruction The Indian Removal Act of May 28, 1830 marked the final adoption of the policy.
“Indian Removal Act Passed, 1830” DISCovering U.S. history. Gale research, 1997. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group.
Carlisle Indian School
Carlisle Indian industrial school, the first off-reservation school for American Indians in the United States, was established in 879 in Pennsylvania by Captain R.H. Pratt under whose twenty-five year direction it grew from 136 to 1,000 students. Instruction included practical training in farming, horticulture, dressmaking, cooking, laundering, housekeeping, and twenty trades. A distinctive feature was the outing system. Pupils were urged to spend a year working on farms or in homes or industries of the neighborhood. The school’s football team including the great athlete Jim Thorpe, became famous by defeating strong, established college teams during the 1907, 1911, and 1912 seasons. The school was closed in 1918.
“Carlisle Indian Industrial School.” Dictionary of American History. Volume 7 Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI
Dawes Act
Attempt by U.S. Government to acculturate the American Indian into white society by providing for Indian ownership of land in severalty. When the Dawes Act became law on February 8, 1887, it was hailed as the Indian Emancipation Act and Secretary of the Interior L. Q.C. Lamar called it “the most important measure of legislation ever enacted in this country affecting our Indian affairs.”
The law dealt primarily with Indian ownership of land. It authorized the President of the United States to allot the lands in Indian reservations to individual Indians, so that instead of being held in common by the tribe, the lands would be held in severalty by individual s as their own property. Each head of a family was to receive a quart-section of land (160 acres); single persons over 18 and orphans would receive 80 acres; and other person 40 acres. In 1891, an amendment to the law equalized the allotments made under the act were to be held in trust by the United States for 25 years during which time the Indian could no sell or otherwise dispose of his land; at the end of that period he would receive full title to it. After allotments were made on a reservation, the surplus land left over (and this amounted in most cases to considerable proportion of the reservation) could be sold to white settlers, and the money thus collected was to be held in trust for the Indians and used for their benefit.