Native American women face pervasive sexual violence and little help from the laws meant to protect them
An Amnesty International report released late last month revealed a stockpile of shocking statistics about the pervasive sexual violence confronting Native American women. According to the report, "Maze of Injustice," more than one in three Native American women will be raped at some point in their lives. What's more, Native American women are nearly three times more likely to be victims of rape and sexual assault than white women in the United States.
Writing for the Progressive, Rita Pyrillis, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, notes that, sadly, these statistics aren't even a full accounting of the number of victims. Confronted with a "chronically understaffed and underfunded justice and law enforcement system and its confusing jurisdictional lines," victims of sexual violence lack for both protection and advocacy. "Not surprisingly, most Indian women never report sexual assaults," Pyrillis writes. "When they do, they risk further pain and humiliation only to watch the perpetrator usually go free."
