The following is an example of how far behind
America is with respect to the native people of
America. No human being should be treated
like Native Americans have been and are
treated. America’s founders based the
United States Constitution on equality.
We must, as a people, show our respect
to native people. They eat as we eat. They
breath as we breath. They die as we die.
No human being transcends this. Give me
one reason why anyone is better than anyone
else and I will ask you, what do you mean
by better?
President Barack Obama signed legislation into law
on July 29, 2010 written to help America’s indigenous
women. The Tribal Law and Order Act passed
despite House Republicans efforts to kill the bill.
More than 90 House Republicans voted against
the bill, despite strong bipartisan support in the
Senate.
“When 1 in 3 Native American women will be raped
in their lifetimes, that is an assault on our national
conscience; it is an an affront to our shared humanity;
it is something we cannot allow to continue,” Obama
said.
A Lakota Sioux woman, Lisa Marie Iyotte,
and a rape victim which occurred in front of her 2
daughters, and whose case was never prosecuted
by overworked federal officials because the
perpetrator didn’t use a weapon, said, “If the Tribal
and Order Law had existed 16 years ago, my story
would be very different.” Ms. Iyotte stood at the
podium for several minutes, struggling through
tears to speak, before Obama appeared at her side.
The 1885 Major Crimes Act states that American
Indians cannot prosecute felony crime that occurs
on their reservations, which is the U. S. attorneys’
responsibility, and is based in cities hundreds of
miles away.
“Unquestionably, the issue of violence and crime
against Indians warrants the attention of Congress,
and it deserves better than to be considered under
the process that is most commonly used to name post
offices,” said Nathaniel Sillin, Colorado Rep. Mike
Coffman’s (R) spokesman.
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Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103