9.30.2007
Updates on Past Stories
When Religion and Subculture Collide: Florida Today updates us on the case of a group of goth kids who were fighting a ban on "goth" clothing. It looks like the children argued their case effectively, because the Brevard County School Board has removed the term "gothic" from its dress-code policy, much to the approval of Florida Today's editorial staff.
"The Brevard County School Board tweaked its dress code policy to remove the word "Gothic" this week. That was a judicious move. No other group of students is listed in the policy. Hip-hop and jock styles also break the dress code, but their groups aren't singled out for censure by name. Branding Goths as somehow dangerous was unfair and unneeded ... school administrators should be careful to apply dress code policies fairly for all groups, from the star athletes to Wiccan kids."
Facial piercings and "extreme" facial makeup are still banned, but "goth" clothing itself is no longer banned. The compromise that may make life easier for Amaris Mulhauser, who claimed that her style of dress was an outgrowth of her Wiccan religious practice.
A Canadian Witch-Hunt: The Halifax Daily News follows up with some local Pagans in the wake of attacks and harassment towards local Witch Shauna Cook and her friends.
"Earlier this month, a Halifax hedge-witch and her two pagan friends were attacked leaving her home, leading her to decide she must leave the city for the safety of her children. The woman said she has been repeatedly targeted because of her religion. Imagine if the violence had been directed at Jews leaving a synagogue, or Muslims leaving a mosque. Would Haligonians tolerate such an attack? ... Vanessa Smith of Little Mysteries on Barrington Street says the attack was doubly unfortunate - because of the pain caused to those attacked, and because it does not reflect the Halifax she knows. "Halifax is a very open city," she says, and most Wiccans practice in peace."
Another local Witch interviewed says that her children also face harassment for their religious views, but that she is happier being "out" about her beliefs, and that "Witches are the new gays - and we're finally coming out." As for Shauna Cook, you can get a fuller picture of the situation leading to her move by reading the two comments made on this blog by a local friend.
Raping With Impunity: Back in April I reported on a recently released Amnesty International report that revealed shocking levels of outsider rape being perpetrated on American Indian and Alaska Native women. This past Thursday, members of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee heard the testimony of Native women in hopes of creating legislation towards eliminating legal red tape that hinders many investigations of rape and similar crimes.
"Jami Rozell, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, testified that she was brutally raped but decided not to press charges after a series of lawyers and officials told her she would be "raped again" by the justice system. She told senators that several months after the crime, when she summoned the courage to press charges, she was told all of the evidence had been destroyed. "I have not been able to stand up for myself until now," she said."
You can read the testimonies of the participants, here. Sadly, rape isn't the only problem facing Native women in our country, beatings and harassment from non-Natives is still an all-too-common occurrence as evidenced by the recent case in which a teenage girl was beaten and then harassed by white supremacists in Idaho. Hopefully the Senate can indeed "streamline" the maze of injustice facing Natives in our country.
Labels: Amaris Mulhauser, American Indian, Amnesty International, Canada, goth, Halifax, law, Native American, Paganism, rape, Shauna Cook, Witchcraft
4.27.2007
Raping With Impunity
Amnesty International has issued a disturbing new report that asserts an incredibly high rate of sexual violence and rape against Native American and Alaskan Native women.
"A US Department of Justice study on violence against women concluded that 34.1 per cent of American Indian and Alaska Native women - or more than one in three - will be raped during their lifetime; the comparable figure for the USA as a whole is less than one in five. Shocking though these statistics are, it is widely believed that they do not accurately portray the extent of sexual violence against Native American and Alaska Native women."
The report goes on to state that contrary to typical rape statistics, the vast majority of these rapes are committed by strangers and outsiders.
"According to the US Department of Justice, in at least 86 per cent of reported cases of rape or sexual assault against American Indian and Alaska Native women, survivors report that the perpetrators are non-Native men."
Unfortunately, due to a mixture of archaic laws, a lack of funding for tribal courts and law enforcement, and a general failure at the federal level to pursue rape cases against Native women most of these crimes go unpunished. Creating a situation that allows perpetrators to "rape with impunity".
"It appears that Indigenous women in the USA may be targeted for acts of violence and denied access to justice on the basis of their gender and Indigenous identity ... Indigenous women described to Amnesty International how they experience contemporary sexual violence as a legacy of impunity for past atrocities."
Monica Aleman, Program Director at MADRE, an International women;s human rights organization, and International Coordinator of FIMI, the International Indigenous Women's Forum sees the issue of rape and violence against Indigenous women as linked to the rights and recognition of Indigenous Peoples.
"For Indigenous women, historical and contemporary experiences of genocide, in combination with gender discrimination, give rise to multiple forms of gender-based violence. Today, global patterns of ongoing colonization and militarism; racism and social exclusion; and poverty-inducing economic and "development" policies generate human rights violations against Indigenous women, including gender-based violence."
What can be done at this stage? Amnesty International has several recommendations, the principal ones being funding and the removing of legal obstacles created by "jurisdictional confusion and complexity". Meanwhile 'Devilstower' at the progressive mega-blog Daily Kos urges readers to contact their congresspersons urging (among other things) the full funding of the Violence Against Women Act.
"In the meantime, send a note to your congressperson -- today would be good -- urging them to support additional funds for law enforcement and forensics in these communities (needless to say, there is no CSI: Standing Rock). And tell them to dump a law that, at its heart, enshrines the idea that some people are less entitled to justice than others. It's well past time for the racist 1885 Major Crimes Act to be eliminated. Most of all, work to see that congress fully funds the Violence Against Women Act. The current act calls for 10% of funds to go to tribal areas."
This report is deeply troubling. Rape on such a massive scale against an Indigenous population points to an almost genocidal impulse. Rape as a weapon of war. Modern Pagans and Heathens should take special notice of this. I have long felt that those of us who follow a revived or reconstructed form of polytheism should pay special attention to, and when possible practice solidarity with, those peoples, groups, and cultures that practice or nurture a surviving form of ancient or indigenous polytheism.
We should spread the message of this ongoing tragedy among our communities, write to our politicians, and give to charitable groups that are stepping up to help.
Labels: American Indian, Amnesty International, indigenous, Native American, rape
