LIGHTLY EDITED FILE National Indigenous Women's Resource Center Reviving the Movement: Voices of Advocates Remote CART August 22, 2017 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. * * * * * This text is being provided in a lightly edited draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. This text may also contain phonetic attemps at sounds and words that were spoken and environmental sounds that occurred during the webinar. * * * * * CART PROVIDED BY Angie Sundell, RPR, CRR, CBC, CCP Paradigm Reporting & Captioning Inc. 612.339.0545 Caption@paradigmreporting.com >> The broadcast is now starting. All attendees in listen-only mode. >> This webinar is being closed captioned. Hello, everyone, my name is Gwendolyn Packard, Training and Technical Assistance Specialist with the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center. NIWRC upholds grassroots advocacy and promotes social change in Indian communities to address violence against Indian women. NIWRC is dedicated to reclaiming sovereignty of Indian nations by restoring safety for Indian women and children. Indigenous advocates have played a critical role in speaking out against violence and injustice. They have brought national attention to the diversity and unique needs in tribal communities. They have readily and thoughtfully informed national policy based on their own experience and the experiences of survivors, relatives, families, and communities. They have taught us and continue to teach us to be good relatives and to be better human beings. They have continuously contributed to this ever-expanding movement to address the multitude and complexity of issues facing tribal nations, Indian communities and Alaskan Native villages. Join us in listening to the voices of Indigenous advocates who have helped create, shape, and grow this powerful movement to end violence against Indian women and children in tribal communities. Following this webinar presentation, you are invited to reflect and share your insights and the work going forward, including challenges, successes, lessons learned, contributions, and our legacy in this global movement. This webinar was made possible by a grant from the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Family and Youth Services Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The views expressed herein are solely the responsibility of the panel and do not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Today's webinar is on Reviving the Movement: Voices of Advocates. And we are certainly honored to have with us two strong, outstanding Indigenous women to talk about where it all began, where we are, and where we are going in this important and dynamic movement to end the violence. With us today is Karen Artichoker, Oglala Ho Chunk, has spent her lifetime advocating for women and families and is known for developing resources, programs, and strategies in response to violence against women and children. She is a founding mother of Cangleska, Incorporated, award-winning model for tribal domestic violence response, and Sacred Circle, National Resource Center to End Violence Against Native Women, the original resource center that has now evolved into the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center. In addition to working in the area of domestic violence and sexual assault, Karen has experience working in the fields of mental health and substance abuse. She was a counselor at the Rosebud Sioux Tribe's Methamphetamine Treatment Center and worked as a care coordinator with Tiwahe Glu Kini Pi, a children's mental health program on the Rosebud Seservation. Karen brings this well-rounded career in her work to end violence. She has a B.A. from the University of Colorado in Boulder, in addition to graduate clinical mental health and alcohol/drug case studies coursework from Sinte Gleska University. She is a mother, grandmother, and a great grandmother and lives in Rapid City, South Dakota. Also with us today is Eileen Hudon, Anishinabe, White Earth Nation, Crane Clan. Eileen has a long and illustrious lifetime of work in this movement. She is currently co-founder and organizer for the Elder's Lodge Sexual Assault Council. She has founded and co-founded several vital, important organizations that continue to thrive, such as Mending the Women of Nations, Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition and Mending the Sacred Hoop. She has worked in shelters and advocacy programs and brings a wealth of information. She served as a consultant and co-author of "Garden of Truth," the first research of its kind in the U.S. addressing the prostitution and trafficking of Native women. She has incredible experience in working directly with criminal, civil, and juvenile and tribal courts advocating on behalf of battered women and sexual assault victims. She is the advocate's advocate and continues to be a valuable mentor and teacher to everyone who comes in contact with her. She is a powerful national and international speaker, trainer and program development specialist. Before we begin, please know that during this webinar you will have an opportunity to ask questions. Now I'd like to ask Tang Cheam to explain how the control panel works and how you can ask questions during the presentation. Are you there? >> Yes, welcome, everyone. On the right-hand side of your screen there, unless you've moved it, there should be a gotowebinar control panel. Within that panel, there's a couple areas that I'd like to highlight that would be -- could become useful. The first being the audio section, so, if at any time you counter any audio issues, you can open that up and, if you're connected over your computer, then within that, you could switch from computer audio to phone call and then back to computer audio to attempt to regain a better audio connection. And then the other areas I'd like to point out is the questions section. So, at any time during today's presentation, if you have any questions, feel free to type those in to that area and then those questions will come back to us and then we'll make every effort to answer every question that comes in. And then, finally, there is a handout section. So, in that handout section, there's a PDF file that you can download, feel free to click on that if you wish to follow along. Or if you want to print it out or save it for later, you can click that to download it now. This session is being recorded. So, whether you want to review, you know, later on or if you want to be reminded of where to download the PDF follows, there will be a follow-up e-mail after the webinar. [ coughing ] [ can't hear ] With a link in which to view the recording or download the resources. Other than that, I hope you enjoy today's presentation. >> Great, thank you, Tang. And, finally, your feedback is important to us. Please take a few minutes to fill out the evaluation form following this webinar presentation. So, now, without any further ado, let's begin. Karen, are you there? Karen: I'm here. Hi, everyone. [ speaking Native language ] My name is Karen Artichoker, and I'm very honored to have been asked by NIWRC to co-present with Eileen today. [ hearing background noise ] Yeah, you know, Eileen and I both go way back, so we've had some interesting conversations putting this together. Me, I'm the kind of person where I start to look up in the dictionary keywords. Maybe that's some English deficits I have or something. But when we talk about reviving, then, well, what are we talking about here? [ background conversation ] I looked up the word and in English it means restore to life or consciousness, regain life, give new struggle or energy to. So, when we're talking about reviving a movement, there's some implication that we've had kind of a loss of energy or maybe we've plateaued and we're looking around trying to figure out where we're going from here. Can we move on? I don't know how we signal you go to the next slide. Or can I go to the next slide? Gwen? Hello? >> Yeah. I'm sorry. [ didn't hear what she said ] Just let me know and I'll attempt it. Karen: And I don't know if the audience out there, I'm old school, so, you know, I still like flip charts. And neither Eileen or I have our voice mail set up, which is driving Gwen crazy, sign of our age. But if people want to check in, we'd love to see who you are, where you're from. I'm sure many of you we know, I hope. Because we have built a movement over the years and there have been many many voices added and we'd love for you to check in. So then we're talking about movement. And the definition of movement, an act of changing physical location or position and then a group of people working together to advance shared political, social or artistic ideas. Do you have anything to add, Eileen? Eileen: I would like to talk about my experience about being part of the women's movement, if that's -- if this feels like the time. Karen: Okay. Eileen: Well, one of the questions for me on this topic had to do with, you know, really, when did we begin to see ourselves as movement as Native women addressing this work. When I think back to the first NCADV conference I attended back in 1982, there was a large room set aside for Native women's caucus, and I went and sat in that room by myself. A Native woman from here in Minnesota had facilitated -- co-facilitated the Women of Color Institute that preceded that conference. [ missed her name ] And there was a moderator of that conference was P. CatLynn Fullwood and she stood at that podium nursing her baby a good part of the day. I mean, that's, you know, to put in reference the resources that we had available for us at that time. And sitting in that caucus room that first evening, Dana was tired, had gone to bed, and I was waiting for Tillie Black Bear to show up because she was the only other Native woman there. So to think about a time when we had so little access that there were only three of us at a national meeting and think about the change that has occurred and how we host many of those national meetings as Native women. There's been dramatic change from that time until now. One of the first huge changes was having support from the National Resource Centers to have -- to support Sacred Circle at that time, or the creation of Sacred Circle, and that was before the passage of Violence Against Women Act. And then, you know, to think about the first training that we had for Mending the Sacred Hoop for the grantees. Initially, there were only eight. So to think about initially there were eight tribal grantees, and I'm not certain how many Family Violence Prevention Services Act grantees, tribal grantees there were at that time. But to think about our limited access to the knowledge that we hold within our tribal communities and how we were learning from the circumstances of women and, you know, how that occurred within each of our communities. Because one of the things we heard immediately is, we're different, we are different. And that's true. It's like we have many differences across our tribal communities and even when you look at the work done by tribal coalitions, each is distinct and distinct to the community that they're serving. So, that was one of the points I wanted to bring out was really the passage of VAWA, the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, that enabled us to have the resources. We were being brought together and then being able to learn from one another. So, between Family Violence Prevention Services Act and the work that was being done by Sacred Circle at that time and for many years on, then to NIWRC, but also the work that was being done under the Violence Against Women Act by Mending the Sacred Hoop, and how that brought us together as Native people to learn from one another, to really begin to build a national movement and it was pretty much from those resources, but we had long been doing that work within our own communities. Karen: And, so, that brings us to this next slide about the traditional role of women. So, if we want to take that history even further back, you know, Sally rush Wagner, original feminist, because we did have -- we didn't have equality in our communities, so we had women as activists, women as organizers, women as enforcers. One of my friends, he always says that women were the first line of law enforcement, because as they observed problems in the family, then, you know, they were the ones making those referrals. And saying, hey, you know, you need to go talk to this nephew or whatever, whatever. Women acting as mentors, nurturers, and, of course, sisterhood was prevalent because it was about being a good relative. So, when you look at some of those intersections, then we know that in New York when the feminist movement met before women in this country had the right to vote, their political platform stated that they did not believe that Native people should become citizens. And initially, that's terrible, you know, but the thinking was that Native women already had equality in their families. And, so, giving Native women the vote would take that from them and giving Native nations, our people, the vote would take that harmony away from them and cast them into the same problems that mainstream society and women had. So, you know, there's that history, early history, in the history of this country, of connection between women and looking at how -- and the intersections of various oppressions and movements. So, if we could move on, please. So, Eileen addressed some of this, you know, so we know that we were always -- we were always movers and shakers in our community. We know that as Native women, you know, we were advocates, that we were always looking to the interests of our community and that we were listened to, our voices were listened to. And I love the story of, I want to say it was Crow women, I'm not sure, but it was about how the tribe had really depleted the resources in the area, but the male leadership that's supposed to make the decision to move the camp hadn't given the go ahead, so the resources are depleted in one day, you know, the women kind of got total informally, they're talking and some of the women, they just started picking up camp. The guys are, like, oh, okay, I guess it's time to move. You know? So, we've always played a critical role. And some will assert that we actually, as Native women, were the models upon which, you know, non-Native women in this country based their movement because they were living in proximity to our communities and they're looking at our community saying, gee, how come those women have decision-making authority, and how come those women own property and how come those women aren't property. And it really gave rise to non-Native women speaking out and speaking up about their rights. So, like Eileen, I don't know that I was involved quite as early as Eileen, but, you know, we were reminiscing about different -- she's, like, you were there, I don't remember that. But certainly, you know, it's not that I don't feel like I was any smarter or anything than many of you on the call or most much you on the call, but it was just a matter of opportunity that I was given it is honor, privilege and responsibility of being in a position to put my voice forth. And, so, we did the best we could at the moment and, of course, there's a lot of things we would have done differently if we would have known some of the things then that we know now. But we've always been involved in that movement even, like Eileen said, it might have been single or few voices but certainly we've been -- we've been a driving force for our own people and for all women. So, I think we're going to talk a little bit more in a minute here about funding and grant development and those impacts on tribal communities. But I don't think I included a slide on why that history is important and I know that, you know, we always try to include some of that as -- in our trainings. But when you look at the strategies, whether it's on a local, tribal level, state level or a federal level, those strategies are often, you know, very -- they're long term. You're looking at five years, 10 years, 20 years. You know, the Violence Against Women Act, I think it came pretty fast. I'm thinking it was five to seven years in developing it and then getting it passed. Change does not necessarily happen quickly all the time. And, so, it's good to know what these strategies are and what worked, what we want to tweak, what we want to try again. So it's good to look at our herstory and it's good for us to know that our grandmothers had voices and made them heard. >> Eileen: I want to add to that what you're saying, Karen, and to say that, as the women's movement was beginning, our Native women were definitely a part of that. And that, you know, that's acknowledged to be, you know, in the early '70s. Well, many of those women and their allies, I'm talking about people throughout the country, were many of the same people that got the Victims of Crime Act passed, and I don't think we're on that frame, but, you know, VOCA got passed in '83, well, the women that were organizing on the state level were also organizing on the national level. And those were women that had access to make that happen. On the state level, you know, as Native women, our voices were being involved in that conversation. Not all of us were able to be a part of how that conversation was carried to the national level. So, I'm saying that women in our state were organizing and had allies on the local level, the state level, and the national level. And those individuals, you know, coming together as a movement, got VACA passed. And that was in '83. '84, soon after Family Violence Prevention Services Act was passed. And at that meeting at NCADV when Margaret Heckler brought that report. I was the Minnesota representative to that meeting. And what was interesting to me, still in retrospect, thinking about that, is she said the one controversy that was had by congress was the word "woman." When talking about violence that women experience. So, that's why -- that's part of how we got that term "family violence." It's like, that was what congress was debating and that's how that word came into, you know, what we still use today. Of course, there are many other influences in the shaping of the terminology, but woman was too controversial to be used in the passing of that federal legislation in 1984. So, we see the change from victims of crime act, talking about all victims of crime. We then see the change to using the term "family" in 1984. And then ten years later, to being able to actually voice and use the word "woman." That's how controversial it was. And, you know, still is, to varying degrees. And, so, I think it's really important when looking at that change about the significance of the word "woman." I think the other thing to look at is the -- I mean, here in Minnesota, the Domestic Abuse Act was passed in '78 and on a national level, it's like, that's when the Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed and the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed. Well, we don't always talk about those intersections in relationship to violence against women, but they're very real in the lives of women, particularly here in our state. Our women are still being -- having their children taken away at high rates, especially battered women and sexual assault victims and victims of trafficking. So I think it's important to -- when we're looking at reviving a movement, to really look at those intersections, what that means for us, for Native women's safety and for the advocacy that we do at our local levels. Karen: Thanks, Eileen. Next slide. I think there's a slide up there. I don't know if you have the most recent PowerPoint. Let's move on. Yeah. Actually, I think, VOCA was listed as 1984. Eileen: It's actually 1983. Karen: So if you look at the timeline, you've got the Rosebud organizing in 1977. Alaska in 1979. Of course, they held the first organizing meeting on the Rosebud Reservation and that's pretty historic right there. And then, like Eileen said, the Family Prevention Violence Services Act, I know there was a lot of changeover because the tribes were using that money for broader purposes and, so, like Eileen said, as the work evolved, then it started getting pulled back into the domestic violence work or violence against women work as those programs started developing on tribal land. The VOCA piece, I know here in South Dakota, really spurred the development of programs, those dollars were used to develop programming and very quickly those advocates figured out that the bulk of crime was domestic violence. And, so, then came the involvement with coalitions and lots of energy and sometimes conflict and, you know, lots of good things coming out of those intersections and that building of capacity that allowed for increased contact, you know. So, what I heard Eileen saying was we had a lot of isolation, that you know, we were advocates, and maybe many of you on the call, you were working in your community in some capacity addressing the issue but we didn't know about each other. So, Eileen says, you know, I'm looking for Tillie Black Bear, and when I got involved and was kind of seen as a protege of Tillie's by many that, you know, we're roaming around, we're all looking for each other as Indian women, you know. And, so, it was really wonderful to start finding each other and start being able to connect about the work. I know Minnesota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, some of the work was evolving, and we were starting to find each other, but there was still a lot of isolation. [ background noise ] So, 1987, we saw the October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month designated by congress. 1990, Senator Biden introduces the first version of DVA and, of course, in 1994 that DVA was passed, using the model with FVPSA and VOCA, then we got the set-aside for the grant. And, of course, we saw the work evolve from there, there are set-asides in various grant programs and then finally getting our own title within the Violence Against Women Act to specifically address tribal issues. Want to add anything, Eileen? Eileen: Yeah, I would just add that when the tribal coalitions were funded -- Karen: Oh, sure. Eileen: -- coming together, a tribal coalition brought about -- it was that privilege to be able to come together as tribal coalitions and that -- the discussions through there led to the discussion and the passage of Title IX of VAWA. But, really, those conversations originated in our own communities. It was our ability to come together. That was as a result of the funding through SIPSA and through VAWA. And our being able to articulate the points that were brought out in Title IX of VAWA, 2003, I believe it was. And to get the support of tribal leadership throughout the country, that was -- [ didn't hear the end of what she said ] Karen: Hello? Hello? Did we lose Eileen? Eileen: No, I'm here. What were you going to say? Karen: Oh, I'm sorry, I thought I lost you. Yeah. And just to expand on that, you know, again, talking about herstory and looking at, you know, where we were and some of the goals when the Resource Center Network was created, and I know Eileen was involved in those discussions, that I think it's important for our audience to know that those resource centers gave up some of their own budget to fund for the first year Sacred Circle until we could get into the funding cycle. And there was lots of discussion and educating going on about what did make us unique and why we needed our own resource center. [ background noise ] Go ahead. Eileen: I just wanted to include in that that we were able to get the support of women of color and that was a part of being able to create that national resource center for Native women. And, you know, there was a long, involved conversation in being able to make that happen. So not only was there support from the National Resource Center, there was support from women of color advocates on a national level to make that happen. And, so, yes, it was, you know, as you share that story about what's involved in that, was like, once that National Resource Center was established, it was like, had a national voice. You know, really, so it was the establishment of Sacred Circle that was important to showing that as Native women we had national voice. So, you know, please share more about that, Karen. Karen: And it was the recognition on a great teaching moment for us with our sisters across the country that we are indeed unique, that we have a government-to-government relationship, we have a political historical relationship with the United States government that no other people in this country have. And then in their brilliance established the institute for various groups of color. [ missed acronym ] So, really, just trying to make sure that there was a blending of voices and that all voices could have a platform. So, I'm really proud of the work that was done. I think, you know, in some ways we mimic the work, and I had people calling me, you know, criticizing that, and I'm saying, well, what's wrong with mimicking something if it's a nice model that, you know, we're trying to go from the grassroots voice, moving it up to a coalition, moving it up to a national pipeline so that hopefully we're not -- and hopefully we're not losing a lot in translation, and that's our responsibility as advocates to see that that message is transmitted and ultimately heard. So, I think, you know, when we look at our herstory, we're looking at whether it's maintaining or reviving that our role has always been to share our voices and the voices of our sisters so that we can try to bring some healing to our communities. That's also one of the differences or something that makes us unique is our culture and spirituality. I remember when we claimed the phrase, women are sacred and a lot of women on the national level saying, gosh, that is so great that you guys can make that case and say that, you know, what a great offering to put out there. And that, you know, we can -- we can use our culture and our spirituality to move us forward, help us with those intersections between issues that Eileen was talking about. I know early on the South Dakota coalition, we started having an honoring all things women, feminine pow-wow and we started having respect for the earth, how different we are, our name is Sacred Circle, for many of us, our program names are in our tribal languages or reflect some sort of healing journey and all of those things make us unique in addition to, again, a historical, political treaty and trust responsibility government-to-government relationship that we have with the U.S. government. Those things differentiate us. So while, again, we intersect with all women, we share similar experiences with all women and with women of color that those things make us stand out and we've always put forth kind of -- that we want to support our sovereignty as we improve safety for women in our communities, family. The next slide, please. Okay, Eileen, this is -- yeah, I don't know -- stats. We were talking about, you know, why are they important, what do they mean. And, you know, we effectively use the stats to put forth our presentation, our argument that we require enhanced resources and that, of course, our communities, our tribal governments require access to resources that we've not had before because, of course, I'm assuming most of you are advocates on the call, you're very aware of the stats. They're certainly heightened from any other group in the country and they're really a concern. When those stats first came out, 10 of us went to Washington, D.C., we met with a number of congress people and we met at the White House and that's when we first started making our foray into NCAI that we wanted tribal leadership to really become aware of what a critical issue this was in our home communities. And I remember we were all sitting there and we were all crying and just really upset. Of course, you know, you have this intellectual understanding, you know, things are tough at home, but when the stats came out, then we really did use them to our advantage to advance our case, that we required additional protections, additional resources to address these issues. So I hope that everyone will -- I know sometimes stats, we say, oh, that's kind of a mainstream thing, but they can be used to our advantage. I know locally, I'm always encouraging advocates in their home communities to know your stats, know what's -- from your number of police calls to how many arrests are made to how many are prosecuted to how many are convicted. I mean, we found gaps, we found, you know, we had lots of arrests but then there were no prosecutions, everybody was getting out of jail and that was the end of it. Or we found that there were lots of calls but not arrests being made. And that was occurring in mainstream communities, too, and I'm sure it still does, but it helps you to identify gaps, barriers, it helps you to look for solutions and see where there's specific problems in very specific places. No matter which system you're looking at. Eileen. Eileen: I think it's important to recognize that those stats may not be the picture that we see at home. And it's only been in recent years that tribes and tribal governments, tribal law enforcement has been able to include their information or their data on a national level. So the picture that's being provided is not necessarily what we're seeing from our home. And, so, I think that, you know, that's for us to take responsibility for in our advocacy and to talk about what that means for our own communities. I think another part of that is that -- is that the poverty -- the housing issues, the poverty, the issues around removal of children are really important to be linked to those stats and to inform them. Karen: And then we're also looking at substance use and how that's changing some of these -- some of -- how do I say this -- we know that there are certain substances now that actually do drive violence. And that's kind of a departure from all these years when we've been saying it doesn't cause it, but it's a corroborating factor. So, I guess what I'm saying is that as advocates, then, we're kind of required to be sort of the jack of all trades. It requires that we really increase our knowledge and have enough of a knowledge base about many many many different topics, like Eileen said, ranging from housing, law enforcement, child welfare, health, mental health, because we want to know enough -- we know what's going on with the women that we're serving, that we're advocating by, for and with, and we know we want to be able to translate those experiences into some solution. Or some strategies for trying to respond so that women will have a better experience. [ background noise ] A more respectful experience. Moving along. And I hope people will feel free to start putting their questions down. Limitations and challenges of advocacy and advocates. Eileen, you want to start with this? Eileen: I would like to start with the second point. Community understanding of trauma. And that, really, the change that's coming about in our -- throughout this country is having a better understanding of trauma and how that informs not only our institutions but how our advocacy is informed and changed by that. So, I would say that one of the most important things that we could do within our communities -- within our tribal communities is to better understand that trauma and what that means for survivors because a lot of -- for me, it's like that perspective leads to reducing the amount of victim blaming that's done, and that's a big part of what we -- what we have to struggle with in trying to create safety and justice for survivors of both domestic violence, sexual assault, and trafficking is, you know, it's like we need our communities to better understand that trauma and what that means for survivors and what they're able to do. So, I think that, you know, if we're looking at reviving our movement if we're looking at really bringing about that social change and justice within our communities, that's something that -- I mean, we have to rally the resources within our communities to have a better understanding of trauma, to have that language be a part of how we're doing our advocacy, but also to ensure that our justice systems are well informed about trauma and how that plays out in the lives of our families and our communities. Karen: Yeah, and I would agree that as we've come to know more about the impact of trauma that it's really something that we've always been aware of and we've been saying for many years that in our communities we have many folks with a life-long history of trauma, you know, dating back to inception. And, so, how has that affected us intergenerationally, where's our community at in having an understanding and being able to meet that with compassion and reflecting our indigenous values or are we -- we find a lot of victim blaming where people don't understand or have had the same experiences that we -- [ Can't understand ] -- occurring there. So, yeah, trauma, critical piece, and it's really, again, requires that as advocates we become really well informed and we know enough about the impact of trauma to, you know, whether it's interacting with an individual woman or working with systems in our community or conducting community education, interacting with our school systems or whatever institution, and then moving on up again through that pipeline to the state and national level. And, again, and with our own tribal leadership. So, which connects to that disconnect between advocates, advocacy and our professionals and profession. [ background conversations ] I was in graduate school and we're learning, you know, getting all this information about the impact of trauma on the developing brain and various stages of development and, you know, we were talking about how do we present this information to our policy makers, to our legislative body when we know, for example, that how detrimental trauma, those experiences are to a developing brain from, you know, like 0 to 3 or 3 to 5, 5 to 8. And, you know, these are the moments when we're desperately trying to keep children in the family and we see a lot of chaos and it doesn't -- you know, these things don't -- healing doesn't occur quickly. So, what does that mean for a child who may be immersed in that environment and what does it mean for, you know, how we can be helpful as a family community and as a government? So we see those disconnects in the information sharing between various professions and then, of course, we see it within our own movement, too, that as we've gained resources, then we have lots of people -- we used to say jumping on board -- in retrospect that was maybe a little disrespectful that, you know, people are wanting to be helpful, people are seeing an opportunity to contribute and may or may not have the knowledge base that we thought would be -- was appropriate. So you see some of these disconnects that have occurred. And, so, I guess, you know, for myself, it was all teachable moments. And like Eileen talking about having venues to have conversations to learn from each other and share. [ background conversation ] Creating safe space, we know that's really problematic in many of our communities, that it's difficult to find space for shelter or, you know, even just a safe space whether it's it to do community work or to have actual shelter. Compartmentalization of role, you can see how a lot of the work becomes grant driven, then, because there's a grant out to do this or there's a grant out to do that. And, so, pretty soon we see these -- like a one-person department or everything starting to get divvied up and there's not necessarily that flow that Eileen was talking about when we look at the intersections between the issues. So, again, as advocates, our challenge is to know enough about many many many of these issues and topics. [ background conversation ] Eileen: But I think it's also to see our community as a resource itself. Right? So, as we begin to look at trauma, we know that -- I mean, as we look at that in a different way, we recognize and acknowledge our tribal ways of healing, not only the sweat lodge and sun dance or other, you know, what our tribes view as healing ways, but those medicines and to, you know, to really look at sexual violence, in particular, and the trauma that goes with that. We have those ways within our tribes that are there for healing, you know, to look at those -- at the people that have that expertise and bringing, you know, having them be a part of our response to sexual violence, in particular, but, you know, it's like we have people that have those -- have that knowledge of medicines and spiritual ways and they need to be a part of that response, bringing that healing back to our community. Karen: Right. And I think we're going to -- when we move on to talk about strategies, that cultural strengthening, cultural healing, that's certainly a strategy at whatever level we're talking about with individual women or in the community. And I know in the substance abuse field that actually is an evidence-based practice that the use of culture and tradition, cultural practices really is an avenue of healing for many of us as indigenous people. Next slide, please. So thank you for that, Eileen. So we're still talking about our limitations and challenges and Eileen and I had a long conversation about how, you know, as advocates, we're -- we encompass many different perspectives and circumstances, again, based on our own personal life experience as indigenous women and what our tribal history and experience has been. And we're often called upon to navigate multiple jurisdictions and educate policy makers on all levels, tribal, state and federal. Eileen: I think as advocates, we are expected to be able to provide that advocacy, not only in tribal court but in state and federal courts, and I think that, you know, that being able to advocate in federal court on behalf of battered women and sexual assault victims is something that is distinct to our advocates and how we do our advocacy. And the other part of that is that for our Native advocates, we need to be ready and prepared to advocate on behalf of women over multiple jurisdictions. And that's something that I think that we need to take a strong look at in terms of how we do our advocacy. Karen: Yeah, I always remember the South Dakota coalition, when we went to support a local program that was actually opening a shelter, it would have been on state land but, of course, it was still within the boundaries of the tribe, and so they had -- and they actually had some, you know, city codes or whatever, they had to have public hearings. Wow, it was truly awful. Some of the things that were coming out of people's mouths. And, so, then we had this march, well, the local program has a march, and we went in support of. And, so, you see some of our difference, we had our non-Native sisters allying with us, and, so, we had the guys, they were -- they said, okay, you guys got to walk behind. And then they were on the sides of us, too, and a loft those women, they were, you know, very staunch feminists and they're saying, how come we have to walk behind? Why can't we just be up there wherever we want to be? Of course, I had to be up in the front with the drum. But to explain, I said, you know, because, you know, we have state law enforcement that are moving through here because they're anticipating problems, we're trying to make sure there's not problems, but we don't know. And these guys are going to -- they're going to take the hits and we're going to run. So, again, you see those differences that for us as Native women we're constantly talking about what does all that mean for us to have these rights and responsibilities, to talk about equality and what that means and how we present that in our community. [ Overlapping conversation ] Eileen: That brings to mind when we have the killings here in Minnesota in 1985, it's like the Take Back the Night March was organized by many different women, participating at many different angles around violence against women. And one of the challenges we had is that the women's movement generally was, you know, accustomed to the women having that voice. And we wanted that, too. I mean, that was something that we were concerned about as Native women. However, when there was a support -- support for a Native woman's voice, it's like we wanted the drum there, right, so the drum was going to lead the march. And, so, when we had the drum leading the march, that meant that Native men were in front. So it's like going through all the debates about that and the understanding about that, something that we experienced uniquely as Native women. So I think that the ally relationships that we built over the years is important to bring out about our involvement in the movement, but the lessons that we learned from that as well and how we need to think about how we are going to develop those ally relationships over, you know, the next decade. We need to talk about that. And what that means for us. And be purposeful about that. Karen: Next slide, please. So, Eileen and I had a lot of discussions about participating and how people can participate knowing that many of you on the call may or may not have policy, authority within your shelter or the organization you work for. So there's some -- I think there's some really practical things that each of us can do just as individuals. And, so, some of the things that we talked about was, of course, you know, you know your community and being able to translate for others what some of these things mean. So, like discussions in our own family, when we see behaviors going on with our children or what does that mean, we can be those translators. But that means that we need to increase our knowledge base and always be learning, always be getting information about -- as we learn more about how trauma impacts people and how that impacts us intergenerationally. Share knowledge, to create, ask for opportunities for that growth within your own program. Of course, building relationships and networking. We were talking about how in passing local tribal laws that we really relied on advocates to educate their family members who, in turn, would educate others so that, you know, when that law comes up for review by your tribal council, that your council people are informed by the people. Eileen: An example would be privileged communication. I'm uncertain about how many tribes have laws that address privileged communication between advocates and sexual assault victims. And what does that mean for how you carry that out within your own tribe? So, an advocate working for a government domestic violence/sexual assault program is very likely not in a position, they may or may not be in bringing about a change in the tribe around privileged communication laws. So, who would carry that out? You know? Maybe it's -- maybe it is community leadership that would initiate those laws. Maybe it would be -- maybe it would be a women's group that would bring that about. It may not be the tribal employee that would be in a position to do that. Maybe it would be. And it would be tribal leadership that ultimately brings that about. But, you know, at this point in time, what privileged communication laws are there to protect the sexual assault survivor and the advocate's communication, and you know, what mental rights laws are in place within our tribes, it wasn't until 1990 that all states had laws around marital rape. At this point in time, which laws have those laws in place and who's able to carry that out and what leadership is there within our communities to ensure that there are protections for battered women and other women within our community to have that protection of our tribal laws. Karen: Yeah. And then we were talking, too, about how our cultural and spiritual community, creating allies and having those discussions within that community and how heartening it was for me, you know, going to ceremony for many years hearing about there was all the talk against alcohol use and then later it was alcohol and drug, other drug use, and now to hear actually, you know, talk about respect for women, talk about against violence against women and to hear many men and women alike stand up in our ceremonies and address that issue in addition to the addiction issue. So, we each -- we can always do something in our own way with individual people, whether they're people that, if you're working in a program, whether that's a person that's connected with your program or whether that's your own family, community. I'm sure we all have those stories about how you go to the grocery store and you have a hard time getting out of the grocery store because people are stopping and telling you their stories, you know. Yeah. If you could move on, please. We also wanted to address the issue of internalized oppression and our own personal growth. Recognition that for many of us in this movement we've also experienced trauma, whether that's as a child, adult, or both. It's important for us to explore who we are, how that's affected us, how trauma has affected how we operate in the world, and how does it affect us in a helping role in our communities, whether that's in a family or in a faith tradition. And I always give an example of a woman who's a prosecutor for a tribe, and the advocates were trying to encourage her to prosecute a rape case saying, of course, that, you know, we're capable of prosecuting this on a local level even if the feds don't do anything, the federal system takes too long, whatnot, whatnot. And this woman prosecutor finally blurting out that she had experienced that as a teenage woman and that she was just not -- she was not willing to go there. Her own experience would not allow her to pursue that direction. And, so, our own personal histories affect -- do affect how we do the work. And then it affects how we are with each other, too. You know? How much we get involved in victim blaming, how much we might get involved with some really detrimental actions that occur between us as individual people and programs. So, we want to encourage everyone to really look at our own internalized oppression, look at our own life histories, and take responsibility for doing -- participating in healing of ourselves and maintaining of ourselves, you know, our own self-care is important. Eileen. Eileen: I was just thinking that I want to share what I'm doing right now, and that's working with Ogitchdocway Council and while we're located at Elder's Lodge, we're not a program of Elder's Lodge, we're an independent grassroots group. And we're a group of grandmas and one of the reasons that we've come together is, again, you know what many people are doing around the country, what many Native people are doing, it's like breaking through that silence within our community, and that's around sexual violence. And that's been ongoing since we started, you know, since we started doing this work. It's like there is still this powerful taboo within our communities about talking about sexual violence. So now working with the grandmas, it's like we are -- and I'm talking about grassroots community women and we're training our grandmas to be advocates because we can make a difference within our own families and then within our own communities. So that our young women will be safe, feel safe to disclose the sexual violence that they're experiencing and that we -- that we're promoting a larger communitywide discussion around sexual violence. So, that's -- I think one of the things about that is that many of the women that went through that training three years ago were disclosing sexual violence for the first time in their lives. And I'm talking about grandmas. I'm talking about women in their 70s that were having that first opportunity to talk about their experience with sexual violence. So, you know, it's like if we as women -- and I'm from that relocation era -- if we have passed on that message, unspoken message to be silent because it wasn't safe to speak out about that, it's like the young women need to feel from our communities that we've created a network of safety for our young women to be able to disclose that and then to have a response that is respectful of them and knowledgeable about that sexual violence. So I think that in reviving the movement, we really have to have more conversations about what our strategies are on the local level to accomplish that. How do we create a community of safety? How do we ensure that our young women are able to disclose the sexual violence, not only our young men -- our young women and our young men. I had a conversation a few weeks ago with some young people who were doing this other project and in the course of looking at this other project, one of the young men said, what is dissociation? And as we're talking about that, that led to discussion about cutting, it led to a discussion about this group of young people, I'm talking about 12 and 13-year-olds, who, you know, really need to have a place to talk about what's happening in their lives, so, you know, we really need to have a strong network within our own communities to talk about how we're addressing those problems and how we're working together to create a network of safety within our communities. And that we're all together in talking about violence against women and what that means for violence against our children as well. Karen: And I would just add, I think that encompasses our history. [ music ] Our total history as tribal people. Because if you look at the power and control triangle, you know, take the circle, change that from a wheel to a triangle, because we said it is about hierarchy, it's lifeless, it's not a pyramid that's powerful, it's a triangle that's just flat on the page there, and that when we look at all of those tactics, those dynamics that are occurring, whether we're looking at an individual woman's situation or whether we're looking at us as a people, that we see those tactics of oppression operating. And, so, you know, we have many of our young people, and we talk about internalized oppression and that self-hatred, we see lots of those identity issues. And I was just talking with a young person the other day and said, how come it's always us, it's always Natives with all the addiction issues, you know, the homeless people, just crying about the state of affairs of our nation. And not wanting to be associated with that. Not me, I can't let that be me. So those talks about identity and how our history has affected us, you know, young people, I want to know why it's like this. Why are our communities like this. So, again, creating those safe spaces, that Eileen has been talking about, so that we can have discussions that are as broad about violence or as narrow to violence against women as -- wherever people want to go with that. [ music in the background ] Because it's all part of the healing process that's going to help us get to that place where we're able to respect ourselves and others. [ music and conversation in the background ] Next slide, please. We wanted to show this video that Tillie Black Bear, Tillie is one of the grandmothers of the Native women domestic violence movement. She left us a few years back. She began, when they had its first meeting on the reservation, she was providing leadership along with many other women who she acknowledges, acknowledges all the time, to make that happen, created the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and she's the first Native woman to chair that organization. And this whole video was Tillie talking about, again, the culture and healing, culture and spirituality, and how as advocates, it's important for us, we need to move beyond the shelter doors. Yes, the work within the shelters, with individual women who are there for safety, that's critical work, but as advocates we also have a responsibility to move outside those shelter doors. Again, reflect, you know, the voices of women. What can you do to participate in reviving the movement? Again, a lot of this depends on, you know, your opportunity, your drive, your -- what you want to do, where you see your niche and then how you move to that place, I guess. [ music in the background ] It can be -- Eileen were talking a lot about how, again, whether it's that work with that one individual woman and her children and her family or whether it's, you know, getting involved with state or tribal coalitions or moving up into that national work. It's all good work. It's all good work. So we were talking about how important, again, our own personal development, act I good relative, learning from our community. I have a friend that I was telling Eileen, I learned so much from her and she would send her kids down to clean my car out, clean my house. And I kept saying -- and they wouldn't accept any money. And I kept saying, what are you doing? Don't. Stop. And she's, like, no, Karen, I can't do what you can do. But this is a way that I can help and a way that I can support. And that meant so much to me. And I just thought it was so respectful and just really, really very cool. But, again, challenging ourselves and educating ourselves and our families. Most of us come from large families. We have the opportunity to impact a lot of people. I had one of my cousins, when I just made him go to this men's retreat, and he was resisting, but I just -- boy, I just insisted back. And he called me and he said, you know, all these years, I just thought you were crazy. [ Laughter ] But he said, now I know what you were talkin' about. Now I understand. So, anyway, we can impact our own families, again, building those relationships, networking, get involved, increase our cultural knowledge. You know, it's as simple as teaching our young ones about our protocols and being gracious and reflecting those values that we want to see in others that, again, we work on developing those. [ didn't hear the end of what she said ] >> We have a few more minutes if we wanted to get in some time for questions as well. Karen: Next slide. I think we're about done here. >> Okay. Karen: Can you go back one? Yeah. Go forward one. [ Laughter ] So we were talking about in reviving that for us as indigenous women, it really is, again, about reflecting, translating, and sharing those cultural and spiritual values that make us who we are. It's really about sisterhood and how, you know, that's when I first got involved, that's what struck me was just that sense of sisterhood and how it felt so wonderful to be with a group of women and feel that connection, you know. And then, of course, especially having compassion, that many of our relatives are really suffering and, so, how do we act in a compassionate manner. Next. And we just ended with, this is a quote from Tillie, sorry I didn't credit her. And I see I have a misspelling in there. But one of the things that she said was, as women of the movement we play many roles. One is to understand and reform those laws, policies, lack of resources, and so much more that continues to separate us as Native women. Another is to restore the sovereignty and protection that is are original to our Indian tribes. I'm proud of our women who went beyond the shelter doors. And I want to say, I want to say -- [ speaking Native language ] -- that's what we were able to offer you in this short period of time. And I hope that some of you got something that will motivate or create some further thought for you and discussion. Talk, talk, talk, some of these things you do over and over, huh. >> Eileen: I would also like to encourage the listeners to participate by sharing their perspectives, I mean, there are two of us here on this, you know, that have been presenting, but there are so many more women that have contributed and we haven't yet documented that. So this is an opportunity to share that, share that and to, you know, really do more documentation of our work. But also to really promote, you know, reviving that movement and your involvement in that. Karen: We'd love to hear what's going on in your community, some of the lessons that you've learned that others might benefit from. >> So we have a question from one of our listeners. Do you think there has been a shift away from advocates as social change agents to service providers? And is it still possible to reclaim that role vision in terms of a movement? [ background conversation ] Karen: You're older than I am, Eileen. [ Laughter ] Eileen: Thank you so much. [ Laughter ] No, I think that this is one of those ongoing questions that we need to challenge ourselves. So, thank you for that question. This has been like since I've been involved in doing this work way back in the '70s, it's like -- and, you know, up to this point in time, I think that's -- that's a critical question that should be before us as advocates. When I think about advocacy and how we do that, it's like, yes, I want those advocates out from behind that desk, out in the community. And the reality is, it's like if you're a battered women's advocate, you're going to be inundated by women coming to you and looking for help with their safety. So, yes, it's like finding that balance, finding the time and the people to help with that. So, to me, that's a perpetual question, it's like how do we do that? How do we accomplish that in our daily lives, in our daily advocacy? So, I'm always frustrated by the amount of time where we're actually doing more work from our desk, but, yes, the challenge is to get out there in the community and if you're not the person that's able to do that, you know, who can you enlist to be able to do that? So, that's a demand that we have as advocates. How do we ensure that it's social justice instead of social service? Karen: And I would say, yes -- [ Laughter ] -- yes, to the question, too, that I do think that there's been a diminishing of the role that as we've added other roles to and very specific, specialized roles that it's compartmentalized to us a degree that, again, we're going to have pros and cons with that, you know, as we've added lawyers and professional therapists, you know, as our work's gone off in other directions that don't just involve that woman in the shelter. But I think that's leadership's responsibility to, again, make sure that advocates are involved in substantive, meaningful roles and for advocates to speak up and want, you know, need that and want that and present that. And there are some advocates, and I totally respect that, there are some that are, like, hey, I don't want to do that. I'm good right here, you know. I don't want to go to this national meeting. I don't want to whatever. We had trouble getting our advocates to training because a lot of single moms and they were, I can't be gone all the time. I have kids and a demanding job. You know? I'm good right here. So, again, depending on what you want as an advocate and how do you seek that out? I know I was encouraging, Gwen, with your issue, see how you can get involved, don't get yourself in a bind at work in the process, of course, but I think, even challenging within our own organizations or -- not necessarily even challenging, but to create discussion about the work and about how we're doing it, but certainly we've seen where moving to that service delivery system. And, again, there are strengths and weaknesses with that, too. Eileen: I think it also depends on whether or not you're a one-position program or whether or not you're fortunate enough to be in a program where you have more than five staff. Karen: Right. Eileen: That's still a concern that we have to put in that framework. Karen: Right. >> So we have one more question -- we have a couple more questions. One is, what's the difference between direct effects of oppression and internalized oppression? Eileen: I mean, my first thought goes to the terminology that we use, right? I prefer to use the term "colonization" and what that means for us as individuals, as a community member, what that means in terms of what we have to deal with in institutions. But if we're looking at that, you know, from that personal perspective, then, yes, it's, like, what do we -- I mean, that's the first place that we begin to examine that, right? But also, what does that mean for what power and authority the individuals have and how do they -- how they choose to use that, either for the benefit of our people or whether it means being in a position of using whatever power, authority they have to really empower our people and especially victims of sexual and domestic violence. So, that's where my thinking goes with that. [ Overlapping conversation ] >> Just wanted to say, I am so thankful for the work of the people who work so hard to keep our Native women and men safe. As we prepare to renew the fight for the next re-authorization of VOWA, we need all the allies we can get, strong hearts to the front. Another comment. We can't do it all. Tribal service providers network with county and state providers, but outside providers do not have the ability to address historical trauma the way our Native people need it to be addressed. Do you have any advice regarding educating outside providers on historical trauma and providing trauma-informed care that is tailored for Natives? Karen: Well, I think we have to create the venues for that. I know Praxis does an extensive advocacy training and I know that they do include information specific to Native people. Maybe not as extensive as we would like, but it's a start. So, we have creating those venues and creating, again, those spaces, the state coalition, I know some are doing some work to try to educate themselves and figure out how they can better interact with tribal programs. I believe victim aid may be requiring that now. So, again, it's just that talk, talk, talking. And I think that sometimes, too, that the question about the direct effect versus internalized, I think they can work in synergy but they can also be -- I mean, we're all directly affected by our oppression as tribal people. There's none of us that have escaped that, whether it's because we don't speak our language now, we've lost the knowledge in our family about various spiritual practices and customs. So we're -- that's where we want to revive our movement, we have to relearn many of these things or remember many of these things. But it's to the degree that we've internalized that and oftentimes that comes down to our family experiences and how that's been transmitted. So each of us -- people respond differently to trauma, but, yeah, working with non-Natives, there are some venues, we did some work with the national network when they first started. I know we put together a slide presentation. Of course, that's always challenging because, again, we're asked to speak for all Native people when each of us belong to a certain tribe and oftentimes our knowledge is limited about customs and practices. So, I think we just have to reach out or respond when people reach out to us. [ background noise ] Not everyone can do that work. Not everyone has the patience or tolerance to be able to do that. So, again, like Eileen said, who can do that in your organization, who's best suited to it, and then what kind of information do you want to transmit? >> In terms of the video Beyond Shelter Doors, the link to that video is on -- is in the PowerPoint, which will be on our website. And I think Tang had also attached it as a handout. So you should be able to get a copy of the video. We just have about two minutes left. So, I want to thank everyone for joining us for this webinar presentation. And they get upset when I ooh and ahh over them, but these two women who are on this webinar have been people that I've been an incredible fan of ever since I met both of them. And I just want to thank them for their work and for all their contributions to the work. And I'd also like to give them a few minutes to say what they would like to say in closing before we end this webinar. So, if you all would like a few minutes to close. Want to thank you and I want to thank everyone for joining us. Eileen: This is Eileen. Thank you, Gwen, for inviting me to be a part of this webinar. I would just say that I am looking to the young people, the young people to be involved in this and to be speaking up and speaking out. So, you know, I'm here at the Minneapolis American Indian Center and Jessica Owen is the director of this program, and I really am looking to the young women to carry on, you know, and to really speak out, you know, speak up and really looking to their leadership in bringing about safety within our communities. So, I'm thankful for all the young people that are now involved in this work. [ speaking Native language ] Karen: Yeah, and this is Karen. I, too, want to thank everyone. And echo Eileen's sentiments. I want to close with a song that Tillie Black Bear brought to the tribal coalition. It's an encouragement song. It's reminding us that we always have help, that there's always a way for us to communicate our need and get responses. It is, again, one of the things that makes us unique as tribal women, as tribal people. And that we encourage each other, we help each other, we're always told in our ceremonies to support each other, help each other, love each other. Stand strong together. And, so, I would ask that all of you listeners out there, remember who you are. Be a good relative. We're always told that that's the most important thing, the most important thing. We ask for help, we ask for help, and we remember to be a good relative. So, I offer this encouragement song to you. [ singing in Native language ] [ speaking in Native language ] Help us to walk forward in a good way, to be of help to our -- [ Can't hear ] Help us to remember who we are, help us to find our way. [ speaking in Native language ] [ speaking in Native language ] Gwen. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for that song. This text is being provided in a lightly edited draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. This text may also contain phonetic attemps at sounds and words that were spoken and environmental sounds that occurred during the webinar.