... and the Evils They Face
SLIVER OF A FULL MOON
BY ANYA MONT IEL
Men who rape and beat women are bad men, but it is the bad laws that allow them to continue their violence. Federal law separates us from all other women in the United States. We are legally placed into a world where our tribal government cannot protect us from non-Natives who live in our communities, work for our tribe or come onto our tribal lands to hunt – attack, rape and beat [Native] women. – Lisa Brunner (Anishinaabe)
................................. These words echoed in the wood-paneled
auditorium of the Yale Law School in March 2015, as 300 people listened to stories of Na- tive women as survivors of domestic violence and the failure of the law to protect them. Although Yale Law School, in New Haven, Conn., is far from most reservations, it lies at the heart of legal education for a system which has allowed abuse to flourish. Presented as a play, Sliver of a Full Moon
highlights tribal grassroots efforts to fight for the protection of Native women within the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The original VAWA, while considered a landmark piece of federal legislation, provided no safety or justice for Native women abused by non- Native men on tribal lands. Two 20th
-century federal decisions funda-
mentally weakened tribal sovereignty, caus- ing severe ramifications for tribal domestic violence cases. In 1953, Public Law 280 au- thorized the transfer of legal authority from the federal government to state governments,
32 AMERICAN INDIAN WINTER 2015
thereby increasing a state’s criminal and civil jurisdiction over tribal lands, especially in the states of California, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Wisconsin and, then, Alaska. The U.S. Supreme Court case Oliphant v. Suqua- mish Indian Tribe (1978) ruled that tribal courts do not have jurisdiction over non- Indians who commit crimes on tribal lands. These decisions disregarded tribal court systems and the special relationship between Indian tribes and the federal government. Consequently, tribal governments could not try and punish non-Indians who abused Na- tive women on tribal lands.
Changing Hearts, Minds and Legislation
The Sliver cast members with playwright Mary Kathryn Nagle (bottom right) at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center reading in March 2014.
When I was 26 years old, I lived on my reserva- tion and started dating a non-Indian, a white man. I was in love and life was wonderful. After the bliss of dating for six months we were mar- ried…. After a year of abuse and more than 100 incidents of being slapped, kicked, punched and living in horrific terror, I left for good…. I called the Southern Ute tribal police, but the law pre- vented them from arresting and prosecuting my husband…. I called so many times, but over the months not a single arrest was made. On one oc- casion after a beating my ex-husband called the county sheriff himself to show me that no one could stop him. He was right; two deputies came
PHOTO COURTESY OF MARY KATHRYN NAGLE
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