Over the course of several years, Beth's boyfriend shattered her elbow, shot at her, threatened to kill her, lit a pile of clothes on fire in her living room, and, she told me, beat her face into a swollen, purple pulp.
These are horrifying yet common occurrences here in the 200-person village of Nunam Iqua, Alaska, which means "End of the Land" in the Yupik Eskimo language.
Yet the violence is allowed to continue in part because Nunam Iqua is one of "at least 75 communities" in the state that has no local law enforcement presence, according to a 2013 report from the Indian Law and Order Commission.
"There would be someone to call for help" if there were police, said Beth, a 32-year-old who asked that I not use her real name because her abuser is still free. "Someone who could actually do something -- right there, as soon as they get the call."
Seems reasonable, huh?
Not in rural Alaska.
Here, state troopers often take hours or days to respond, usually by plane.
The flight takes 45 minutes, at minimum.
Alaska State Troopers will tell you they're doing the best they can to police a state that's four times the size of California and has very few roads.
The challenges are daunting, to be sure, and I don't blame the hard-working law-enforcement officers. But the logistics can't be an excuse for impunity.
Alaska is failing people who need help most.
This is another portion of journalist John Sutter's amazing reporting on violence and rape in Alaska.
I think Sutter is doing an amazing job of exposing some of the horrifying details of life in the Last Frontier and I am going to do everything I can to help publicize his work.
As I have said before I work with the mental health community up here, and I have seen first hand the results of alcoholism, sexual assault, and child abuse.
We have a problem up here that will not be solved with a simple task force, political lip service, or even in depth articles like these.
This is a problem that is decades, if not centuries old, and it will not go away on its own, nor respond readily to a beefed up law enforcement presence.
Thanks for the reporting.
ReplyDeleteI wish Beth all healing, all the best... domestic violence is hard to address no matter where one is. Where I grew up, the houses were so close together than you practically could borrow a cup of sugar by leaning out the windows. So the neighbors must have heard the screaming. Nobody got involved. Ever.
ReplyDeleteIt was cheap entertainment. I grew up in a row home on the east coast. Wife beating alcoholics on either side of me. My mother used to spend weekend nights with a glass to the wall, listening, open mouthed or laughing - but never did anything to help. My father did nothing either.
DeleteTruth. But I'm glad to see that on Facebook however, people are hearing, and asking their friends what they should do about it. Idle no more.
DeleteI know this is a native village, and maybe the women have no choice, but ladies generally need to think long and hard about getting into these situations with a man. Any wannabe frontiersman should be scrutinized. Can’t he get along with neighbors? Is it always their fault? Can he handle frustrations like a dry well, animals invading the garden, or a sick child? Does he have real skills or just dreams? There will be a thousand unanticipated problems and the whole romantic thing can disappear quickly, with no help in sight. Once again it’s on the woman.
ReplyDeleteYes, because they don't lie, steal and cheat to woo a woman, or strong-arm them into submission, or impregnante them and hold them hostage. Yes, it is ON the woman. Mostly in the shape of a man throwing his body, and body parts, down on her.
DeleteI had a girlfriend who thought it only natural to make house with her sexual assailant who was many years older than her. He raped her and she was only 15, but because he was intimate with her, she thought that meant they were in a relationship. She made lemonade I guess you can say. And suffered a dysfunctional and fucked up home life until she realized this was not how you lived with a partner in life.
Sometimes it is not even their choice. An extended family member moves in because their home is no longer habitable; the man or woman (yes, there is domestic violence of women toward men) is fine until they drink alcohol; and yes, men do impregnate women intentionally to "keep" them. Then in villages such as Nunam Iqua, there is no place to go. Many of the people have not been educated and have no job skills, they do not want to leave the rest of their family or their way of life. It is not easy in these villages and many have no way of leaving. Remember, the only transportation is the sled team in winter, a boat or a plane. All cost money to run and are owned by the men. No matter how a bush pilot may want to help someone escape, he also has to have a paying passenger and must remember, that he may be flying a perpetrator or has to fly into the village and does not want to be ambushed.
DeleteThere are many reasons why the cycle of violence exists and continues. Until you have lived in this world, you cannot imagine how difficult it is to escape, not only the psychology of violence, but the holds of "home" and the only life you know. There are many stories of those who do escape the small village to the small town, many of those stories are no better.
6:45am
DeleteMany of the native prostitutes in Anchorage are women who "escaped" the village only to find that they only had one marketable skill, a skill which also leaves them vulnerable to abuse from men.
I think the best that can be done is for women's groups to go in there and finance getting these women out of these dead end places of the earlh, get them marketable skills, and help them start a new life elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteIt won't cost all that much, but the women will need to be strog enough to take the chance.
Otherwise, they are stuck and it seems very hopeless.
I hope that you have a millionaire backer in mind. The woman has to be willing to leave all that she knows behind. As I said before, until you have lived in a village and start to understand the life there and the skills (or lack of) that exist, you do not know of what you speak. Basically, for a woman to do this, it is the equivalent of you or I to leave our home, all our family, lives, jobs, friends, behind and start all over with very little or nothing. Then add little or no job skills, education, and no support system and a government that does not truly want to help.
DeleteBut realize, the compassionate conservatives that make up the leadership of this state look after our most 'exceptional' state with a surplus (well, those days are numbered with the Governor's revenue give-away with the Oil Companies) by not only underfunding our public schools, they want to funnel it to Christian Academies. They want to teach us to fish so that we don't become dependent on their dead fish goin with the flow by denying us hot school breakfast and lunch programs. They want to make divorce illegal, sodomy a crime, masturbation a crime and push abstinence. Mandating prayer in school and putting non-medical speech in a Doctor's mouth with our medical visits will protect our freedoms. Mayor Dan Sullivan, who is running for Lt. Governor got rid of the Rural Liaison and minority relations positions because he "would keep up relations,' with the least represented in the State's largest village. Also too, our former half-term quitting Governor though it was right that rape victims pay for their own kits, and only wanted the Police Dept. to report positive news at each city council meeting. She fired the only Alaska Native member of her executive team, cause he wouldn't take her bullshit demotion to the Alcohol Task Force (Troopergate) because he wouldn't fire her ex-brother-in-law. Never mind her private charity in the Rural Energy Crisis following that heartfelt letter from Emmonak read around the world, she told everyone to go get a job that takes them from their homeland, like Todd, cause that was so great for their kids (and it shows.) She campaigned for a job away from her home, and ended up bringing it back to her house and double-dipped with the State to pay for her lifestyle choice. And our new Governor, what a doozy, he listed "... Our Choose Respect initiative has freed Alaskans from domestic violence and sexual assault." as an 'accomplishment' in his term as the State's elected "CEO." And the Governor, with his other Dan Sullivan as AG (running for Senate) fought inclusion of American Indians in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
ReplyDeleteWhat is Sutter trying to pull? We have no more DV and sexual assault, because Parnell's slogan!
I grew up in an abusive "traditional" household where we were in church each Sunday like good little Christians, and all hell broke loose afterward and for the rest of the week. I am the youngest at 56 now, and the scars remain to this day for my sisters and myself. I feel for these women.
ReplyDeleteRural Alaska is no different than rural Indiana. It takes the sheriff 45 minutes to get to my house too.
ReplyDeleteThere are roads in rural Indiana.
DeleteIn his new “Kristol Clear” prediction segment on Morning Joe, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol augured Thursday morning that Sarah Palin might run for president in 2016. “I mean, why wouldn’t she run?” he asked, causing NBC News White House correspondent Chuck Todd to answer what was probably a rhetorical question.
ReplyDelete“I think it’s a financial reason,” Todd said. “To get back into the spotlight. Get the speaking fees back up. You know, there’s some question in my mind about [Mike] Huckabee’s motivation, how much of that is about — you know, there’s a lot of people who run for president for their careers.”
Apparently Todd touched a nerve. Kristol spat out the following in about .02 seconds: “Really? Can’t we give these people the benefit of the doubt here? Some establishment type runs, everyone says. ‘Oh, take very seriously, Jon Huntsman’s running, wants to serve the country.’ You guys have him on 452 times on Morning Joe and Chuck says, ‘Oh, Jon Huntsman could do it. He’s a governor and ambassador to China.’ Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee? ‘Oh, those guys just want to make money!’”
“Some people run for president because they see the benefit: ‘Hey, losing will make me more famous,’ because of the way this perverted process works,” Todd replied. “Let’s not be naive here.”
Watch the full clip below, via MSNBC:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/kristol-loses-it-over-chuck-todds-suggestion-palin-might-run-for-president-for-the-money/
SCREW Kristol. He's partly responsible for unleashing the hound of hell on an unsuspecting country in the first place. He's just pissed because Todd was right and called him on it.
DeleteDarlene at 6:45 AM
ReplyDeleteIt would be wonderful if a woman, whether in Alaska or anywhere else in the world, could run down a checklist and predict the behavior of a potential boyfriend or husband. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. For instance, I met a man who was charming, respected and liked by his co-workers, always the life of the party, was extremely talented in his chosen field, rose to being VP of a large international company, very intelligent, etc., etc. Who would see through all those good qualities? He was a chameleon who could and would change in a heartbeat, would viciously beat a woman for no reason or for any reason. He was also a master at convincing the police or judges that "it wasn't his fault, he didn't do anything" and placing the blame entirely on the woman. To me, the excuses were "you made me mad", or "if you did this or didn't do that, then ...". Took awhile for me to learn that it didn't matter what I did or didn't do, the trigger for his bad behavior lay entirely within his mind. A "cover" for his behavior lay in constant chaos, no time to think, no time to figure out what was really going on because before you got one thing figured out, there was always something new, exciting, or problematic being thrown into daily life. A chaotic personality should definitely be on any checklist ... look to see if the new guy creates chaos. I was married to that man for a long time and began to pick up on what I called a "physical twitch" that signaled that somebody was going to get beat up and to him, it didn't much matter who. I habitually watched for the twitch so that I could get the kids and myself out of the way. I never once let on to him that I was aware of it because he might have changed the signal. He's no longer alive and he's not missed. I guess my point is look for "twitches" and chaotic personalities when looking for potential lovers but even then, people like I described are masters at camouflage.
You’re right of course, but I’ve dodged some dangerous situations by having my own car that I could flee in. You can’t be a hermit, that’s not healthy, but I don’t think a woman should put herself wholly in the hands of a man. He may have good intentions today, but what about tomorrow? What happens when buddies he can’t control come around? You may need to run.
DeleteI’ve seen the constant chaos myself. It was a boyfriend when I was divorced and I don’t miss him either.
Darlene, I agree with you that a woman should never put herself wholly in the hands of a man. The better educated and the more independent a woman is, the less likely she'll be trapped. As I look back over my life during that completely dysfunctional relationship, my "entrapment" was in my own mind. The last time he hit me, there were no dramatics on my part, I didn't cry, didn't yell, didn't say a word. The next morning when he was sober, I said "the next time you hit me, I'm going to wait until you get drunk and fall asleep then take one of your (many) guns, put it to your ear and blow your fucking head off. I'll probably go to prison but that can't be worse than living with you". I meant it. He had amazing self control after I said that, he never even acted like he was going to hit me again. (That wouldn't work with all men or with any man at particular times so I don't recommend it as a solution).
DeleteThese symptoms do not merely describe irrational, domineering men, they also, albeit to a lesser extent, include women. The same problems manifest themselves in gay and lesbian relationships as they do in the hetero ones we are discussing. Mental instability, caused by whatever trigger, destroys relationships of all kinds and as most sociopaths are very adept at laying blame upon their victims, they have not only the adrenaline fueled physical advantage of their rages, but the emotional one as well.
DeleteWhile this seems an intractable condition, we all must speak out whenever we can not merely with one another, but to those who have the wherewithal to make a difference.
Well, Wendy Davis just lost my support!
ReplyDeletehttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/wendy_davis_backs_open_carry_bill
Well, all the candidates support open carry so I guess you're just going to have to abstain from voting this year.
DeleteHow tragic.
ReplyDeleteThe isolated communities, no matter how isolated, need a law enforcement presence near them. How much expense would a rich oil-producing state have to spend on more personnel and 911 responders, police, fire, rescue; it probably wouldn't cost any more than what the government spends on other resources that are less needful.
To think, G., that Palin tried to refuse federal stimulus aid back in 2008. To think that some of that money could have gone towards opening shelters for abused women, strategies to help this epidemic. And this Governor Parnell seems to have ignored this human tragedy as well.
A nation, a people, an administration is known by how it takes care of it's downtrodden. Domestic violence and sexual assault at these rates, happening right under their noses and they did nothing?
As far as why is there so much abuse alcohol, hopelessness, abuse, rape and batterment of spouses, and lack of control of impulses, that's the million dollar question that is only answered by those who seek spiritual guidance. But while it's still happening, good men can do what they can to alleviate the suffering. Thanks, G., for helping and caring. Hopefully, this will produce good fruit.
There are 120 towns in Alaska with less than 1000 people. 91 of those have less than 500 people. It is not economically nor physically feasible to provide full law enforcement capabilities in each and every one of those towns. Some of the larger villages have Village Public Safety Officers (VPSO) and they are the first line of protection for those villages. The state provides funding for this program and has been making efforts to work with villages to train and place more Village Public Safety Officers, who work under the Department of Public Safety and are the first line responders until Troopers arrive. Here is info on VPSOs and AK population by town:
Deletehttp://justice.uaa.alaska.edu/forum/08/4winter1992/a_vpso.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Alaska_by_population
Often times, in these very small villages, there are not suitable structures to either house a full scale police/fire station, or even to house the police or fire staff themselves. Also, there is simply no money to provide for these services. Local municipalities must pay a certain portion for providing fire and police services to their community and in the bush many small communities fall under the jurisdiction of a very large borough (county) and those boroughs do not often have the funds to provide police and fire protection to each individual village within their borders.
Even with an increased presence of VPSOs the first line of defense is education and succession of alcohol and substance abuse. Even if each village had its own Trooper post, that trooper can't be in each home at all times to monitor for the safety of the inhabitants. Remote life is unique in so many ways and there are reasons why people choose to live remotely; off the road system. There are many people living in the villages that would not wish to see life change and have a trooper presence overlooking their every action. There must be a balance between counseling for underlying emotional/behavioral and substance abuse issues, respecting the indigenous lifestyle and reasonable appropriation of funds and manpower available to police these small villages. No easy answers, unfortunately.
Well, praise God for the Seward Highway. We were able and willing to widen that with the oil money. But now it's gone back to the constituent.
DeleteHe is doing great writing. While I agree with you, Gryphen, that the problem does not have a simple solution, I do not agree that effective and consistent law enforcement doesn't work. That is one of the few things that batterers respond to--not being let off the hook.
ReplyDeleteGryphen, did you catch this timeline? The guy is crooked as hell!
ReplyDeleteChristie's Evolving Answers On When He Knew About The Bridge Closures
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/christie-knowledge-bridge-timeline
Just a hunch on my part, but He's going to have a little problem when Bridget Kelley puts her hand on a Bible, swears to tell the truth, then says it was "The Grand Poobah" himself who told her to write the "It's time for some traffic problems on the GWB" e-mail.
DeleteBUSTED! Check this out G:
ReplyDeleteDocument exposes Papa John’s and other companies as secret Koch brother allies
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/06/document-exposes-papa-johns-and-other-companies-as-secret-koch-brother-allies/
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/02/koch-brothers-palm-springs-donor-list
not to mention substance abuse in the villages. doesn't help one bit. seen it, been there. until this issue is addressed by the people involved and the people uninvolved these types of atrocities will be present in the villages, and the city as well. i don't need to cite any statistics for all to know alaska has a high rate of alcohol usage. it's there, we see it. and crap happens. deal with that then we can pave a way to health. the state needs to step it up in the law dept. but are they gonna? don't know. when it comes to money they seem not to want to put to much into what they consider a lost cause, and that is Natives, and villages.
ReplyDeleteIt seems so easy being on the outside looking in, but there are no "magic fixes". Alaska is HUGE and the population's so spread out, it's almost impossible to have a police presence in the entire state. It's difficult enough to end the cycle of violence WITH police presence and reliable resources, but where do these women and girls go when their culture, alcohol abuse, sparse resources and having the laws clearly favoring the males in society?
ReplyDeleteNot to beat a dead horse, but haven't we read and seen enough to know the state troopers are mostly corrupt bastards? This isn't a problem that a plate of cookies and platitudes from those in power will make go away.
The only thing I can think of is educating boys and men to value and respect girls and women, but even that's a tall order.
Building roads in Alaska is 40 years too late. We're roadless and special.
ReplyDelete40 years too late for roads.
ReplyDelete