Empowering Indigenous Women & Communities Through Self-Defense July 30, 2020 National Resource Center for Reaching Victims logo About the Collaboration • IMPACT: Nationally recognized self-defense and violence prevention program • Collaboration: IMPACT Boston is supporting and training Turtle Mountain Empowerment Self Defense • Toward: Culturally-specific IMPACT program led by indigenous women Our Beginning • A gym credit that changed lives • Bringing other women from the University • The need to bring IMPACT to Turtle Mountain Local news clipping of participants in the first ever IMPACT workshop taught on the Turtle Mountain reservation; in their strong stance. Newspaper clipping of an article with the title, "Empowering Women, self-defense for women, teenage girls, available". There is an image in the paper of women in a gym practicing self-defense. The rest of the words are too small to read in the article. Turtle Mountain Reservation Landscape of the Turtle Mountain Reservation sacred powwow grounds; several teepees spread out in a field. • Native American Tribe of Ojibwa and Métis peoples • Over 32,000 enrolled Tribal members • Near the geographical center on North America in North Central North Dakota, ten miles south of the Canadian Border • The Reservation is 6x12 miles, with many of our people spread across surrounding rural communities The Seven Grandfathers of the Anishinaabe The Seven Grandfathers of the Anishinaabe; Seven Teachings (Wisdom, Love, Respect, Bravery, Honesty, Humility, and Truth. Dreamcatcher with the medicine wheel in the center and seven feathers hanging down with each a teaching labeled on it. • To cherish knowledge is to know WISDOM • To know LOVE is to know peace • To honor Creation is to have RESPECT • BRAVERY is to face the foe with integrity • HONESTY in facing a situation is to be honorable • HUMILITY is to know yourself as a sacred part of the Creation • and TRUTH is to know all of these things. The Need for Healing & SafetyPractices young woman from the Turtle Mountains, holding up a board with powerful statements on it, in which she will break through with her palm heel. • Colonization • Racism • Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women • Domestic Violence • Sexual Assault • Crime • Drug Epidemic • Poverty two young female participants with boards in their hands. Empowering pictures and quotes in the background Generational Trauma & Genocide I suppose it’s difficult for Shanda Poitra standing down by the Boston Harbor, giving the middle finger to a statue of Christopher Columbus. the leaders of this “free world” to really acknowledge Indigenous pain because that would bring up the whole cultural and historical legacy of the violence that was perpetrated against our people. Colonization • Genocide – Eradicated 98% of population • Indian Removal Act 1830 – Trail of Tears • Boarding School – Assimilation, “Kill the Indian- Save the man” • Indian Health Service – Sterilization of Native women • Historical & Generational Trauma Three young Indigenous boys before and after assimilation. Historical Trauma Group photo of hundreds of Indigenous children sitting in front of a boarding school with text: Historical Trauma is entirely different than consciously holding onto the past when it resides in your ancestral memory and DNA. It results in numerous defense mechanisms, developmental malfunctions, and behavioral issues. This is scientific and supported in studies - Tony Ten Fingers/Wanbli Nata'u, Oglala Lakota Racism & Stereotyping t-shirts made with “If you don’t like it, Sioux me;” referring to the UND Fighting Sioux logo • Fighting Sioux Logo • University has changed the team name to Fighting Hawks • Hockey fans come to games in their “Sioux” jerseys and chant racial slurs four of the Indian head logos showing how it has evolved over the years. This is what ND racism looks like two are white couples in Bismarck ND who dressed up as Indigenous NoDAPL (pipeline) protestors; holding derogatory sign several Fargo NDSU students with their faces painted black and context that reads “Black Lives Matter.” and several Grand Forks UND students with t-shirts on that reads “Sioux-per Drunk.” #NODAPL the magazine cover of Native American Heritage Month 2016 with law enforcement using force against peaceful protestors by spraying tear gas in their faces and backing them up into freezing waters a single Indigenous woman on a horse facing many of the Burleigh County Police Officers and National Guard tanks. caricature of an Indigenous woman, half of her is drawn as a protestor with tear gas being sprayed in her face, the other half is of her wearing regalia and being celebrated by taking a picture. The Dakota Access Pipeline protests, also known by the hashtag #NODAPL began in early 2016 in reaction to the approved construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline. 12 #NODAPL • The pipeline was projected to run from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota to southern Illinois, crossing beneath the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, as well as under part of Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation • Indigenous people come from all over the united states and Canada to peacefully protest and protect sacred land • The construction continued despite the protests and workers knowingly damaged sacred burial grounds • There was never any justice for the police brutality; rubber bullets, attack dogs, tear gas, freezing water, etc… Several Indigenous NoDAPL protestors (men) are being attacked by law enforcement canines in Standing Rock ND. Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women Painting of Indigenous woman, regalia holds hundreds of photos of women who have gone missing or murdered. • Indigenous women are murdered at more than TEN TIMES the national average • The #MeToo Movement not reaching indigenous community • Oil boom brought trafficking of Indigenous women and girls • May 5th is the national day of awareness for MMIWG The ReDress Project Commemorating missing and murdered Indigenous women. Red is the only color the spirits can see. Several red dresses hanging in the trees. 15 Missing & Murdered in North Dakota • Savanna Greywind, 22 year-old Tribe Member • Was pregnant at the time she was abducted. • Her baby was found with her killers • Savanna’s Act Two photos of Savannah Greywind and her pregnant belly. Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault • According to the 2016 National Institute of Justice Report, 56% of Native women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime • “Man Camps” brining violence & crime • Domestic Violence Shelter in Williston, ND: 300 percent increase in victims between 2009 and 2011 • In the Turtle Mountains, there have been numerous cases of husbands/boyfriends beating and raping their partners and leaving them for dead in the ditches Why Self-Defense? • Personal & Generational Trauma • IMPACT • Women’s Empowerment • Verbal & Physical Techniques • Safe & Supportive Atmosphere • Solidarity Turtle Mountain Empowerment Self Defense Instructor, Sara Davis, teaching a self-defense workshop to a group of teen girls. caricature of two women, one African American and the other Native American holding hands, context states: Together We Lift the Sky and A Tutle Mountain Empowerment Self Defense Instructor, Shanda Poitra, in strong stance and using a loud voice to resist the violence of a suited instructor who was in character as a potential attacker. 18 Feminist EmpowermentSelf-Defense “Part of the abuse was living in my body and it had to be physically released.” --IMPACT Program Participant Some Reasons Survivors Take Self-Defense • Feeling unsafe in everyday situations because of abuse and trauma • Need for a body-based intervention • Fear of abusers’ retaliation • Fear of running into abuser • Preparation for interactions with abuser • To regain a sense of competence or control Sometimes when people think about self-defense… Series of 4 images: 1. A white man in a baseball cap pointing a rifle; 2. A line of people in martial arts (karate, judo) uniforms holding their hands above their heads; 3. A book cover with the words “Street Safe” and an image of a man being held up at gunpoint by another man ; 4. A book cover with the words “What You Don’t Know Can Kill You.” Feminist EmpowermentSelf-Defense • Addresses realities of • gender-based violence • Emphasizes choice • Accessible to all bodies • Individual Resistance •Collective resistance A group of women and girls with arms around each other in a huddle Growth Edges • Addressing intersections of race-based violence and gender-based violence • Transforming mostly white leadership • Addressing violence perpetrated by law enforcement • Accessibility to rural and tribal communities What makes Self-Defense Trauma- Informed? • Confidentiality & Physical Safety • Opening & Closing Circles, periodic check-ins • Gradual progressions from less challenging to more challenging skills • Coaching during scenarios • Clear boundaries between instructor roles • Choice about techniques, opportunities for modifications • Somatic grounding techniques IMPACT Methodology • Realistic scenarios • Finding voice & power while feeling adrenaline • Trained instructors portray aggressors A man dressed in a sliver helmet, a red jersey and black pants portraying an aggressor in a self-defense scenario. A woman is standing opposite him with her hands in front of her body preparing for physical self-defense. Another woman with a long braid is standing between them , coaching the woman. Her back is facing the photograph. IMPACT As a Healing Experience • Connection: people experience their bodies as powerful • Voice: Practicing assertive communication under stress • An experience of being powerful when feeling fear Research: Sexual Assault Prevention -Graphic: Mona MacDonald A bar graph depicting results of a research study of empowerment self-defense. Bar 1: Unwanted contact. 20% of comparison group and 9% of the intervention group. Bar 2: Sexual coercion. 13% of the comparison group and 4% of the intervention group. Bar 3: Attempted rape. 8% of the comparison group and 3% of the intervention group. Bar 4: Completed rape. 3% of the comparison group and 0% of the intervention group. Research: Sexual Assault Prevention (2) -Graphic: Mona MacDonald Graph: University Women in Canada one year after completing a 12-hour ESD program: Reduced Risk of attempted rape: 63% Reduced risk of completed rape: 46% Research: Trauma Healing • Reduction of PTSD symptoms and shame in a therapy population (Rosenbaum & Traska 2008) • Mastery of motor responses that were blocked during traumatic events • Integrated body experience (Rosenbaum & Traska 2014) Creating a Culturally- Specific IMPACT Program For the Turtle Mountain Community Making IMPACT Culturally Specific • Scenarios & skills address the most common forms of violence • Resistance strategies fit the culture & community • Local community members are leaders three instructors and one young participant holding a talking stick during a closing circle. A painting of an Indiginous woman holding up and pointing to her bicep Culturally-Specific Scenarios • Hate speech • Doctor’s Office • Familiar sexual assault & partner violence IMPACT and the Sweat Lodge Tradition The Anishnabe sweat lodge tradition began before European colonization. The people were afflicted by a sickness, and all the afflicted people died. This occurred until one day an afflicted man received a message that he could heal people through a ceremony that involved hot stones and water to sweat out the illness. TMESD Suit Instructor James DeCoteau in full traditional regalia. IMPACT and the Sweat Lodge Tradition (2) Today most people who seek these ceremonies do so to heal from abuse and trauma. As we continue IMPACT programs on the reservation, we observe that IMPACT creates a similar healing journey. When program participants experience how it feels to protect their bodies and use their voices makes them feel lighter and less burdened. TMESD Suit Instructor James DeCoteau in full traditional regalia. Bringing Tradition to the Circles • Song that memorializes the lives of all missing, murdered Indigenous women • “We will always remember you warrior women and leader women. You are in our hearts and minds.” TMESD Instructors and one IMPACT instructor from NM, presenting at the National Sexual Assault Conference in Philadelphia 2019. IMPACT on our Community A young member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians who took a workshop, holding a sign that she made; it reads “It’s never your fault! You can do it!” A domestic violence survivor used the skills to stay calm and focused during a court hearing. A woman used the skills to stop a sexual advance from an abusive family member. A woman used the skills to stop a sexual assault at work. Next Steps •Continue and complete training for program forwomen and teen girls •Engage community in identifying needs andpriorities •Programs for people with disabilities, children, LGBTQ+ People •Culturally-specific healthy masculinity & HealthyRelationships programs Questions & Conversation More Information Turtle Mountain Empowerment Self-defense Shanda Poitra Shanda.Poitra@yahoo.com IMPACT Boston Meg Stone mstone@impactboston.org