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Lawton_Violence against Native American women is higher than any other group in the country. It's an alarming fact - especially since Texoma is right in the heart of Native American country. So, the Comanche Nation is taking action. It put on a workshop Tuesday for those who work with tribal prevention programs.
"It's really troublesome in Oklahoma, especially for women and children. [We need] more education done on the topic. Sometimes what the lawyers, judges do is put the victims at risk unless they understand the dynamics," says Kelly Stoner, Director of the Native American Legal Resource Center.
There's no clear cut answer as to why the numbers are so high, but some experts at the workshop who work with victims feel it's because of cultural barriers - they simply don't want to speak up. There's also not a lot of help for Native women.
7News had the opportunity to speak with a victim who preferred to remain anonymous. Pam is a Native American woman who says she was beaten and stalked by her husband for ten years. "If he couldn't have me no one would," she says. The abuse got to be too much and it was hard to hide what was going on behind closed doors. "[He] beat me - put me in the hospital."
She would go to police so much that there came a point where she felt they didn't believe her. Her husband would be put in jail and then be released - the cycle would begin again. By then, Pam felt she had no place to go.
This is the problem many Native American victims have - especially in Oklahoma. There are only two shelters in the state fit for their needs. Betty Simmons is the program director for the Comanche Nation Family Violence Protection Program. She says Native Americans have cultural needs in addition to basic counseling and legal help. Native Americans are very private people with strong family ties.
"A lot of folks don't understand the close knit [ties] of the family and try to deal with the Native American women without understanding her culture and background. That makes it difficult for you to provide services," Simmons says. And, that's why people have come to this seminar - to learn to help provide services that meet Native American women's cultural needs.
The woman interviewed got out of her relationship and his happy and healthy today. But, there's one more alarming statistic. The majority of all Native women who are abused are victims of non-Native Americans. And, many tribes have no criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians, so, many of these crimes slip through the cracks. But, the more tribes lobby at the federal level, the more possibility that tribes will gain the power they need to prosecute.
The workshop on domestic violence continues through Wednesday at the Great Plains Worley Center.
