More funding requested to help combat violent crime, rapePublished on November 5th, 2009 By ALASKA NEWSPAPERS STAFF
Jerry Isaac, president of the Tanana Chiefs Conference in the Interior, spoke during a panel covering public safety. Looking often at Interior Secretary Salazar, here's what he had to say: All I want to say is to make real the promises that have been made throughout the years, over and over, that Native Americans have been pressing hard to address, these concerns that fell on deaf ears and went unanswered. ... Rural Alaska and the rest of Indian Country ask for your assistance to address the shockingly high rates of domestic violence and sexual assault suffered by our women and children. Rural Alaska and Indian Country suffer from the highest rates of domestic violence and sexual abuse in the entire nation. Alaska and Indian Country also suffer from the nation's highest rate of suicide among the youth As a leader I have made the commitment of openly and publicly advocating to protect our women and children. As leaders we have remained dangerously silent for too long. Our silence is an abandonment of our leadership responsibility. Our inaction is no longer acceptable. The ones suffering are not statistical numbers. They are our daughters, our mothers, our aunts, cousins, children and families. Today we ask your agencies to join my commitment, our commitment, to address these problems. The solution is not complex. We need adequate funding for an effective police force, funding for tribal courts, funding for prevention programs. We ask for this funding regardless of land status and regardless of jurisdiction. .... Funding means safety, security, well-being for our people. It is a relief to have heard President Obama this morning regard the violence against our women as an assault to our nation. It was a relief to hear our president take serious concern about the safety of Native people of this country For the sake of all native families I pray your agency will take real action. I ask the federal agencies to join the tribal governments to address these problems meaningfully. I ask you join my commitment, our commitment to change the treatment of our women, children. Alaska Newspapers Staff can be reached at editor@alaskanewspapers.com |
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The Seward Phoenix LOG is a publication of Alaska Newspapers, Inc. This article is © 2010 and limited reproduction rights for personal use are granted for this printing only. This article, in any form, may not be further reproduced without written permission of the publisher and owner, including duplication for not-for-profit purposes. Portions of this article may belong to other agencies; those sections are reproduced here with permission and Alaska Newspapers, Inc. makes no provisions for further distribution.