Garden of Truth: the Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Garden of Truth: the Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota MISWAC cover full wrap final_Layout 1 10/19/11 2:32 PM Page 1 Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota By Melissa Farley Nicole Matthews Sarah Deer Guadalupe Lopez Christine Stark Eileen Hudon Research by Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition and Prostitution Research & Education Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota by Melissa Farley, Nicole Matthews, Sarah Deer, Guadalupe Lopez, Christine Stark, Eileen Hudon A project of Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition and Prostitution Research & Education October 27, 2011 William Mitchell College of Law Saint Paul, Minnesota Cover art by Catherine Whipple, Managing Editor, The Circle: News from a Native American Perspective Nicole Matthews (MIWSAC) is at <[email protected]> Melissa Farley (PRE) is at <[email protected]> 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS..........................................................................................................................01 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY......................................................................................................................03 QUOTES FROM NATIVE WOMEN IN PROSTITUTION................................................................05 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS........................................................................................................................06 FORWARD BY TWO INTERVIEWERS.............................................................................................08 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................10 Definitions...................................................................................................................................................10 Native People in Minnesota.........................................................................................................................11 Impact of Colonial History on Native Women............................................................................................13 Traumatic Antecedents to Prostitution Among Native Women..................................................................15 Social Harms................................................................................................................................................16 METHOD...................................................................................................................................................19 Procedure.....................................................................................................................................................20 RESULTS...................................................................................................................................................22 Demographics. ............................................................................................................................................22 Table 1. Age, Age of Entry, and Length of Time in Prostitution of Native American Prostituted Women Compared to Those Prostituted in 9 Countries................................................22 National and Tribal Identities......................................................................................................................22 Table 2. Tribal Identities of 105 Prostituted Native American Women in Minnesota.....................24 Locations Where Women Were Prostituted and Trafficked........................................................................25 Table 3. Locations Where 105 Minnesota Native Women Were Prostituted and Knew of Others Prostituting...........................................................................................................................27 Native American Women in Prostitution are Frequently Pimped...............................................................27 Ethnicity of Men Who Buy Native Women for Use in Prostitution............................................................27 VIOLENCE IN THE LIVES OF NATIVE WOMEN IN PROSTITUTION......................................28 Table 4. Violence in Prostitution of Native American Women and in a Study of Prostitution in 9 Countries...................................................................................................................................28 Table 5. Number of Types of Lifetime Violence of 105 Native American Women in Prostitution Compared to Those Prostituted in 9 Countries...............................................................................29 Physical and Mental Health Problems.........................................................................................................29 Table 6. Chronic Health Problems of 105 Native American Women in Minnesota Prostitution....30 The Emotional Reality of Prostitution.........................................................................................................31 Racism.........................................................................................................................................................32 Connecting Colonization and Prostitution...................................................................................................32 The Women's Connections and Disconnections with their Cultural Identities...........................................34 Posttraumatic Stress Disorder......................................................................................................................35 Table 7. PTSD Diagnosis and Self-Health Ratings of Native Women in Minnesota Prostitution.......................................................................................................................................37 2 Dissociation..................................................................................................................................................37 Table 8. Symptoms of Dissociation in Native Women Prostituting in Minnesota............................38 Substance Abuse..........................................................................................................................................39 ANTECEDENTS TO PROSTITUTION IN THE LIVES OF NATIVE WOMEN.............................40 Childhood Sexual Abuse..............................................................................................................................40 Rape as Adults.............................................................................................................................................40 Boarding Schools.........................................................................................................................................41 Foster and Adoptive Care.............................................................................................................................41 Arrests as Children and as Adults................................................................................................................42 Table 9. Arrests of Minnesota Native Prostituted Women as Minors and as Adults.......................43 SERVICES USED BY NATIVE WOMEN IN PROSTITUTION........................................................45 Substance Abuse Programs..........................................................................................................................45 Homeless Shelters........................................................................................................................................45 Domestic Violence Programs.......................................................................................................................46 Sexual Assault Programs..............................................................................................................................47 Other Services..............................................................................................................................................47 Urgent Needs of Native Women Who Seek to Escape Prostitution............................................................47 Table 10. Needs of 105 Prostituted Native American Women.........................................................48 SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS..........................................................................................49 REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................57 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY GOAL Since Native women are at exceptionally high risk for poverty, homelessness, and sexual violence which are elements in the trafficking of women, and because the needs of Native women are generally not being met, and because prostituted women are at extremely high risk for violence and emotional trauma, our goal was to assess the life circumstances of Native women in prostitution in Minnesota, a group of women not previously studied in research such as this. We assessed their needs and the extent to which those needs are or are not being met. METHOD We interviewed 105 Native women in prostitution for approximately 1.5 hours each, administering 4 questionnaires that asked about family history, sexual and physical violence throughout their lifetimes, homelessness, symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and dissociation, use of available services such as domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, rape crisis centers, and substance abuse treatment.
Recommended publications
  • Ford Broadcasts, 1967-1968” of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R
    The original documents are located in Box D37, folder “Ford Broadcasts, 1967-1968” of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. Copyright Notice The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library. ~ REPUBliCAN GONGRES.SIONAl NEWS BUREAU 312 CONGRESSIONAL HOTEL • WASHINGTON, D. C. 20003 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LINCOLN 4-301 0 Monday, F\!bruary 27, 1967 Acting on the heels of a House Special Committee racommcndation of censure and other penaltbs for Rep. Adem Clayton Powell (D. of N.Y.), some 30 freshmen House Re- publicans today proposed legislation to set up permanent House machinery to deal with unethical conduct of tvbmbers, officers and employees. Led by Rep. George Bush of Taxes, the R,3publican Congressmen sponsored Hous3 Resolutions to establish o Select Committee on Standards and Conduct and to provide, among other things, 11 full disclosura of assets, liabilities, honorariums, etc., by Members, their spouses and staff members whose salaries exceed $15,000 gross annually ..
    [Show full text]
  • The Bush Revolution: the Remaking of America's Foreign Policy
    The Bush Revolution: The Remaking of America’s Foreign Policy Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay The Brookings Institution April 2003 George W. Bush campaigned for the presidency on the promise of a “humble” foreign policy that would avoid his predecessor’s mistake in “overcommitting our military around the world.”1 During his first seven months as president he focused his attention primarily on domestic affairs. That all changed over the succeeding twenty months. The United States waged wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. U.S. troops went to Georgia, the Philippines, and Yemen to help those governments defeat terrorist groups operating on their soil. Rather than cheering American humility, people and governments around the world denounced American arrogance. Critics complained that the motto of the United States had become oderint dum metuant—Let them hate as long as they fear. September 11 explains why foreign policy became the consuming passion of Bush’s presidency. Once commercial jetliners plowed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it is unimaginable that foreign policy wouldn’t have become the overriding priority of any American president. Still, the terrorist attacks by themselves don’t explain why Bush chose to respond as he did. Few Americans and even fewer foreigners thought in the fall of 2001 that attacks organized by Islamic extremists seeking to restore the caliphate would culminate in a war to overthrow the secular tyrant Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Yet the path from the smoking ruins in New York City and Northern Virginia to the battle of Baghdad was not the case of a White House cynically manipulating a historic catastrophe to carry out a pre-planned agenda.
    [Show full text]
  • State of Iowa Before the Iowa Utilities Board in Re: ) Itc Midwest Llc ) Docket No. E-22386 Dairyland Power Cooperative ) ______
    Filed with the Iowa Utilities Board on February 17, 2020, E-22386 STATE OF IOWA BEFORE THE IOWA UTILITIES BOARD IN RE: ) ITC MIDWEST LLC ) DOCKET NO. E-22386 DAIRYLAND POWER COOPERATIVE ) ________________________________________________________________________ Reply Brief of Linda E. Grice in Opposition to the Cardinal Hickory Creek Project I. Introduction The CEI Intervenors, a group of well-funded lobbyists wants to silence the voices of citizen and ratepayer intervenors in the CHC Project because they do not feel their voices are relevant or credible. They say citizen intervenors lack basis. The Iowa Office of Consumer Advocate is afraid that when the truth gets out concerning how, poorly they defend the rights of Iowa Citizens that Iowans will become discouraged and not contact their office for help. The Applicants and the CEI say that wind energy is cheap yet can’t put a number on its’ cost. CEI opines on the fact that MS Grice objects to what she claims is Iowa’s transformation from an agricultural state into an “industrial energy generation complex” without citizen input. (Grice Pre-Hearing Brief at 3.) CEI states Ms. Grice ignored established state law that helped facilitate this. The argument in this brief will address these issues and provide documentation to support the conclusions. Linda Grice Reply Brief 1 Filed with the Iowa Utilities Board on February 17, 2020, E-22386 II. Argument The CEI wants to eliminate citizen and ratepayer voices so their argument cannot be refuted. In the Dubuque hearing of the CHC Transmission line four citizen intervenors stood alone against large sums being spent to silence them.
    [Show full text]
  • Smugglers Or Samaritans in Tucson, Arizona: Producing and Contesting Legal Truth
    smugglers or samaritans in Tucson, Arizona: producing and contesting legal truth SUSAN BIBLER COUTIN-North Adams State College In 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of a nun, a minister, two priests, and four lay people convicted of conspiring to harbor, transport, and conceal the unlawful entry of undocumented Salvadoran and Guatemalan immigrants. The court's decision removed this conflict between the U.S. government and members of the U.S. sanctuary movement (a grassroots network of congregations that had declared themselves sanctuaries for undocu- mented Central American refugees)1 from the last forum of truth in the formal legal system. The designation of convicted sanctuary workers as alien-smugglers had officially been made permanent. Despite the seeming decisiveness of this outcome, however, the very acts that constituted these sanctuary workers as criminals enabled defendants to promote competing assessments of their actions. Before they were indicted, the threat of criminal charges led sanctuary workers to develop complex legal, moral, and religious justifications for their work with Central Americans. The 1985-86 trial gave defendants the opportunity to bring these justifications before a wide audience. Following the trial, convicted sanctuary workers and their colleagues used their increased knowledge of surveillance and law to leave a record that they felt would define their actions as law-abiding rather than criminal. Paradoxically, prosecution and surveillance simultaneously criminalized and exonerated sanctuary workers. The legal conflict between the sanctuary movement and the U.S. government sheds light on how particulartechnologies of power, such as surveillance and prosecution, facilitate resistance even as they repress.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 1 the Emergence of Gangs in the United States— Then and Now
    Chapter 1 The Emergence of Gangs in the United States— Then and Now CHAPTER OBJECTIVES î Examine the emergence of gangs in the United States. î Explore where gangs from New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles first emerged. î Identify the differences and similarities between each regions growth of gangs. î Examine the emergence of Black and Hispanic/Latino gangs. î Describe the newest gang trends throughout the United States. “The Cat’s Alleys,” the Degraw Street Gang, the Sackett Street gang, “The Harrisons,” the Bush Street Gang, and 21 other boys’ gangs were the subjects of a report of the New York State Crime Commission which told, last week, of its findings in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. The boys who comprise the gangs have to undergo rigorous initiations before being qualified for membership. In one of the more exclusive gangs initiates, usually aged about nine, have to drink twelve glasses of dago-red wine and have a revolver pressed into their temples while they take the pledge. Source: Gangs (1927). Time, 9(13), 11. Introduction The above excerpt comes from a 1927 article in Time Magazine that identifies local gangs in New York City and their activities. However, gangs existed long before any established city in the United States. British crime chronicler, Luke Pike (1873), reported that the first 1 ch01.indd 1 12/23/15 9:08 AM 2 Chapter 1: The Emergence of Gangs in the United States—Then and Now set of active gangs were in Europe. During those times, they were better known as highway robbers.
    [Show full text]
  • A Case Study of Anti-Muslim Mobilization in a Rural Great Plains
    “The Real Issue Is…”: A Case Study of Anti-Muslim Mobilization in a Rural Great Plains Community Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Sarah R. Walton, B.A. Graduate Program in Environment and Natural Resources The Ohio State University 2018 Thesis Committee Professor Cathy Rakowski, Advisor Professor Jill Clark Professor Linda Lobao Copyrighted by Sarah R. Walton 2018 1 Abstract Recent studies by the Southern Poverty Law Center have noted a rise in organized anti-Muslim activism over the last three years. A number of these organized, violent mobilizations have occurred in nonmetropolitan areas. This is partially due to the fact that meatpacking facilities are increasingly located in small cities or rural areas in the Midwest or Great Plains and recruit Muslim African immigrant and refugee workers. This has resulted in a secondary migration of Muslims, particularly Somalis, to smaller meatpacking communities in the Midwest or Great Plains, creating new contexts for ethnic conflict. To date, rural hate groups, specifically these emergent anti-Muslim mobilizations, are not well understood. I seek to determine the justifications and mobilization strategies used in these anti-Muslim mobilizations. I undertake a case study of an anti-Muslim hate group in a small Great Plains community. My core research questions are: 1) How does this group justify their anti-Muslim activism?; and 2) What elements of the group's rhetoric seem to resonate with the local community? I utilize a social movements perspective to analyze transcripts from the hate group's public meetings, a public town hall meeting with a local refugee resettlement agency, and the content of the hate group's public Facebook page (454 group posts; 1,370 individual comments).
    [Show full text]
  • The Truth (With Jokes) Advertisement by Al Franken
    The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20131017003209/http://www.indigocafe.com/columns/article.php?c=64 Member List | Your Shopping Bag | Your Account Welcome, Guest! (sign in) *** WE ARE CLOSED. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATRONAGE. *** Become an Affiliate Suggest A Book Gift Certificates Jenn's Blog: A Bookseller's Tale Frequent Buyer Card About us Help Book Review The Truth (with Jokes) Advertisement by Al Franken Reviewer: Geoff Wisner, Staff Reviewer Posted: November 22, 2005 You don't really expect a book called The Truth to be as entertaining as Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. It's natural to expect more self- righteousness and less humor. In the end, The Truth is not as funny as Al Franken's last book — but it's still damn funny, and it cuts deeper. Unlike Greg Palast, Mark Crispin Miller, and other critics on the left, Al Franken doesn't believe that George Bush stole the 2004 election from John Kerry. (He does believe that Bush stole the 2000 election — and writes that since Bush has only been elected once he could legally run again in 2008!) Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken That's not to say that Franken thinks the 2004 election was clean. He offers an easy-to-remember phrase to summarize how Bush won: fear, smear, and queers. Fear was the fear of terrorist attack that Bush and Cheney did so much to whip up through alarmist speeches and strategically timed color-coded alerts. (Funny how we haven't been to code orange since the election — except for those of us here in New York, which is on a permanent orange alert.) Smear was largely about the well-promoted lies of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, aimed at making a war hero look like more of a wimp than the guy who couldn't be bothered to show up for his Air National Guard duty.
    [Show full text]
  • Shattered Hearts the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of American Indian Women and Girls in Minnesota
    Shattered Hearts The Commercial Sexual Exploitation Of American Indian Women And Girls In Minnesota Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center Prepared by Alexandra (Sandi) Pierce, Ph.D. for the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, Minneapolis MN © 2009 Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center Table of contents Dedication ............................................................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................... iii Background ............................................................................................................................................................ 1 Organization of the report ...................................................................................................................................... 3 I. The context ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 II. Methods and definitions ................................................................................................................................ 16 III. Prevalence..................................................................................................................................................... 28 Involvement in prostitution ..............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Youth and Gang Violence Initiatives and Uneven Development in Portland's Periphery
    Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses Fall 1-4-2017 Out in "The Numbers": Youth and Gang Violence Initiatives and Uneven Development in Portland's Periphery Dirk Kinsey Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the Geography Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Kinsey, Dirk, "Out in "The Numbers": Youth and Gang Violence Initiatives and Uneven Development in Portland's Periphery" (2017). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 3365. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.5256 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Out in “The Numbers”: Youth and Gang Violence Initiatives and Uneven Development in Portland’s Periphery by Dirk Kinsey A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Geography Thesis Committee: Barbara Brower, Chair Hunter Shobe Nathan McClintock Portland State University 2016 © 2016 Dirk Kinsey Abstract Incidence of youth and gang violence in the Portland, Oregon metro area has increased dramatically over the past five years. This violence has recently become more spatially diffuse, shifting outwards from gentrified, inner city neighborhoods, towards the city’s periphery. These incidents exist within the context of a shifting regional political economy, characterized by a process of gentrification associated displacement and growing, and distinctly racicalized and spatialized, inequalities. While gang researchers have long argued a corollary between the emergence of gangs and economically and culturally polarized urban landscapes, the ongoing suburbanization of poverty in American cities suggests a new landscape of uneven power differentials playing out between disenfranchised youth and those seeking to police and prevent violence.
    [Show full text]
  • JANUARY 6, 2005 No
    E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 109 CONGRESS, FIRSTSESSION Vol. 151 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 2005 No. 2 House of Representatives The House met at 11 a.m. and was So we will pray and act now and for- Mrs. Emerson; Ms. Granger; Mr. Peterson of called to order by the Speaker pro tem- ever. Amen. Pennsylvania; Mr. Goode; Mr. Doolittle; Mr. pore (Mr. SIMPSON). LaHood; Mr. Sweeney; Mr. Sherwood; Mr. f Weldon of Florida; Mr. Simpson; Mr. f THE JOURNAL Culberson; Mr. Kirk; Mr. Crenshaw; Mr. DESIGNATION OF THE SPEAKER Rehberg; Mr. Carter; and Mr. Alexander. PRO TEMPORE The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Committee on Armed Services: Mr. Hunter, Chair has examined the Journal of the Chairman. The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- last day’s proceedings and announces fore the House the following commu- Committee on Budget: Mr. Nussle, Chair- to the House his approval thereof. man. nication from the Speaker: Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Jour- WASHINGTON, DC, Committee on Education and the Work- January 6, 2005. nal stands approved. force: Mr. Boehner, Chairman. I hereby appoint the Honorable MICHAEL K. f Committee on Energy and Commerce: Mr. SIMPSON to act as Speaker pro tempore on Barton, Chairman; Mr. Hall; Mr. Bilirakis; this day. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Mr. Upton; Mr. Stearns; Mr. Gillmor; Mr. J. DENNIS HASTERT, The SPEAKER pro tempore. Will the Deal; Mr. Whitfield; Mrs. Cubin; Mr. Speaker of the House of Representatives. gentleman from South Carolina (Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • George W. Bush: Policy, Politics, and Personality James P
    4157Long_Edwards_ch09p161-181 10/24/03 1:57 PM Page 161 CHAPTER 9 George W. Bush: Policy, Politics, and Personality NNN James P. Pfiffner The School of Public Policy George Mason University During his time in office, President George W. Bush demonstrated impressive lead- ership skills.1 He was able to overcome the lack of a mandate in the 2000 election and convince Congress to pass a large tax cut. He continued to press his policy agenda when the terrorist attacks of 9-11 transformed his presidency and reoriented its focus. The war on terrorism in Afghanistan was prosecuted effectively, with the Taliban being overthrown and Al Qaeda driven out of the country. The broader success of the war was mixed, however; as of the summer of 2003 Osama Bin Laden was not captured, the terrorist threat of Al Qaeda was not eliminated, and Afghan- istan remained unstable. In an impressive display of political leadership in 2002 President Bush was able to overcome the skepticism of the professional military in the United States, the op- position of much of the world, and the lack of support from the UN Security Council and take the United States to war with Iraq in order to depose Saddam Hussein. The war ended within three weeks, though the attempt to install a legitimate successor government was to take much longer. Over this period, President Bush has exhibited several patterns of behavior that provide some insight into his policy choices. He has shown a preference for moral certainty over strategic calculation; a tendency for vis- ceral reaction rather than reflection; a preference for clarity rather than complexity; a bias toward action rather than deliberation; and a preference for the personal over the structural or procedural.2 Bush exuded confidence and moral certainty and ex- hibited no evidence of self doubt or ambivalence about major decisions.
    [Show full text]
  • “The Secret Heart of America”
    43 “The Secret Heart of America” Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Bold Synthesis of American Thought Daniel T. Carrigg and James A. Morone Rarely . does an issue lay bare the secret heart of America itself. Rarely are we met with a challenge . to the values and the purposes and the meaning of our beloved nation. The is- sue of equal rights for American Negroes is such an issue. And should we defeat every enemy, and should we double our wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this issue, then we will have failed as a people and as a nation.1 November 26, 1963, was raw and wet in Washington, D.C. Just four days earlier an assassin’s bullet had thrust Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973) into the presidency. Now, he sat with advisors in the dining room of his sprawling ten-bedroom estate in northwest Washington and pondered just what he aimed to achieve. The next day, he would address a joint session of Congress and a national television audience—a kind of inaugural address. His advisors agreed on one thing: Stay clear of civil rights. Bringing it up would offend the Southern Democrats and, besides, John F. Kennedy’s Civil Rights Bill was a lost cause.2 President Johnson (LBJ) had other ideas. He was already famous for coming on like a tidal wave, as Vice President Hubert Humphrey later put it, and now he interrupted the talk of trimming in his booming Texas way: “Well, what the hell’s the presidency for?”3 From those first days, LBJ decided to make the explosive matters of race and civil rights central to his domestic policy agenda.
    [Show full text]