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» Witness comes forward in alleged Thunder Bay hate crime
A teenager tells CBC News he witnessed an alleged hate crime in Thunder Bay but says said he doesn’t trust police enough to share his story with them.
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» Rape, Kidnapping Being Investigated as Hate Crime in Thunder Bay
TRIGGER WARNING: RAPE, VIOLENCE, DISCUSSIONS OF HATE CRIMES, RACIST SLURS
The abduction, brutal rape and strangulation of a First Nations woman by two white men on December 27 in Thunder Bay, Ontario has stirred fear, anger and urgent calls to catch the perpetrators, who, the victim says, told her they had done this kind of thing before, and would do it again.
The news of the assault on the 36-year-old mother spread quickly after the victim’s family sent word to a local Idle No More event on December 30 to warn the community about the threat the men made against Native women.
“It’s a hate crime against our community,” said Chief Peter Collins of the Fort William First Nation, which is adjacent to Thunder Bay. “This young woman has been through a very trying situation that compels us to do more to stop the violence against our women… We see that racism towards our people is still alive, and we remind our people to be vigilant. We also advise our people not to react violently to these acts… ”
In a telephone interview, Christi Belcourt, representing the victim’s family, elaborated on the police report and a statement issued by the family. She said the attack began at around 9 p.m. on December 27, when the victim was walking to a store in the north end of the city. Two Caucasian men in their mid-30s pulled up alongside her in a green two-door sedan and began yelling at her, allegedly calling her a “dirty squaw” and other racially tinged profanities.
When she ignored them and walked faster, they reportedly began throwing things at her, including trash. She says the passenger then jumped out of the car and grabbed her by her hair—pulling her so violently she lost clumps of hair—and shoved her into back seat, where he sat on her and began beating her.
She tried to fight back, but was unable to escape as she was driven to a nearby wooded area, where she says she was brutally sexually assaulted, strangled and beaten.
During the attack the men allegedly told the victim it wasn’t the first time they had committed this type of crime and “it wouldn’t be the last.” She told police they also told her, “You Indians deserve to lose your treaty rights,” making a reference to the recent Idle No More events in Thunder Bay.
Left for dead in the woods in freezing temperatures, the victim walked for nearly four hours to get back to her home. From there, she was taken by ambulance to the hospital for treatment and forensic tests. “The only thoughts that came to my mind were my children,” the victim later said in a statement. “I thought I would never see them again.
“It’s a cruel world out there and right now,” she added, “with the First Nations trying to fight (Bill C-45), everyone should be looking over their shoulder constantly because there are a lot of racists out there, and we need to be careful.”
Her mother said, “We felt it was important for us to get the word out because we are very concerned about the safety of our women in the community. And as well we want to tell people that even though this happened to my daughter, we are not the violent ones. We want to tell people not to get angry or to be violent. It’s very important that the Idle No More movement remain peaceful.”
The Thunder Bay City Police say they are investigating this incident as a possible hate crime. The victim and her family want to ensure that the police do a thorough investigation, and First Nations leaders want police to know the public is watching. “These cases often are not taken seriously enough and we don’t want this to get swept aside,” said Collins, who noted there have been many cases of missing First Nations women that remain unresolved.
A few days after the attack, Idle No More organizers held a candlelight vigil to pray for women who are lost and living, victims of murder, assault and sexual assault. Local organizer Joyce Hunter said they felt they needed to respond in two ways—showing support for the victim and to let others know to protect themselves. The Native Youth Sexual Health Network issued a statement: “Violence against indigenous women and girls has been, and continues to be used as a weapon of colonialism and a way to undermine the strength of our leadership. NYSHN sees raising our voices together against sexual violence and making change for violence against women to stop as an integral part of any movement.” They called on community members to travel in groups, stay together, and protect each other while not responding with violence.
With no suspects in custody, Chief Collins said he’s in constant communication with Thunder Bay’s police chief to ensure that law enforcement follows up and takes this hate crime very seriously. “We want to see them caught, prosecuted and convicted for what they did,” he said. “This is one example of why our people are uniting and speaking out against the kind of racism and oppression our First Nations are facing. We will not be silent.”
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» Canada denies another gay refugee claimant
TRIGGER WARNING: VIOLENCE, HOMOPHOBIA
Augustas Dennie used to be a dancer.
Now, he has trouble speaking.
Dennie says he was the victim of a brutal gaybashing in his native St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It left him helpless, unable to work, and scarred.
He fled to Canada in 2010, seeking safety from his attackers — who he says have threatened to finish the job. Yet government officials here are looking to deport Dennie because they do not believe he is gay – an increasingly common story in the Conservative government’s immigration regime.
Dennie was attacked by a man outside a St. Vincent restaurant in 2009. He was beaten with a bottle of Hennessy cognac – so severely it fractured his skull, lodging a piece of bone into his brain. His attacker shouted anti-gay slurs such as “faggot,” and “bulla-man” and stood over Dennie’s semi-conscious body with a large rock before he was stopped by some bystanders.
Dennie now suffers memory loss, seizures, verbal ticks and has limited function in his right hand. He also has a massive scar on his head.
After a month in hospital, one thing became apparent to Dennie — he had to get out.
Dennie has made friends with other queer newcomers to Canada as part of an Access Alliance support group in Toronto.
St. Vincent
When the attack happened, Dennie was already in the midst of trying to leave St. Vincent. He was living in Florida with another gay man, but he soon married a woman to get his green card. Dennie eventually came out of the closet and began fighting with his wife. It culminated in her pressing assault charges against Dennie and he spent a short time in jail before being given two years probation. Dennie says the two had a tousle. They are now separated and he says aspects of his ex wife’s account are untrue.
Ranjth Kulatilake, a gay Sri Lankan immigrant who became friends with Dennie, says the marriage was “stormy,” and the couple fought because of Dennie’s sexual orientation. Kulatilake says he’s met many gay men who have “hidden behind straight marriages for the sake of their lives,” despite being deeply unhappy. “Internalized homophobia at its best,” he says.
While Dennie was serving his probabation, he received word that his mother had died, and a judge gave him temporarily leave to go bury her.
The problem is that when Dennie tried to return to the United States he was refused entry. Officials say he violated the terms of his parole.
The near fatal beating occurred five years later.
Dennie says following the assault he consulted with a US diplomat, who urged him to get out of the country as soon as possible. A friend mentioned Canada’s generous refugee system so Dennie quickly sold many of his clothes and possessions and purchased an Air Canada flight to Toronto. He arrived in the airport and, still operating with reduced motor functions, applied for refugee status
A refugee in Canada
But the promise of refugee status was short-lived. Officers working under Canada’s immigration system,which has no formal guidelines for dealing with queer refugees, ordered him deported on Aug 30.
This, despite recent promises from Immigration Minister Jason Kennedy, by way of an email targeted to homosexuals in Canada, that “Canada should always be a place of refuge for those who truly need our protection. That is why we continue to welcome those fleeing persecution, which oftentimes includes certain death, including on the basis of sexual orientation.”
But Dennie is scheduled to be deported on Oct 17.
“I can’t sleep at night,” he tells Xtra.
On top of this, Dennie was involved with the opposition New Democratic Party in St. Vincent (no relation to the Canadian NDP) which he says also puts him at risk of violence. Several of his family members have been murdered in what appear to be politically-motivated crimes.
But Dennie’s immigration official concluded that Dennie “would not be subject to risk of torture, risk to life or risk of cruel and usual and unusual treatment or punishment if returned.”
Credibility issues?
The immigration judge stated that Dennie’s testimony was not credible for several reasons. He pointed to the fact that Dennie moved back into his old neighborhood and went back to working as a dancer — arguing that if he were afraid of persecution, he would have moved somewhere safer and taken a less gay job. Dennie, for his part, says he had little money and was forced to move back to his mother’s house and take the job.
That official did recognize the “impressive” amount of evidence supporting Dennie’s claims that he is a homosexual, yet found it unmoving, as he ruled Dennie was not “a credible historian of his own personal background.”
Lauding one example, the official says that Dennie’s testimony contradicts itself — he claims to have had homosexual experiences in his youth, yet later he says he wasn’t gay until after marrying his wife. Dennie, speaking with Xtra, made clear that he had homosexual experiences while in St. Vincent, but did not fully come out of the closet until he was in Florida.
Kulatilake, Dennie’s friend, is incredulous. “What do these people know about credibility? Can the ‘Canadian standards’ of ‘credibility’ be applied wholesale in such cases as Augustas?”
The official states even if he were to accept Dennie’s orientation, there is no proof that he faces danger at home.
This despite multiple letters that — on top of confirming that he is, indeed, gay — tell the board that Dennie faces imminent danger if he is returned. One letter from a St. Vincent friend reports that word in the community is that Dennie “wouldn’t even last a week” if he returned. Another, from a human rights association, says police botched the investigation of Dennie’s attacker, who is still “on the run.”
Dennie is now pleading with the government of Canada to let him stay.
“Please reconsider this. Give me a chance to live,” he says through a choked voice and heavy stuttering.
“I live in real fear of my life because I know what my people are able to do.”
While the sparse documentation on persecution of gays in St. Vincent may not have compelled the board, Dennie says that there’s a reason for that — gays who face abuse don’t risk outing themselves. “Everything was hush-hush,” he says.
But here in Canada, he says, it couldn’t be more different. “It’s very lovely,” he says, noting he’s adjusted into Toronto’s gay community. He doesn’t want to leave.
If he returned, Dennie promises to be defiant. He won’t go back to living in the closet, he says. “I know who I am.”
Yet rather than face his attackers again, he says he’d rather take his own life.
“It’s going to lead me to committing suicide.”
Dennie’s last chance is on Oct 11. He will need to convince a federal judge that there’s merit for an appeal on his case. If the judge agrees, he will be granted a stay of deportation until he concludes his appeal. If he wins that, he will still have to go through an entire new application for refugee status. The process could last years.
Kulatilake reports that the stress is beginning to get to Dennie. He collapsed Oct 9 and was taken to a Scarborough hospital.
Earlier this year, Xtra reported on the similar case of Leatitia Nanziri, whose deportation order was suspended because she faces imminent danger in her home country.
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» Queer Canadian couple attacked in Paris
TRIGGER WARNING: ANTI-GAY, CISSEXIST SLURS, VIOLENCE.Two Canadians are in a French hospital after being targeted in an attack that has been described as transphobic and homophobic.
Montrealers Marie-Eve Baron and Claire Giroudeau were in Paris for a two-week vacation with their young girls, one six, the other seven, when they were attacked by two motorists. Speaking to French gay and lesbian website Yagg, the couple said the incident started after a car cut them off in downtown Paris.
Baron, who was driving, honked in surprise. The other car pulled alongside them and the couple inside spat on the Montrealers when they rolled down their window. The two started spouting anti-gay and anti-trans slurs, calling Baron “a man with his balls cut off” and insulting the couple because they are Canadian.
Montrealers Marie-Eve Baron and Claire Giroudeau were attacked in front of their two children.
As Baron and Giroudeau’s children watched from the backseat, the man kicked Baron violently in the face. He threw her to the ground, punching her in the face, then rounded on Giroudeau when she tried to intervene. The attackers also rolled down the windows of their car so their pitbull and rottweiler could threaten the couple.
Baron and Giroudeau fled before the police arrived.
“Nobody came to help us!” Baron posted on her Facebook page.
The couple isn’t holding out hope that the police will be much good. “The police tried to blame me by saying that I got out of my vehicle,” Baron said.
The two spent seven hours in hospital but don’t appear to have any lasting injuries.
Baron says that they are deeply shaken by the incident and that it’s destroyed their image of the French capital. “This city is cold and cruel; it lacks humanity and civility,” she writes. “We miss Quebec and we’re proud to be from there.”
Dany Morin, associate NDP LGBT critic, has called the attack a “wake-up call.”
“The fact is, a transgendered person is reported murdered somewhere in the world every three days,” Morin said in a statement.
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» Rapid City Has a KKK Problem - By Patti Jo King
Vernon Traversie, a legally blind Cheyenne River Sioux tribal elder who lives in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, believes he was the victim of a hate crime while in the hospital for surgery and fears reprisal for his attempts to bring the incident to the attention of authorities.
After having heart surgery at Rapid City Regional Hospital (RCRH) in Rapid City, South Dakota, Traversie had scars on his abdomen described by several eyewitnesses as “carvings” or “brandings” of the letters KKK. After his wounds were documented by photographs and in a video posted on YouTube in April, his case has evoked outrage from Native Americans across the country. In a recent written statement he said, “I feel hopeful that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is beginning an investigation into what happened to me at the Rapid City Regional Hospital last September. I continue to call for a full law enforcement investigation and for protection because I am afraid.”
Traversie’s case has generated a great deal of controversy in the Rapid City area. Many South Dakota Natives, who utilize Indian Health Service (IHS) Aberdeen Area services, support Traversie. These tribal members are sent to RCRH for major surgery, obstetrics or complicated cases that have been referred from IHS. Many claim they have received substandard care at the facility.
But his accusation has also drawn a great deal of criticism, largely from those who claim he is trying to stir up racial tensions between the local tribes and the mainstream community. Some have questioned his integrity, character, and motivation. He has been called a “whiner,” “moron” and “ingrate” by some who say he should be thankful that the surgical team at RCRH saved his life.
Traversie says he feels intimidated by the negative attention and is reluctant to speak publicly on his own behalf. That’s why his pastor, the Reverend Ben Farrar of the First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte, South Dakota has stepped forward to, he says, “set the record straight.” Farrar says the elder’s concern for other RCRH patients who may face similar victimization is what motivated him to speak out about the incident.
Farrar, who has been the pastor at the Eagle Butte church since June of last year, says he has been at Traversie’s side since the beginning of the ordeal, says he knows Traversie to be an honest man. He recalls that Traversie was having a checkup in the office of his cardiologist in Rapid City when he experienced his heart attack. He was immediately transported to RCRH, where he was first stabilized and then underwent double-bypass surgery on August 26, 2011.
Farrar says he visited Traversie in the hospital that day and the next, bringing cards and well-wishes from the congregation. He says Traversie told his companion, Karen Townsend, and Farrar that he had been having increasingly confrontational exchanges with a male attendant, who, at one point, Traversie told them, swore at him after he requested his pain medication.
The next time Farrar visited, he says Traversie told him that “20 people, in pairs and small groups,” had come in and asked to see his surgical scars. “These people did not dress the wounds, or treat or touch him in any way,” Farrar recalls him saying. “They just looked at the wounds and left. He had no idea why they were looking, but he heard a lot of whispering after they looked.”
A few days later Traversie told Farrar that as he was preparing to be discharged, a female nurse came to his bed and told him quietly that her conscience was bothering her. “I can’t stand it any longer,” Traversi says she said. “They did something bad to you. When you get home, have someone take photos of your front and back right away.” According to Traversie, she then told him she did not want to be involved. “This is the last time you’ll ever hear from me,” she told him.
“When he got home, Karen looked at the scars and was alarmed,” says Farrar. “She called the Eagle Butte Police Department and they came out to have a look. After viewing the K-shaped cuts, their first reaction was to question Karen, since her name begins with a K. They soon realized, however, that she could not have made the marks.
“I viewed the scars myself the following day, when Vern went to the Eagle Butte IHS clinic,” Farrar says. “When they opened up his robe, I was floored. There was the obvious surgery scar running down his upper chest; then a scar at an exact right angle, clearly for a drainage tube, was visible. But then all over his torso there were other cuts. At first they seemed haphazard and clumsy, but as I looked closer, I could clearly see the letter K on either side of his abdomen.”
Farrar says he was puzzled by these marks. “But then we saw a smaller K in the middle, and we were shocked,” he recalls. “I am used to the idea of the KKK showing up and doing crazy things through the pages of history,” he says. “You just don’t expect to see it in the here and now.”
The Klan has had a visible presence in South Dakota for decades, and Rapid City was the site of Klan activity as recently as November 2011, when KKK propaganda was found stuffed into merchandise on shelves in several local stores.
The staff at the Eagle Butte IHS clinic doesn’t think the scars are the work of a Klan member. They told Traversie the scars were made by an allergic reaction to surgical tape; a suggestion that does not sit well with Farrar. “Vern has had a number of surgeries before this and has never had an allergic reaction to tape, and to my knowledge, they don’t make surgical tape in the shape of letters.”
Farrar says he was with Traversie when an IHS doctor examined the scars. He says the physician spoke frankly, yet insisted on anonymity. “Off the record,” he says the doctor told them, “This looks exactly like what you think it is. On the record, I can’t imagine a person who has taken an oath to serve, protect, and heal the population could commit such an atrocity.”
Farrar says Traversie then turned to him for help; he says he advised him to have pictures taken immediately, to contact the police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and to hire a lawyer. “I took the pictures myself and acted as Vern’s liaison. I contacted the FBI, as he directed—in fact, I contacted them twice but never got a response.”
Robert Perry, Supervisory Senior FBI Resident Agent in Rapid City, confirmed that the FBI was contacted. “In conjunction with the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, we have conducted an investigation into the allegations made in this case,” he says, adding that the findings have been turned over to the U.S. Attorney General’s Office. “We are now awaiting the Attorney General’s decision as to whether the matter needs further investigation or if other actions may be taken,” he says.
Farrar says he also contacted RCRH within a week of Traversie’s discharge and claims they promised an investigation. “They turned the matter over to the Rapid City police, but the police never interviewed Vern, Karen, or me. They just went by whatever information they were given by the hospital.”
At that point, Farrar says he contacted a Rapid City attorney who specializes in personal injury and federal Indian law cases. “At the attorney’s request, I continued to take pictures of the scars as they evolved during the healing process. Some of those photos were sent to a crime lab in Colorado, which said the scars may have been caused by surgical tape. Vern then became frustrated and fired the attorney. He then went to the tribal office and told them his story.”
It was then that a tribal member videotaped Traversie telling his story, and posted the video on YouTube.com, where it went viral.
Traversie claims that when he confronted RCRH administrators, they asked him to waive his Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act rights, an action that might have compromised his ability to pursue the investigation he sought through the Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. He refused to sign the waiver.
In May 21, after hundreds gathered at RCRH in support of Traversie, hospital administrators released a statement that read, in part, “We are deeply committed to providing excellent care to everyone, regardless of race. No one at RCRH would stand by idly and allow abuse to occur in this hospital.”
In a May 15 letter to Traversie, Velveta Howell, a regional manager of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights, stated that the agency would initiate an investigation into Traversie’s claims, and would also refer his complaints of physical abuse to the U.S. Department of Justice and the regional office of the FBI.
A week later, the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association (GPTCA), an affiliation made up of the 16 tribal presidents and chairpersons in the states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska, met at Shakopee, Minnesota, where they passed a resolution in support of Traversie and for a request for justice. The GPTCA resolution calls for an investigation into the matter, pointing to increased racial tension in Rapid City in the last few years, and asserting that the medical care provided to American Indians at RCRH has been “notoriously substandard.”
“Vern is afraid,” says Farrar. “He is getting on in years, is almost completely blind, and in a delicate physical condition. No matter what the cause, a very hateful thing was done to him and he has had the point driven home to him that he is not safe at RCRH. Even the calls he gets from his supporters tire him and cause him strain. I’m his pastor and I love this man. I am doing my best to help him.
“A primary concern for Vern is that if a hate crime was committed, the perpetrator is still working somewhere in the hospital system, and if not stopped, may try it again.
“There is also the matter of justice for Vern,” he adds. “His scars are healing, but he deserves peace of mind. The people of Rapid City as well as the Lakota people who use these services [at RCRH] deserve the confidence that comes with knowing that they are safe and secure in the hands of their healthcare providers.”
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» Canadian soldier faces sentencing for killing gay man in Manitoba
A Canadian soldier will be sentenced June 7 in the killing of a young aboriginal gay man in Manitoba that some are calling a case of gay panic.
According to testimony heard at the preliminary enquiry in April 2011, as reported in the Brandon Sun, Jason Ouimet strangled 21-year-old Duane Lacquette to death on Jan 16, 2010, while the two were alone together in Lacquette’s house. Ouimet, a gunner at a Canadian Forces base near Brandon, claims that he acted in self-defence after Lacquette came on to him.
The soldier was originally charged with second-degree murder but avoided a trial earlier this spring by pleading guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Alyssa Desrochers, who was a friend of Lacquette’s, doubts the killer’s claims. “I think Jason was down for [sex],” she speculates, “then when he wasn’t drunk anymore he killed Duane in the heat of the moment.”
Duane Lacquette (above), 21, was killed on Jan 16, 2010. Jason Ouimet, a 30-year-old gunner at a Canadian Forces base near Brandon, pleaded guilty to his manslaughter and will be sentenced June 7.
On the night of the killing, the two men met in a Brandon bar. Eventually, they went to Lacquette’s house with three young women. Ouimet expressed an interest in one of the women but passed out. The three women left and, when Ouimet came to, he claims that Lacquette was trying to have sex with him.
Ouimet, a muscular boxing champion, put the 5-foot-7, 165-pound Lacquette into a UFC-style chokehold, strangled him and stomped on his neck. He left the house without calling police and was arrested for the killing three weeks later.
The soldier has been out on bail ever since and continues to serve in the Canadian military. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter on a joint recommendation from his lawyers and the Crown lawyer prosecuting the case.
“The Crown accepted a plea to manslaughter based on provocation,” Crown counsel Jim Ross told the Brandon Sun. “Mr Ouimet’s account is entirely consistent with all of the evidence in the case.”
Desrochers is angry that Ouimet will probably serve only a few years in jail after seeing his charge reduced to manslaughter. “If Duane had been a white girl, Jason would be getting so much more thrown at him,” she says. “He’d get 20 years at least.”
Stefon Irvine, a gay student at Brandon University who serves as the student union’s LGBT commissioner, agrees. “If you flipped the shoes and put this into a heterosexual context, it would have been handled [by police and courts] in a totally different way,” he says.
During the preliminary hearing, Ouimet’s lawyers tried to make a case that Lacquette had a history of picking up straight guys. Irvine feels that’s the equivalent of saying it’s okay to rape a woman because “she was asking for it.”
Desrochers worked with Lacquette at a hotel restaurant and partied often with him. She remembers her friend as “always smiling and happy, always ready to go.” Lacquette was out to everyone he met, including Ouimet. “He was very open about being gay,” Desrochers says. “To him it was never an issue.”
Lacquette “was very open about being gay,” says his friend Alyssa Desrochers. “To him it was never an issue.”Lacquette’s final post on Facebook was “Just dance … it’ll be okay.” He remains extremely popular on the social media site. A tribute group that was set up in his honour has more than 1,300 fans. Lacquette’s friends and family members continue to post comments about him almost every day.
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» Hundreds Descend on Rapid City Hospital in Support of Cheyenne River Elder
Nearly 700 protestors from Native communities across the United States, and members of the American Indian Movement met in Rapid City, South Dakota the morning of May 21 to march in support of Vernon Traversie, a Cheyenne River tribal member.
Traversie, a blind, 68 year old, who underwent double bypass heart surgery at Rapid City Regional Hospital (RCRH) on August 26, 2011, was left with a bizarre pattern of wounds on his abdomen, well below and on the lower left and right sides of his surgical wound.
Those who have personally seen the wounds describe them as horrific – claiming they resemble deep burns in the shape of three ‘K’s.’ According to Cheyenne River tribal member Cody Hall, a friend of Traversie’s, the wounds resemble brandings.
“This looks like a hate crime,” Hall, who organized the rally, said in a phone interview with Indian Country Today Media Network. Hall said the point of the rally was to raise awareness of the many incidences of underlying racism against Native people that have occurred in Rapid City over the years. The group also wants to support Traversie in his struggle to deal with this recent incidence.
Traversie, who did not attend the rally due to health and safety concerns, was the subject of a YouTube video interview in which he asserts that a nurse who did not want to be identified, initially drew his attention to the marks. Later, he says a home health care worker photographed the wounds. The pictures and video were then posted to Facebook on the “Justice for Vern Traversie” page and went viral as they were passed throughout Indian country.
“We have organized to send a message for once and for all that we are not going to stand for anymore hate crimes or racial violence in this region. It doesn’t matter where you are from; once you get to Rapid, when an Indian steps out of their car, they are labeled as a target,” Hall said.
The protest, which organizers are calling the Justice for Vern Traversie March, began with a call to Indian country. Native marchers and supporters poured in from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, California, Oklahoma, Montana, and Colorado. The group met at Memorial Park and wound its way to RCRH, where speeches were made and the marchers demanded a meeting with hospital authorities.
Seven members of the Indian delegation, including Hall, AIM leaders, Dennis Banks and Clyde Bellecourt, Madonna Gilbert, Tom Cheyenne, Dorothy Ninham, and Vice-President of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe, Tom Poor Bear, met with a group of hospital officials led by Tim Sughrue, hospital CEO. Two Native American patient advocates, employees of RCRH, were also in attendance.
According to Hall, the march was very peaceful – exactly as it was planned. He was less enthusiastic about the meeting with hospital officials.
“It was really just a slap in the face,” he said. They already had a protocol set up when we sat down. The CEO pretty much insinuated that Vern is lying. Every time we asked a pointed question, they called on the Privacy Act and refused to answer. They claimed they have never had any discrimination problems, but you could tell it was a touchy matter. They just kept saying they couldn’t comment.”
Banks and Hall met with Traversie a couple of days before the rally, and Banks said he believed “something terrible happened to him.” The hospital “evaded every issue we brought up,” he added in a phone interview with ICTMN.
Rapid City has had a long history of violent encounters between police and Indians, but Hall commended the police today. “At first there was some tension because they weren’t expecting such a lot of people and I think they were a bit panicked, but for the most part, they handled the situation very professionally. We didn’t come to start trouble – just to get answers, and I think they respected that.”
Autumn Two Bulls travelled to Rapid from Pine Ridge with her family to join the march. She believes it was a good experience. “After 500 years, this needless violence is still happening here. We want to walk freely in our own land. It was intensely powerful to hear our warriors crying out and to see young and old alike marching together. It is beautiful to see them speaking out against the violence in our country.”
Two Bulls told ICTMN she was touched by the humility and respect demonstrated by one police officer who stepped into the crowd. “He told us that he supported us in our efforts to stop the hate crimes,” she said. “He told us, I understand because we are all human beings.”
RCRH released a statement made by CEO Sughrue shortly after the rally denying that any malpractice took place. “We are deeply committed to providing excellent care to everyone, regardless of race. No one at RCRH would stand idly by and allow abuse to occur in this hospital.”
The statement concluded that, “In the absence of a written release, we are severely restricted from commenting on the care of any patient. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss the specifics of any case if allowed to do so by the patient or their representative.”
Nevertheless, Banks said he thought the march was a great success. “This gathering brought with it a new spirit. There were lots of AIM people here today,” he said. “Young people in action are on the move, working for a better future. They are going to need the help and advice of their elders.”
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» Take Action: Anti-trans victim blaming in the New York Times
*Trigger warning*
Lorena Escalera was a person. She was a performer in the ball scene. She died in a suspicious fire on Saturday. And she sure as hell does not deserve the treatment she’s getting from the New York Times. This is how the paper’s article about her death opens:
She was 25 and curvaceous, and she often drew admiring glances in the gritty Brooklyn neighborhood where she was known to invite men for visits to her apartment, her neighbors and the authorities said.
Called Lorena, she brought two men to her apartment, at 43 Furman Avenue in Bushwick, either late Friday night or in the early hours of Saturday, the police said.
A few paragraphs later, the article oh so cleverly reveals that Lorena was trans, or as the paper says, “she was born male.” The article relies on accounts from Lorena’s neighbors to paint a picture of her. Mostly, the account comes from two men, one of whom says he knew she did sex work because he saw her computer. The other guy is quoted as saying, “For a man, he was gorgeous. Hourglass figure.” Because apparently those words really deserved to see print.
I’m flashing back to the New York Times‘ coverage of the gang rape in Cleveland, TX, when the paper interviewed neighbors to paint a picture of an 11-year old girl as a slut who was asking for it. Specific stereotypes about trans women are being deployed in this article, like that we’re deceptive (it’s not that she was Lorena, it’s that she was called Lorena). But focusing on her appearance and bringing up sex work is the same old shit we always hear about how slutty women bring violence upon themselves. We don’t yet know the details of what happened to Lorena, if it was even a murder, and already the Times is blaming the victim.
Just like rape is rape, murder is murder. And victim blaming is still bullshit.
I wrote a lot of posts about horrible news coverage of violence against trans folks when I first joined this site. I’ve had to write less of these posts as the media has started to finally catch on to the fact that it’s still their job to report responsibly and professionally when the victim is trans. It is completely unacceptable this is still happening in the pages of the New York Times, especially after they were taken to task so publicly for victim blaming recently.
Other folks, including GLAAD, Janet Mock, and Autumn Sandeen are calling out this incredibly offensive and dangerous article as well. You can let the New York Times know you’re sick and tired of their victim blaming and transphobia by writing to them here or tweeting @NYTimes.
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» Yakama Nation Statement Against the ‘KKK’ Hate Crime Upon a Lakota Elder
An Open Letter to Indian Country Media Network
At some point between August 26 and September 8 of 2011, while in the medical care of the Rapid City Regional Hospital following open heart surgery, Vern Traversie, a blind Lakota Elder and enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, allegedly had the letters “KKK” carved into his abdomen.
I write today on behalf of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation to take a formal stand, for the sake of Mr. Traversie and all Native Americans and Indigenous Peoples, decrying the apparent federal hate crime, civil rights violations, and medical discrimination committed against our Lakota Brother.
If these allegations are true, Mr. Traversie’s human rights have been violated, in a way that is unimaginable to us as Indian people. We with the Yakama Nation are appalled.
As a former tribal and Bureau of Indian Affairs police officer, I am particularly disturbed by what has not taken place in the aftermath of the assault upon Mr. Traversie. Upon the Yakama Nation’s inquiry of his tribal leaders and other relatives, I understand that there has been a complete failure of any federal, state or local law enforcement agency to take any initiative on the matter – despite that the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Police have determined conclusively that a hate crime has been committed against Mr. Traversie. In particular, the United States seems to ignore the trust responsibility it owes Mr. Traversie as a Sioux Indian. Like the assault itself, this federal and state inaction is grossly unjust.
To be clear, the federal Civil Rights Act makes it illegal for a person to be discriminated against based upon his race. In particular, private individuals and corporations who deprive a person the equal protection and equal privileges provided by law, based upon racial or other class-based motives, violate the Civil Rights Act. Likewise, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, recently signed by President Barack Obama, says that: “Indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
Rapid City Hospital and its medical and convalescent “care providers” seem to have violated Mr. Traversie’s civil rights as an American and his fundamental freedoms as a human being. If everything is as it seems, there could be no clearer case of discriminatory treatment, depravation of the equal protection of law, and violation of human rights than here: “KKK” was somehow etched across Mr. Traversie’s abdomen – literally etched in his own blood – because he is a Sioux Indian. Our Lakota Brother was viciously violated because he cannot see. This simply would not have happened to an Anglo American elder or an affluent patient, or to any non-Indian person with sight.
Based on Mr. Traversie’s account and the corroboration of photographs, it appears that Rapid City Regional Hospital allowed a hate crime and a racially motivated attack to take place, at the hands of its “health care professionals.” It does not take a medical professional to observe that three separate incisions across his abdomen that read “KKK” were not the result of open-heart surgery or post-operative care.
If so, we can only conclude that the hospital and its providers have violated federal civil rights laws; they have violated Mr. Traversie’s most basic rights and freedoms – to receive medical care and be safe from harm; they have done so in an unimaginably repulsive way; and they must all be held accountable to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Again, I have been told that federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have been formally notified of the attack, but have failed to investigate the crime, obtain a search warrant, or apprehend any suspects. This inaction, too, stands as a clear violation of Mr. Traversie’s federal civil rights and his basic human rights. Were Mr. Traversie an Anglo American, we can be sure that federal and state law enforcement would not have handled the referral from the Cheyenne River Police with such disregard.
We urge the United States Department of Justice and the South Dakota U.S. Attorney’s Office to immediately cause an investigation of this hate crime. Anything less would be a violation of the trust responsibility that the United States owes to Mr. Traversie.
We also urge the South Dakota Governor and Attorney General, the Pennington County Sheriff and the Rapid City Police Chief, to help bring justice to this situation. Anything less would make state and local government legally and morally culpable.
We urge Indian country to stand with us in strong, outspoken support of Mr. Traversie. Anything less would leave all Native Americans susceptible to the same sort of violent racism that has been committed upon our Lakota Brother.
I am told that Mr. Traversie is deeply religious; a Christian man who has been in deep prayer since he was told of his assault last September. We will join him in prayer – in our traditional Yakama spiritual ways – asking that justice be served on his behalf.
Sincerely,
/s
Harry Smiskin
Chairman
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
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