tagged w/ John Henion
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After "Raped on the Reservation" aired, Martina attended the sentencing for the young man charged with assaulting her daughter, Marquita. Here she talks with one of Vanguard's producers about her feelings on the sentencing, her thoughts on the young man, and whether she'll ever be able to forgive him.
"Vanguard," airing weekly on Current TV Mondays at 9/8c, is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.After "Raped on the Reservation" aired, Martina attended the sentencing for... more
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According to national statistics, one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes. Vanguard correspondent Mariana Van Zeller travels to Rosebud reservation in South Dakota to investigate the alarmingly high incidence of rape and sexual assaults.
She learns that rape and violence against women have become frighteningly commonplace and recently escalated to the brutal murder of a high school student named Marquita, whose naked, battered body was discovered in an abandoned house on the reservation. Candid interviews with her family members, classmates and police reveal many of the disturbing social attitudes and behaviors that lead up to her death.
On the reservation, victims of rape are often blamed and even intimidated from pressing charges by members of the community, including their own families. Mariana meets Donna, a rape victim who, fearing for her life, flees her home on the reservation. Through their stories as well as emotionally charged scenes with both Indian rape survivors and past sex offenders, "Rape on the Reservation" exposes a culture of impunity as well as raises questions about what can be done to stem the epidemic of rape on America's Indian reservations.
"Vanguard" is a no-limits documentary series whose award-winning correspondents put themselves in extraordinary situations to immerse viewers in global issues that have a large social significance. Unlike sound-bite driven reporting, the show's correspondents, Adam Yamaguchi, Kaj Larsen, Christof Putzel and Mariana van Zeller, serve as trusted guides who take viewers on in-depth real life adventures in pursuit of some of the world's most important stories.
For more, go to http://current.com/vanguard.According to national statistics, one in three Native American women will be raped in... more
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John Henion co-produced "Rape on the Reservation," premiering as part of Vanguard's fourth season on Wednesday, June 2, at 10/9c.
At Vanguard, an episode generally starts with an idea, maybe small, maybe big. It grows into a concept, then a treatment, a pitch, a production, a script, an edit, and—finally—a story. By the time we lock picture, where we started often looks like a wild and strange place.
“Rape on the Reservation,” part of the new season of Vanguard, is no exception. It started from a widely quoted statistic—that “non-Indian” perpetrators commit 86 percent of sexual assaults against Indian women (read: creepy white dudes cruise down to reservations because they know they can get away with rape against Indian women).
When I read the statistic I was floored. Article after article cited this 86 percent from two reports conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in 2000 & 2004. Amnesty International [PDF] quoted it, NPR, The Washington Post, The New York Times, everyone. It’s an eye popping stat for sure. The kind of stat that makes journalists, including myself, sit up straight and say, “now there’s story!”
But it’s not true.
After weeks of research and calling around to various women’s shelters and support groups on Indian reservations nationwide, we couldn’t find anyone who could substantiate what this statistic claimed. Mostly we heard things like, “That may be a problem off the reservation, but here, that’s not an issue. It’s usually someone from the community.”
With fewer than three million Native Americans nationwide and many of them living on tribal land, the 86 percent statistic began to seem very unlikely. It turned out I wasn’t the only one who had grown skeptical of this statistic.
South Dakota is home to nine Indian reservations and has one of the largest populations of Native Americans in the country. Former South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long was also perplexed. Based on his experience in South Dakota courts, the BJS data did not reflect the experience of the majority of Indian victims of sexual assault in his state.
Long commissioned a study to look into the validity of the BJS reports [PDF]. What he and his team found was that the BJS reports had failed to include federal case data in their research—an egregious error when you consider that the federal courts have jurisdiction over all cases considered “major crimes”—including sexual assault and rape—on Indian reservations in all but six states nationwide. This meant that the majority of crime data from sexual assault cases against Indian women (and information about who their perpetrators were) was not included in the BJS study.
In Long’s new study both federal and state crime data for South Dakota was included. The results indicated that Indian men were the perpetrators in 83 percent of sexual assault crimes against Indian women. At first, this statistic may also seem shocking, but it’s actually very similar to what you will find for all other racial groups in America. Across the board rape has always been predominantly an intra-racial crime.
And although Long’s study only deals with South Dakota, the omission of federal case data suggests that the BJS reports are flawed nationwide. This is a particularly frightening finding considering how many other studies that could inform policy someday have leaned on this questionable statistic.
So with the 86 percent stat debunked, we had to ask ourselves, “Is this a dead story? Should we move on?" But this is what I value the most about working with Vanguard—instead of dismissing the story, we said to ourselves, “OK, well this doesn’t change the fact that Indian women are being raped at a rate 2.5 times the national average. So let’s forget about trying to tell the story of 'who' and focus on how we can tell the story of why.” Over the next seven months we learned that the answer to this question was a complex and often delicate mix of, poverty, social norms, under funding, federal negligence, legal complexities, and a history of violence that dates back to our nation’s earliest days. It wasn’t easy to untangle this web, to say the least. And even though the story looked nothing like it did when we set out, where it took us and what it says about the plight of indigenous women, made it an important journey and well worth it.
Watch the trailer for "Rape on the Reservation" after the jump, and tune in on Wednesday, June 2 at 10/9c to watch on Current TV.
John Henion co-produced "Rape on the Reservation," premiering as part of... more
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John Henion is a freelance video producer in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was laid off from a staff position in 2008 (full disclosure: at Current) and entered into the freelance world. He blogs about unemployment at Unemploymentality.com. We spoke yesterday for The Real Recovery.
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="178" caption="John Henion and Dog"][/caption]
Life for a freelancer can be tough - especially at the beginning. John Henion moved out to California from Michigan where he'd already established himself with freelance work. In California he had none. He said the move made him "take a step back and do things I didn't want to do." For example, John was about 30 when he moved here, had already produced his own independent documentary, but found himself taking a production assistant role on "Wife Swap" just to be working. "I was beyond the point where I wanted to pick up trash on the set and being told to go get lunches," he said. "After that experience I realized I didn't need to lower the bar that much."
The goal as a freelancer is to have steady work. There are some great benefits - like being your own boss and scheduling your own time off - but there are somethings that are definitely not benefits - like not having benefits. John was lucky to have insurance through a domestic partnership with his girlfriend, but he said for many freelancers the decision about whether or not to get insurance is just whether or not you want to take your chances.
After being laid off, John said it took him about 6-8 months before he was getting steady work again. These days, he has about 5-6 return customers and pulls in a lot of one-off projects. He's been able to work himself back up to an income level comparable to having a full-time staff position. But that comes with a lot more work than just the actual time spent working. "The worst part is...I have to deal with chasing down money. Some people wait until the last minute to pay you or wait until you raise a stink. You know, they want to keep that money on their books as long as they can."
The most important thing John has found to remember freelancing is that no matter how much time he spends at an office, no matter how many new friends he makes in a workplace, being a freelancers puts him in a different position. "As a freelancer they can just stop calling. First time that happened I thought I did something wrong....When they stop calling it's not personal....They're not supposed to roll over and kiss you in the morning, just leave some money on the bedstand."
Michael Spafferty's Video Resume from Unemploymentality on Vimeo.
Are you a freelancer? Have a recession story to tell? Post it to The Real Recovery.
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John Henion is a freelance video producer in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was laid off from a staff position in 2008 (full disclosure: at Current) and entered into the freelance world. He blogs about unemployment at Unemploymentality. We spoke yesterday for The Real Recovery.
Life for a freelancer can be tough - especially at the beginning. John Henion moved out to California from Michigan where he'd already established himself with freelance work. In California he had none. He said the move made him "take a step back and do things I didn't want to do." For example, John was about 30 when he moved here, had already produced his own independent documentary, but found himself taking a production assistant role on "Wife Swap" just to be working. "I was beyond the point where I wanted to pick up trash on the set and being told to go get lunches," he said. "After that experience I realized I didn't need to lower the bar that much."
The goal as a freelancer is to have steady work. There are some great benefits - like being your own boss and scheduling your own time off - but there are somethings that are definitely not benefits - like not having benefits. John was lucky to have insurance through a domestic partnership with his girlfriend, but he said for many freelancers the decision about whether or not to get insurance is just whether or not you want to take your chances.
After being laid off, John said it took him about 6-8 months before he was getting steady work again. These days, he has about 5-6 return customers and pulls in a lot of one-off projects. He's been able to work himself back up to an income level comparable to having a full-time staff position. But that comes with a lot more work than just the actual time spent working. "The worst part is...I have to deal with chasing down money. Some people wait until the last minute to pay you or wait until you raise a stink. You know, they want to keep that money on their books as long as they can."
The most important thing John has found to remember freelancing is that no matter how much time he spends at an office, no matter how many new friends he makes in a workplace, being a freelancers puts him in a different position. "As a freelancer they can just stop calling. First time that happened I thought I did something wrong....When they stop calling it's not personal....They're not supposed to roll over and kiss you in the morning, just leave some money on the bedstand."
Are you a freelancer? Have a recession story to tell? Post it to The Real Recovery.
FROM THE BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/19/surviving-as-a-freelancer-real-recovery/
John's site: http://unemploymentality.com
The Real Recovery: http://current.com/groups/the-real-recovery/John Henion is a freelance video producer in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was laid... more
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