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Michigan advocate for women and children gets 2008 Sunshine Peace Award
Cathy Church, an Upper Peninsula advocate for protecting women and children from domestic violence, recently received the 2008 Sunshine Peace Award.
As an assistant prosecutor, Church put many abusers in jail.
The northern Michigan attorney has a long history of ongoing public service.
A longtime prosecutor of domestic abusers in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Cathy Church (center) receives Peace Award from Doris Buffett (right) on August 9, 2008 in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The Sunshine Lady Foundation was established in 1996 through the vision and determination of Doris Buffett, the sister of financier and philanthropist, Warren Buffett.
Church was honored as one of twenty extraordinary individuals who have worked in the domestic violence field and made a positive difference in the lives of battered women and their children.
Candidates for the prestigious award are selected from across the nation for excellence in developing resources and facilitating the social change necessary to end violence against women and children. Cathy Church, an Upper Peninsula advocate for protecting women and children from domestic violence, recently received the 2008 Sunshin... more -
Argus Leader newspaper & video series on the Lakota teen suicide crisis in Sou...
For years the majority of the white media in South Dakota has not done in-depth coverage of the shocking teen suicide crisis facing teens and young adults involving the Rosebud Indian Reservation and Lakota peoples.
However, there have been a few exceptions and the crisis has been covered for more than a year by the Native American media.
Now the Argus Leader newspaper in South Dakota has done a series of stories and videos about this problem.
The White Buffalo Calf Woman Society and its executive director Tillie Black Bear have done a herotic job trying to stop the suicide epidemic - but they need your help.
Follow the above link to get to links to all the articles and videos by the Argus Leader Newspaper in South Dakota. For years the majority of the white media in South Dakota has not done in-depth coverage of the shocking teen suicide crisis facing te... more -
Annual Domestic Violence Walk set for Oct. 6, 2008 on Lakota Rosebud Indian Reserv...
The White Buffalo Calf Woman Society is sponsoring its annual walk for victims of domestic violence on October 6, 2008 on the Lakota Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
It's one of numerous events during October to celebrate the White Buffalo calf Woman Society's shelter for women and children who are victims of domestic violence.
The White Buffalo Calf Woman Society in Mission, S.D. is sponsoring the 22nd annual “National Day of Unity Against Domestic Violence Walk” at 9 a.m. on October 06, 2008 on the Lakota Rosebud Reservation.
The walk is designed to bring awareness to the growing problem of domestic violence against native women. The walk will begin at the IHS Hospital and will stop at the following points: Rosebud Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement, tribal courthouse, Spotted Tail Cemetery and end at tribal building
October is domestic violence month. The motto for this year’s walk is: “Change our present, protect our future. Take a stand, speak out. Silence will not end the violence.”
The walk is one of several events planned during a month-long celebration of the WBCWS 31st anniversary.
Native American women are the target of violent battering, rape, assault, and homicide at a much higher rate than any other ethnic group of women or men in the country.
Crime victimization rates in the Native American communities are significantly higher than in any other communities. Native American women are in a much more dangerous position than any other women in the country.
Homicide is the third leading cause of death for Native women. Over 75% of there women were killed by a family member, an acquaintance, or someone they knew.
Here are some statistics:
American Indian women experience the highest rate of Domestic Violence in the United States.
Three-fourths of Native American women have or will experience some type of sexual assault in their life time.
Abusive relationships are based on the mistaken belief that one person has the right to control another.
More than 47% of women will be raped in their life time.
Over 50% of all women will be battered by their spouse/partner or someone they know sometime in their life.
A woman is physically abused every nine seconds in this country, usually by their spouse or partner.
For more information contact the WBCWS at 605-856-2317
Or visit the WBCWS website:
http://www.wbcws.org The White Buffalo Calf Woman Society is sponsoring its annual walk for victims of domestic violence on October 6, 2008 on the Lakota R... more -
Turtle Island Project: U.S. ignores poverty, teen suicide, racism on Native Americ...
Racism, poverty, teen suicide on reservations, the derogatory perversion of American Indian names on Minnesota rivers and other locations across the country, and learning respect for the environment from Earth-based cultures were among the topics discussed at a Native American Roundtable held in northern Michigan.
TIP volunteer media advisor Greg Peterson reports on the roundtable.
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Inaugural Grand Island Conference in northern Michigan addressed racism, poverty, teen suicide, derogatory location names, and other issues; Centering prayer, Celtic spiritual issues discussed during Turtle Island Project conference
(Munising, Michigan) - Racism, poverty, teen suicide on reservations, the derogatory perversion of American Indian names on Minnesota rivers and other locations across the country, and learning respect for the environment from Earth-based cultures were among the topics discussed at a Native American Roundtable held Sept 13-15, 2007 in northern Michigan.
Sponsored by the Turtle Island Project, a non-profit based in the Upper Peninsula, the conference was held at the Eden on the Bay Lutheran Church in Munising.
The reasons for a shocking increase in teen suicides at American Indian reservations was discussed including the 600 attempts and 15 deaths over the past two years at the Lakota Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. The discussion included whether media coverage of the suicides would be different if the victims were white teenagers.
The TIP will bring more details on this effort in the near future, however the Rosebud official said the U.S. government has been ignoring requests for addition counselors and the four current counselors badly need help because each has over 100 teen cases.
The TIP believes this is another example of low-income Native Americans being overlook, yet the situation would make national headlines if the deaths were affluent white teens.
"I think one of the main reasons for suicide is loss of identity and hope and with that comes deep despair," said Pat Cornish-Hall, a Munising resident who is just discovering her mother's Native American heritage. I do believe that poverty certainly has an effect on suicide.
Counselor Joni Peffers of Gwinn said the media should report on the trends of teen suicides in their area but not give the individual details of each attempt or death.
"Each suicide should not be publicized for many reasons," said Peffers, owner of Celtic Cove Counseling at K.I. Sawyer.
TIP co-founder Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard said wars across the globe have been started in the name of religion - but that is not the case with Native Americans who fought over the theft of land or hunting rights, never over differences in religious belief.
"Native Americans never started a war over religious ideology," said Rev. Hubbard, TIP director and pastor of Eden on the Bay Lutheran church.
The perversion of the original Native American name of Minnesota's Rum River and similar derogatory names was placed on the agenda at the request of Thomas Dahlheimer, director of the Rum River Name Change Organization Inc. in Wahkon, Minnesota.
Minnesota State Rep. Mike Joros, D-Duluth, recently introduced a bill that would change 14 derogatory geographic place names that are offensive to American Indians.
The Rum River in Minnesota was named by whites referring to alcohol "spirits" instead of the original American Indian name that meant "Great Spirit."
"Two of these derogatory names were changed from the sacred Ojibwe name for their Great Spirit (Manido) to Devil, as was the custom throughout our nation," said Dahlheimer. "Racial hatred was why many geographic site names were changed from Native peoples' names for the Great Spirit to Devil."
Hubbard said one of the goals of the TIP is to "give Native Americans a venue in which their voices can be heard and listened to." Racism, poverty, teen suicide on reservations, the derogatory perversion of American Indian names on Minnesota rivers and other locati... more
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