Sunday, November 16, 2014

Recourse for Trafficked Native Women in the Duluth Harbor

I am of Anishinaabe and Cherokee ancestry and a MSW student at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Six years ago, on the White Earth reservation, an elder told me how the Anishinaabe bloodline is found across the world due to slavery. He then added that prostituted women are not to blame for being in prostitution. I have not seen him since.

“Noose” Photo by Flickr user Randen Pederson and used under a Creative Commons license. Duluth, Minnesota USA.

Three years later, after presenting at Black Bear Casino on a report I co-authored, “Garden of Truth: The Prostitution and Trafficking of Native Women in Minnesota,” another elder stopped me in the foyer to tell me how Native women, girls, and boys have been sold for sex on the ships in the Duluth port. She said some have been shipped into other countries. She gave me details I had not heard before, then turned on her heel and disappeared into the casino lights. I have not seen her since.

Use of ‘Redskins’ on the Airwaves Is Down 42 Percent

According to data from CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN, the R-word has been spoken by broadcasters during NFL games at least 605 times in the last ten weeks.  Deadspin noted that after ten weeks into the 2013 season, the word was mentioned 1,040 times, which means its use is down 42 percent. Also, references to “Washington” are up 10 percent.

CBS and ESPN have both said that using “Redskins” during broadcasts is up to their individual announcers. Newspaper organizations such as the New York Daily News, The Seattle Times, and The Washington Post’s editorial board have banned the use of the word.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Duluth Police Officer Jouppi Fired From Force

Duluth police officer Richard Jouppi, who was once accused of assaulting a man in detox, has been officially fired from the department.

The termination details are now public since the Duluth Police Union recently dropped its grievance with the City of Duluth over its disciplinary action against Jouppi.

City documents state while a jury did not find Jouppi guilty of 5th degree assault from actions taken in this surveillance video from 2012, he was in gross violation of the police department's code of conduct and ethics.
Documents also show, Jouppi was on a "last chance agreement" before the detox incident for interfering and withholding information involving a sexual assault case because the suspect was Jouppi's friend.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Native American Trafficking in MN

NWA Opposes SF 2256 Wolf Hunt Bill

Northwoods Wolf Alliance strongly opposes SF 2256; says the bill is misleading, undermines wolf advocacy and may hinder tribal wolf protection efforts.

Contact: Reyna Crow Northwoods Wolf Alliance reynacrow@gmail.com 218.269.2661 (text best)

Duluth, MN. The Northwoods Wolf Alliance, an all volunteer group of over 1100 wolf advocates based in northern Minnesota, strongly opposes SF 2256, which was approved by the Minnesota Senate Committee on Environment and Energy yesterday. 

The Northwoods Wolf Alliance urges members of the Senate Committee on State and Local Government to seek broader input, in particular from tribal members and other northern Minnesotans, before advancing a bill that Northwoods Wolf Alliance founder Reyna Crow says will likely led to a permanent hunt on wolves in Minnesota.

Native Women Are Being Sold Into the Sex Trade Through the Duluth Harbor

Native women, children, and unfortunately even babies are being trafficked in the sex trade on freighters crossing the Canadian and U.S. border on Lake Superior between Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Duluth Minnesota.

Next month, Christine Stark—a student with the University of Minnesota, Duluth, who is completing her Master’s degree in social work—will complete an examination of the sex trade in Minnesota, in which she compiles anecdotal, first hand accounts of Aboriginal women, particularly from northern reservations, being trafficked across state, provincial, and international lines to be forced into servitude in the sex industry on both sides of the border.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Honorable Hunters Howl Out Against Wolf Hunts

I am a hunter's daughter who grew up eating the sweet, lean meat of wild game. In our U.S. Forest Service cabin in the High Sierra, we grew strong on elk and venison. Every meal we said grace to God, not the animals whose bodies fed us. I assumed that God, like my father, must be a hunter. I have deep respect for the skilled hunter who has a keen knowledge of nature; who can track, patiently wait, and sustainably hunt for his family.