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.