some women are even more vulnerable...

the taped 911 call played for the cadets at the anchorage police academy going through training in responding to sexual assaults...

"help me, please help me, i don't know where i am...pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease help me,"...

cindy pennington, the first native american woman ever admitted into the anchorage police academy, knew the woman was native american and pretty sure she was rural - native americans come from all around alaska to find work in anchorage and the women, especially, are not city-smart...

the woman had been brutally assaulted, had fled from her attacker, naked in 20 degree below zero conditions, and was calling from a phone booth - and had no idea where she was and therefore could not tell the dispatcher where she was...it was the seventies and the sophisticated tracing and tracking equipment now standard in most police departments didn't exist then...

it took the police hours to find the naked, freezing, traumatized survivor...she was in the hospital for 6 months and lost most of both of her feet to frostbite and she had to recover from being sexually assaulted...

this was one story i took away from the session on ending sexual assault against native american and alaska native women...consider this:

• over 85% of the rapes against native american women in the lakota nation of south and north dakota are perpetrated by non-native men...


• in alaska native peoples constitute some 7% of the population yet native alaskan women constitute nearly 50% of all sexual assault victims...

the women presenting at this panel were thrilled to be working with amnesty international to remove the veil of ignorance over the plight of native american women and sexual assault...

on april 24th the full report on sexual violence against native american and alaska native women will be released and will note that, "more than one in three native american or alaska native women will be raped at some point in their lives...one support worker will be quoted as saying, "women don't report because it doesn't make a difference...why report when you are just going to be revictimized?"...

this report unravels some of he reasons why indigenous women in the usa are at such risk of sexual violence and why survivors are so frequently denied justice...sexual violence against women is not only a criminal or social issue, it is a human rights abuse,"...

check out the report online on april 24th by clicking here...

now you know...now you and i are responsible...

peace out <3