Truthout is an indispensable resource for activists, movement leaders and workers everywhere. Please make this work possible with a quick donation.
Tanya Lee. (Screengrab: Truthout)Also see: A National Disgrace: Violence Against Native Women
Tanya Lee speaks with Ted Asregadoo about the startlingly high rates of gender-based violence among Native American and Native Alaskan communities and the lack of access the victims of that violence have to the justice system.
What if you lived in a community where the chances of rape against women were as high as 100 percent? Moreover, what if your ability to seek justice against a perpetrator was hampered by laws that essentially protected them? It seems unimaginable, but in many Native American and Native Alaskan communities, the rate of gender-based violence is so high that Amnesty International and the United Nations have singled out not only skyrocketing rates of rape and domestic violence, but also the barriers many of these women face to get access to the courts to punish criminals.
Tanya Lee wrote a startling piece on Truthout about how bad the situation for Native American and Native Alaskan women is. There have been some reforms that the Obama Administration has enacted, but like many of the actions his administration takes, the law’s effectiveness is often thwarted by Republicans whose agenda on this matter is to keep native people in a permanent state of subjugation where crimes go unpunished and non-Natives are protected from prosecution.
Important Message: Please Read
For 25 years, Truthout has survived by publishing impactful investigative journalism and analysis; distributing full editions 365 days a year; and building a community of readers who support us with small, hard-earned donations.
Eighty percent of our $3 million yearly budget comes from small donors alone. Of those, 8,000 readers support us with monthly donations. Back in 2018, when Facebook decided to suppress the circulation of posts made by organizations, thereby cutting readers off from seeing many articles shared by the news organizations they had intentionally decided to follow, Truthout’s total traffic declined by 40 percent, as nearly all of our traffic from that platform disappeared.
Now, Google has recently rolled out its AI search bar, providing AI summaries instead of directing readers to our site. Google Search is our single largest source of traffic; it’s the route by which nearly one third of our readers find us. Much like in 2018, a shocking 40 percent of our Google traffic has disappeared overnight.
It will not be easy for Truthout to shoulder this blow. Nor will it be easy for our peers and collaborators — news sites that depend on traffic and aren’t bankrolled by large corporations.
If you can support Truthout with a donation today, you can help us resist the AI onslaught. Please give today.