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sunlit_musicPretty Bird Woman House is a Sioux Domestic Violence and Rape Shelter, and it urgently needs help. The building this shelter was housed in was vandalized by thieves who smashed through the walls so often in the process of stealing nearly everything that it became unsafe for anyone to stay there. Somebody has also torched the building the day after they moved out. So this is why Pretty Bird Woman House needs a new house. PBWH provides emergency shelter, advocacy support, and educational programs for women on the Standing Rock reservation who have been victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.
The following text in italics is from the Pretty Bird Woman House site (http://www.prettybirdwomanhouse.blogspot.com/):
Jackie Brown Otter created The Pretty Bird Woman House after the brutal rape and murder of her sister, whose Lakota name means Pretty Bird Woman.
Pretty Bird Woman House services are badly needed; according to the Amnesty International report Maze of Injustice - The failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA:
High levels of sexual violence on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation take place in a context of high rates of poverty and crime. South Dakota has the highest poverty rate for Native American women in the USA with 45.3 per cent living in poverty. The unemployment rate on the Reservation is 71 per cent. Crime rates on the Reservation often exceed those of its surrounding areas. According to FBI figures, in 2005 South Dakota had the fourth highest rate of "forcible rapes" of women of any US state.
Making things worse, Standing Rock Reservation has a tiny police force to patrol all 2.3 million acres. At the time of the murder of Pretty Bird Woman, Standing Rock had only one police officer on duty during the night shift. As a result, it took over a day for anyone to even come out to start to investigate the disappearance.
Further compounding the problem, Amnesty reports on the legal nightmare facing the victims, their advocates and the police:
Tribal and federal authorities have concurrent jurisdiction on all Standing Rock Sioux Reservation lands over crimes where the suspected perpetrator is American Indian. In instances in which the suspected perpetrator is non-Indian, federal officials have exclusive jurisdiction. Neither North nor South Dakota state police have jurisdiction over sexual violence against Native American women on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. State police do, however, have jurisdiction over crimes of sexual violence committed on tribal land in instances where the victim and the perpetrator are both non-Indian.
The result:
"When an emergency call comes in, the sheriff will say ‘but this is Indian land.’ Tribal police will show up and say the reverse. Then, they just bicker and don’t do the job. Many times, this is what occurs. And it doesn’t always get resolved, which means no rape [sexual assault evidence] kit, etc."
Juskwa Burnett, support worker for Native American survivors of sexual violence, May 2005
Recently, the Pretty Bird Woman House was forced to move out of its original location after a number of break-ins through the exterior walls left it in such bad condition that the women could not safely remain there. The day after they left the empty shelter was the victim of an arson attack.
For a full and comprehensive history please visit This diary which has much more detail.
The Pretty Bird Woman House is a women's shelter on South Dakota side of the Standing Rock Reservation. It opened in January of 2005.
For the past 2 years, it has been struggling financially. Part of this is because it is new, and part is because of the budget cuts that the all human services organizations have experienced under the Bush Administration. The shelter was in danger of closing May, but the netroots got together and chipped in so it could stay open until it received a 3-year Federal grant in the fall. That was an amazing story. See MacFishPagan's post below for more on that...IN THE MEANTIME, THE STAFF OF THIS SHELTER ARE JUST TOO TOUGH TO GIVE UP. They have been driving women to shelters off of the reservation, which strains the capacity of those shelters and reduces the staff's ability to serve the women of Standing Rock, partly due to the distances and time involved in transporting the women.
The Tribal Council has provided the shelter with free office space and storage for their furniture while they look for a safe permanent home, but this is often easier said than done in an area with chronic housing shortages.
Luckily, there are two houses available to buy, one for $50,000 and one for $60,000. One is across from a police station, which is the safest place to be in an area the size of Connecticut that is usually patrolled by only 2 police officers. We are trying to raise $70,000 so we can pay for an electric fence and a security system for whichever house is available.
Here's the amazing work that the 3 shelter staff have done only this year:
* Served a total of 614 women with education and services.
* Answered 397 crisis calls
* Provided emergency shelter to 188 women and 132 children.
* Helped 23 women obtain restraining orders, 10 get divorces, and 16 get medical
assistance
* Provided court advocacy support for 28 women, and
* Conducted community education programs for 360 women.
They are also working on more general issues, such as improving the way the police respond to and report on sexual assaults, and doing education programs in local schools.
At this time of the year, there are always more domestic violence cases to deal with. Georgia and her staff have been touched by the generosity of everyone who has stepped up to help them. Couldn't we all do a little more right now with our end of the year giving, so they can have a house for the women by the end of January? Thank you all so much for your caring and generosity. This project has renewed my faith in human beings.
The following text in italics is from the Pretty Bird Woman House site (http://www.prettybirdwomanhouse.blogspot.com/):
Jackie Brown Otter created The Pretty Bird Woman House after the brutal rape and murder of her sister, whose Lakota name means Pretty Bird Woman.
Pretty Bird Woman House services are badly needed; according to the Amnesty International report Maze of Injustice - The failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA:
High levels of sexual violence on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation take place in a context of high rates of poverty and crime. South Dakota has the highest poverty rate for Native American women in the USA with 45.3 per cent living in poverty. The unemployment rate on the Reservation is 71 per cent. Crime rates on the Reservation often exceed those of its surrounding areas. According to FBI figures, in 2005 South Dakota had the fourth highest rate of "forcible rapes" of women of any US state.
Making things worse, Standing Rock Reservation has a tiny police force to patrol all 2.3 million acres. At the time of the murder of Pretty Bird Woman, Standing Rock had only one police officer on duty during the night shift. As a result, it took over a day for anyone to even come out to start to investigate the disappearance.
Further compounding the problem, Amnesty reports on the legal nightmare facing the victims, their advocates and the police:
Tribal and federal authorities have concurrent jurisdiction on all Standing Rock Sioux Reservation lands over crimes where the suspected perpetrator is American Indian. In instances in which the suspected perpetrator is non-Indian, federal officials have exclusive jurisdiction. Neither North nor South Dakota state police have jurisdiction over sexual violence against Native American women on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. State police do, however, have jurisdiction over crimes of sexual violence committed on tribal land in instances where the victim and the perpetrator are both non-Indian.
The result:
"When an emergency call comes in, the sheriff will say ‘but this is Indian land.’ Tribal police will show up and say the reverse. Then, they just bicker and don’t do the job. Many times, this is what occurs. And it doesn’t always get resolved, which means no rape [sexual assault evidence] kit, etc."
Juskwa Burnett, support worker for Native American survivors of sexual violence, May 2005
Recently, the Pretty Bird Woman House was forced to move out of its original location after a number of break-ins through the exterior walls left it in such bad condition that the women could not safely remain there. The day after they left the empty shelter was the victim of an arson attack.
For a full and comprehensive history please visit This diary which has much more detail.
The Pretty Bird Woman House is a women's shelter on South Dakota side of the Standing Rock Reservation. It opened in January of 2005.
For the past 2 years, it has been struggling financially. Part of this is because it is new, and part is because of the budget cuts that the all human services organizations have experienced under the Bush Administration. The shelter was in danger of closing May, but the netroots got together and chipped in so it could stay open until it received a 3-year Federal grant in the fall. That was an amazing story. See MacFishPagan's post below for more on that...IN THE MEANTIME, THE STAFF OF THIS SHELTER ARE JUST TOO TOUGH TO GIVE UP. They have been driving women to shelters off of the reservation, which strains the capacity of those shelters and reduces the staff's ability to serve the women of Standing Rock, partly due to the distances and time involved in transporting the women.
The Tribal Council has provided the shelter with free office space and storage for their furniture while they look for a safe permanent home, but this is often easier said than done in an area with chronic housing shortages.
Luckily, there are two houses available to buy, one for $50,000 and one for $60,000. One is across from a police station, which is the safest place to be in an area the size of Connecticut that is usually patrolled by only 2 police officers. We are trying to raise $70,000 so we can pay for an electric fence and a security system for whichever house is available.
Here's the amazing work that the 3 shelter staff have done only this year:
* Served a total of 614 women with education and services.
* Answered 397 crisis calls
* Provided emergency shelter to 188 women and 132 children.
* Helped 23 women obtain restraining orders, 10 get divorces, and 16 get medical
assistance
* Provided court advocacy support for 28 women, and
* Conducted community education programs for 360 women.
They are also working on more general issues, such as improving the way the police respond to and report on sexual assaults, and doing education programs in local schools.
At this time of the year, there are always more domestic violence cases to deal with. Georgia and her staff have been touched by the generosity of everyone who has stepped up to help them. Couldn't we all do a little more right now with our end of the year giving, so they can have a house for the women by the end of January? Thank you all so much for your caring and generosity. This project has renewed my faith in human beings.
