Sex Abuse of Native Americans: The Story behind the Facts
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When NPR’s Laura Sullivan read in an Amnesty International report that Native American women are two-and-a-half times more likely to be sexually assaulted than other women, she wanted to know the story behind the facts. For four months, Sullivan followed the case of Leslie Ironroad, a 20-year-old Native American woman who was raped and murdered on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in South Dakota. For her two-part story, which just won a Dart Award for excellence in reporting on trauma, Sullivan interviewed dozens of Native Americans, state medical examiners and hospital officials to find out what happened to Ironroad and why there was no investigation into her rape and murder. She interviewed tribal police and reported on a startling fact: In sexual abuse cases involving Native American women, the most common rape offenders are non-native males who almost always go unpunished because tribal police can’t charge non-Native Americans with crimes. Often, federal officials who can do something, don’t. I interviewed Sullivan via e-mail to hear more about what went into covering this story and about the challenges she faced in reporting in-depth on a culture that was not her own. Tenore: How did you find out about this story? Sullivan: This story stemmed from an Amnesty International report on Native American women. It led me to startling statistics from the Justice Department that one in three Native American women will be raped in her lifetime. What challenges did you face during the reporting process? How did you handle them? Laura Sullivan My producer Amy Walters and I were able to piece together Leslie Ironroad’s story based on documents and later interviews with the state medical examiners, hospital officials and more than a dozen people familiar with the incident. We were also leaked confidential correspondence from the Justice Department, and we spoke to federal officials on background, which confirmed the dismal efforts of federal officials on tribal lands. When it came to gaining the trust of the Native American tribes, it was a matter of getting on the ground and knocking on doors. It was a long process of meeting one person and asking that person to introduce us to someone else. When we showed that we were willing to spend the time really getting to know people, every door we needed to pass through opened up. |