"Mobilize Veterans to Feed America"

Tia Christopher is being honored as a Champion of Change for her efforts as a woman veteran.

People often ask me about my military experience. As a very vocal military sexual assault survivor and advocate, I think it is often assumed that I feel a certain way or see my experience in the military as a bad thing. It is actually the opposite. I am always going to be proud I served, even if it was only for a year. Both sides of my family have served in the Navy, as pilots, submariners, officers, and enlisted. I feel honored to be a part of that tradition.

What I tell people about my short time in the service is that it taught me my physical, mental, and emotional limits at a very young age. I would not be the woman I am today or be able to be the advocate, leader, and friend that I am. Has it been hard? Yes. On one hand I get to help clinicians learn how to work with veterans with PTSD and explain to them the difference between sexual trauma in the military versus the civilian world – work that I love and am very proud of. Yet the other side of the coin is living with PTSD. It has gotten easier, but my basic makeup has been altered by the trauma I have survived.

Over the years I have worked with veterans just getting out of the military, helping to explain their benefits and plug them into community and government resources. I have written policy papers and spoken before audiences that ranged from college students to legislators to the media about Military Sexual Trauma (MST) and the changes and reforms needed. The limits that I learned about myself as a nineteen-year-old sailor helped me see when it was time to move on and grow, and I am proud that a new generation of women veterans is now speaking about MST and the positive changes that are possible.

Today I serve as Chief of Staff for the Farmer Veteran Coalition. Our mission is to “Mobilize Veterans to Feed America.” We work with returning veterans and veterans of all eras who are starting careers in food and farming. Just like veterans need jobs, our country needs more farmers. It is exciting and rewarding to be a part of our country’s food movement while still working with the population I love: vets. Both in my current post and over my years in the veteran advocacy field, I have worked with and befriended so many amazing veterans. Our network of veterans helping veterans stretches across the country. A lesson that has stayed with me from my time in the military is how much harder I can push myself with the support and encouragement of my shipmates. That is a tradition I have been proud to continue in the veteran community.

Tia Christopher serves as Chief of Staff for the Farmer Veteran Coalition in Davis, California.

Achieving a Brighter Future for Tribal Nations

On December 5, 2012, tribal leaders from across the country convened in Washington, D.C. for the fourth consecutive White House Tribal Nations Conference. President Obama has hosted the event each year of his presidency, affirming his commitment to strengthen the government to government relationship with tribes. The President delivered the keynote address at the Conference, which also featured remarks by senior Administration officials. Today we are releasing the synopsis of the 2012 Conference.

The Conference featured five break-out sessions, connecting tribal leaders and federal agency officials in focused areas of Indian Country priorities. The “Synopsis of the 2012 White House Tribal Nations Conference” reflects the concerns and feedback provided by tribal leaders in each break-out session. The break-out session topics included:

1. Protecting Our Communities: Law Enforcement and Disaster Relief
2. Strengthening and Advancing the Government-to-Government Relationship
3. Strengthening Tribal Communities: Economic Development, Housing, Energy and Infrastructure
4. Securing Our Future: Cultural Protection, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection
5. Healthy Communities, Excellence in Education and Native American Youth

Prior to the Conference, we released the 2012 White House Tribal Nations Conference Progress Report. The Report compiles some of the President’s key accomplishments for Indian Country. These accomplishments include signing the HEARTH Act to streamline the process for tribes to manage their land independently, continuing implementation of the Tribal Law and Order Act by providing critical resources to tribal law enforcement and expanding educational opportunities for Native youth with grants through the State-Tribal Education Partnership (STEP) program.

The President and his Administration will continue to partner with tribes to accomplish the priorities laid out by leaders at the Tribal Nations Conference. President Obama is proud to have achieved two of those priorities in the first two months of 2013. First, in January, President Obama signed a bill that included an amendment to the Stafford Act allowing tribes to make direct applications for emergency relief, just as state governments do. Second, just in the past few weeks, the President signed into law a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which includes new protections for Native American women. As President Obama said before signing VAWA, “Tribal governments have an inherent right to protect their people, and all women deserve the right to live free from fear.

While much progress has been made, the President recognizes that works remains, including a legislative Carcieri fix, increased energy development on tribal lands and expanded economic and education opportunities for Native American communities. In pursuing each of these priorities, the President and his Administration are committed to working with tribal leaders in, what the President called, “a true and lasting government-to-government relationship."

Jodi Gillette is Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs, White House Domestic Policy Council.

President Signs 2013 VAWA – Empowering Tribes to Protect Native Women

Today, President Obama signed into law the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. This Act strengthens the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) with increased protections for Native American women and other victims previously left vulnerable by gaps in the law. During the signing ceremony the President emphasized, “Tribal governments have an inherent right to protect their people, and all women deserve the right to live free from fear. And that is what today is all about.

Making Native American communities safer and more secure has been a steadfast priority of the Obama Administration. Currently, Native American women are more than twice as likely to be victims of domestic violence as non-Native women. A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that 46% of Native American women have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by a partner in their lifetime. One regional survey conducted by University of Oklahoma researchers showed that nearly three out of five Native American women had been assaulted by their spouses or intimate partners. Tribal leaders tell us the actual rates of victimization may be even higher, since the justice system’s failure to adequately respond leaves many Native American victims unable to safely come forward with their stories.

In July 2010, President Obama signed the Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA), which provided for enhanced sentencing by tribal courts. Upon signing the TLOA, the President stated that the prevalence of violence against Native American women remains “an assault on our national conscience” that “we cannot allow to continue.”  The tribal provisions included in the reauthorization of VAWA give tribes important new tools to help address this problem.

Tribal governments — police, prosecutors, and courts — are essential to the response to these crimes, but have long lacked the authority to address them effectively.  Prior to TLOA’s enactment, no matter how violent the offense, tribal courts could sentence Indian offenders to only one year in prison. Even worse, since a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1978, tribal courts have had no authority to prosecute a non-Indian who commits domestic violence, even if he lives on the reservation, works for the tribe, and is married to a tribal member.

Not surprisingly, abusers who are not arrested are more likely to repeat, and escalate, their attacks. Research shows that law enforcement’s failure to arrest and prosecute abusers both emboldens attackers and deters victims from reporting future incidents. In short, the jurisdictional framework in Indian country has left many serious acts of domestic violence and dating violence unprosecuted and unpunished. The reauthorization of VAWA signed by President Obama will empower Indian tribes to protect all Native American women in Indian country, at long last.

Following up on countless reports from Native women and tribal leaders, the Administration, led by the Department of Justice, consulted formally with the tribes and then developed and submitted to Congress a proposal to address the jurisdictional barriers that have allowed crimes of domestic violence in Indian country to go unprosecuted. Because the Justice Department’s proposal was ultimately included in the VAWA reauthorization bill, tribes will now be able to prosecute non-Indian perpetrators of domestic violence against Native American women in Indian country. The new law also clarifies that tribal courts have full civil jurisdiction to provide Native American women the safety and security of protection orders. And the new law gives additional tools to federal prosecutors to combat severe cases of domestic violence.

These provisions were included in the VAWA reauthorization along with other victims who face additional barriers to escaping violence. The strengthened VAWA reminds us that a victim is a victim, regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender identity, immigration status, or tribal affiliation, and all are worthy of protection. A broad coalition of advocates joined in championing those victims’ voices to Members of Congress. As active members in that coalition, tribal leaders and advocates worked with Senators and Representatives of both parties to ensure the victimization of Native American women did not fall victim itself to Washington politics. In the end, the bill passed with broad bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress.

Passage of VAWA’s tribal provisions is a critical piece of the President’s larger agenda to make Indian country a safer, more prosperous place for the next generation of Native Americans. The Obama Administration looks forward to partnering with Indian tribes to implement all of the new provisions included in the VAWA reauthorization law.

Jodi Gillette is the Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs

Charles Galbraith is an Associate Director in the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs