YAKIMA — As an assistant U.S. attorney, Bree Black Horse prosecutes cases involving murdered and missing Indigenous people in the Pacific Northwest. Her caseload also includes sexual assaults, child physical and sexual abuse and narcotics trafficking.
Some Indigenous people have lost faith in the justice system because of perceived bias, racial profiling, disparities in prosecution and lack of access to legal representation, she said during the Yakima Domestic Violence Coalition meeting Tuesday. Solving those problems is vital to restoring public safety and justice in Indian Country, Black Horse said.
“How do we ensure survivors and witnesses want to work with us, when this is a real perception of our justice system?” she asked. “One way we can do that is using a trauma-informed and culturally competent approach to cases both in Indian Country and those involving Indian witnesses and victims.”
Black Horse, a Seminole Nation of Oklahoma citizen, is the first assistant U.S. attorney in the Northwest region specifically focused on cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women and people. Those and related cases can involve domestic violence and intimate partner violence.
November is Native American Heritage Month. Black Horse spoke about the historical and generational trauma and some of the disparities experienced by Indigenous communities and how a trauma-informed approach can help.
“Although some of these topics are going to be bad — they represent some of the darkest times in the history of our country — I see it with a little bit of a different perspective during this month,” she said. “My existence, and the existence of several people in this room, and the continued perseverance of the 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States is a testament to the resilience, grit and determination of our tribal nations and tribal people.
“All tribal people that walk the Earth today are descended from people who survived genocide, who survived forced relocation, who survived forced removal to boarding schools, disease and countless other atrocities.”
Significant disparities
Disparities experienced by tribal communities include crime victimization, victimization of women and children, relationship issues, education, unintentional injuries such as accidents, lower life expectancy and higher suicide risk. Such disparities are directly traced to generational trauma, Black Horse said.
Generational and historical trauma have contributed to the centuries-long international crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and people. On and around the Yakama Reservation, dozens of Indigenous women and people have gone missing, have been found murdered and have died mysteriously. Many cases are unsolved.
Black Horse talked about the U.S. Department of Justice’s regional outreach program for Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons. She’s a part of the program, which has placed 10 attorneys and coordinators in five regions across the country to help prevent and respond to missing or murdered Indigenous people. Cedar Wilkie Gillette is the MMIP coordinator in the Northwest region.
Incidents involving sexual violence, child physical and sexual abuse, human trafficking and narcotics trafficking “have been shown to be related to or even in some cases precursors to someone going missing or somebody being murdered,” Black Horse said.
“Stopping ongoing victimization, in particularly instances involving children, is critical to a long-term approach to addressing and stemming MMIP in Indian Country,” she said.
Research shows that intimate partner violence is a major factor in homicides in tribal communities, particularly for women and girls, according to data shared by the Centers for Disease Control.
Children who witness intimate partner violence can suffer significant long-term trauma and “are way more likely to experience intimate partner violence as an adult, Black Horse said.
“Witnessing domestic violence in childhood can also lead to somebody perpetrating that same kind of violence. Research shows that nearly 80% of perpetrators of domestic violence experienced or witnessed this type of abuse as a child.”
Collaboration is key
Jurisdictional issues complicate responses to these cases. Criminal jurisdiction over offenses committed in Indian Country “is governed by a complex patchwork of federal, state and tribal law,” Black Horse noted in quoting a 1993 case.
The federal outreach program emphasizes a cross-jurisdictional approach because responding to crimes in Indian Country can be shared among tribes, state and federal authorities, Black Horse said. “And because any one of these jurisdictions alone might not have the resources necessary to adequately respond, it’s so important that we work together on this issue.
“Addressing this issue in a meaningful way that’s going to make a difference requires that we cooperate with one another and work together to make our tribal communities, both on reservation and off reservations, safer places.”
The federal outreach program involves work with tribal, state and federal officials and law enforcement to support communication and collaboration among agencies on the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and people. It also includes support in developing tribal community response plans, Black Horse said.
“Most recently, we provided some of that technical assistance to the Yakama Nation,” she said.
As defined by the U.S. Department of Justice, a tribal community response plan is a guide for how a tribal community will respond to a report of a new missing person case. Tribal officials and others tailor each plan to the needs, resources and culture of their community.
Meetings of the Yakima Domestic Violence Coalition are open to the public and draw a variety of people, including law enforcement, prosecutors and judicial officials, advocates, counselors, and school staff. Along with regular guests, Tuesday’s meeting also included local attorneys, Yakama Nation Behavioral Health staff members and Hailey Bass, the first MMIP family liaison for the Yakama Nation.
Among questions and comments after Black Horse spoke, Maxine Janis thanked her for her presentation. Janis is an associate professor and the president’s liaison for Native American Affairs at Heritage University in Toppenish. She is an enrolled member of the Lakota (Sioux) Tribe.
“I appreciate everything that you shared,” Janis said. “Hopefully it opens a wider lens for everyone listening to your message.”
