There were pieces on NPR last evening and this, on the fates of Native women raped--usually by non-Native men, who are ignored and/or forgotten because of 'jurisdictional' differences nad disputes. By and large, it is an unpunished crime.
Got me thinking: Why, I wondered, are Indian police forbidden--they are--by Federal law to arrest/detain non-Indians for crimes on Indian land of which said non-Indians are accused?? And why are Indian courts forbidden--they are--by the same Federal laws from executing justice in such cases?
Me? I think it has mainly to do with the racist requirement to keep the natives down. It would never do if the savages were to begin to think of themselves as qualified to judge white folks. Ya never know where something like that might lead.
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For more on this, if you haven't, you should read Conquest: Sexual Violence and American Indian Genocide by Andrea Smith, who examines the broad implications of the violence that occurs against Native women.
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I'd also add that, of course, it's always been the U.S.'s ability to define and redefine "jurisdiction" that served/s as a key mechanism for "legalizing" its expansion through the conquest/occupation of those perceived as the Other.
Although I know you know that.
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