COMMUNITY
WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2022
HERMISTONHERALD.COM • A7
Women tell stories of violence, recovery
BY BRYCE DOLE
AND ZACK DEMARS
The Bulletin
N
o one story can
encapsulate the trauma
that Indigenous survivors
of domestic and sexual violence have
endured.
But taken together, the stories of
three Indigenous survivors in Oregon
show what it means to forgive, to raise
a child in a painful world, to find the
strength to keep fighting, to build a
community and find a home.
Shaped in isolation by the trau-
matic events they faced, their stories
are linked by one woman who helped
them find their voice and inspired
them not only to press on through
their pain but to bring other survivors
with them.
A growing body of research shows
that Native Americans nationwide
endure disproportionately high rates
of violence. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention says nearly
half of all Native American women
have suffered physical or sexual vio-
lence. A separate Justice Department
report found that 1 in 3 Indigenous
women have been raped or experi-
enced an attempted rape — more
than twice the national average.
While the national research indi-
cates high rates of violence on tribal
land nationwide, official crime statis-
tics from authorities in Oregon paint
a murky picture at best. Federal statis-
tics obtained from the FBI’s Summary
Reporting System contain violent
crime data from just one tribal police
department in Oregon — Umatilla —
prior to 2006. Data is missing in the
system for one or more tribal police
departments for seven of the last eight
reporting years, and more before that.
The federal data reporting system
doesn’t require local police agencies to
submit crime statistics, and federal of-
ficials don’t track why agencies choose
to report data or not, according to an
FBI spokesperson.
What the data lacks is revealed
through an untold number of Indig-
enous women in Oregon who share
their stories of trauma to empower
other survivors. They are now raising
their voices.
At the center of the women who
shared their stories is Desireé Coy-
ote, the manager of Family Violence
Services on the Umatilla Indian Res-
ervation. She says she was kidnapped,
beaten and sexually assaulted by her
ex-husband in the foothills of the Blue
Mountains near Pendleton in 1991, as
reported to tribal authorities.
In the years to come, Coyote would
impact the lives of countless Indige-
nous people as one of Oregon’s pre-
eminent advocates for survivors of vi-
olence, and she would empower many
women to help others, too, according
to interviews with state and tribal
officials. Starting in the early 2000s,
she was among the first Indigenous
women to work as a victim advocate
with the governor’s office and the Or-
egon Department of Justice. In time,
she would spearhead the Umatilla In-
dian Reservation’s efforts to gain es-
sential protections that, had they been
implemented decades earlier, could
have helped her.
Sarah Frank, an Indigenous woman
who grew up on the Warm Springs
Indian Reservation and in Pilot Rock,
was raped as a 17-year-old by two
men at a party on the Warm Springs
reservation, she said. As she shifted in
and out of consciousness, she could
see a man standing nearby. He could
have stepped in and stopped them,
but he chose not to, she said. When
she came to, she realized that her
friends had abandoned her, too.
“Nobody was there to help,” she
said. “I really think it was a set-up. I
feel like I was targeted.”
Frank would remain friends with
the sister of one of her alleged rap-
ist. One day, she stood alongside her
friend and family as the man lay dy-
Kathy Aney/Hermiston Herald
Althea Wolf weaves a wapas bag on July 4, 2022. Hanging on the teepee poles are two items especially meaningful to the Umatilla Tribe member: a jacket her son wears while
performing in the Happy Canyon Night Show and a buckskin dress given to her by her mother. Wolf, a sexual assault survivor, helps other survivors by writing letters to law-
makers for support, raising funds for rape kits for the tribes’ victims services and speaking about sexual and domestic violence.
Kathy Aney/Hermiston Herald
Kathy Aney/Hermiston Herald
Kola Shippentower-Thompson, who experienced rape at age 19 and violence at the
hands of an ex-boyfriend and ex-husband, says she found peace and healing when a
friend first took her to this spot near Grouse Mountain. The mixed martial arts fighter
helps other abuse survivors by training them in safety and self-defense techniques.
Sarah Frank, who was raped as a 17-year-old while unconscious at a party, stands
July 6, 2022, near the grave of her son Josiah Thompson where she goes sometimes
to reflect. Frank has found healing in advocating for survivors and telling her story to
perpetrators, hoping to spark change.
Voices of Resilience
Indigenous women across the country have endured disproportionately high rates
of violence stemming from systemic and cultural obstacles: Mistrust, limited policing,
a lack of resources for support services and a dizzying array of jurisdictional issues for
crimes committed on tribal land are all factors.
This is the first installment of a two-part investigative project in partnership with Un-
derscore News, a nonprofit publication focused on Native American issues. The series
will show how obstacles to prosecution prompted Indigenous survivors to use their
stories of trauma to empower others, inspired initiatives encouraging change and
how evolving policies are shaping the legal landscape. The second installment of the
series will be published July 17.
Kathy Aney/for Underscore
Desiree Coyote lets her thoughts roam as she stands on June 10, 2022, near the spot
on the Umatilla Indian Reservation where she said her ex-husband assaulted her af-
ter kidnapping her from her home at the time in Mission, according to a police report.
ing from alcoholism in a Madras hos-
pital, a moment she would reflect on
for years to come.
“Even now, I look back and real-
ize that I was able to forgive him,” she
said of that day. She would go on not
only to advocate for survivors like her
on the Warm Springs Indian Reserva-
tion, but she would visit jails and pris-
ons, sharing her story with perpetra-
tors, hoping to instill empathy.
But even today, she wonders
what might have happened if the
man standing nearby that night had
stepped in and saved her. “I’ve always
wanted to ask him why he didn’t help
me ... I just have not had the courage
and opportunity.”
Frank saw Coyote speak at a do-
Survivor resources
Resources are available for trauma
survivors at the Strong Hearts Native
Helpline and the National Sexual
Assault Helpline.
mestic violence conference in Pendle-
ton in the early 2000s. She, like many
others, was struck by her bravery and
felt encouraged to help others.
“She was making change, doing
what I wish we could have done in
Warm Springs,” she said.
Kola Shippentower-Thompson, a
member of the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Reservation,
was raped in Pendleton at age 19 and
later experienced domestic violence
at the hands of her ex-boyfriend and
her ex-husband, she said. One day,
she said, her ex-husband hit a clogged
duct in her face, causing a severe he-
matoma. Her face was so deformed
that she needed surgery. A mixed
martial arts fighter since 2010, she
told her friends that it was just an ac-
cident from practice. Today, she still
can’t feel the right side of her face.
In 2016, Shippentower-Thompson
made a social media post about the
alleged domestic abuse, with a photo
of her face pre-surgery. The post
went viral. Soon, she was speaking
with survivor after survivor, many of
whom were Indigenous women. Now,
she travels across the West, providing
safety training and self-defense classes
for women, while also competing in
mixed martial arts. “That’s where I
felt most at home: fighting,” she said.
“That’s what most Natives are. We’re
fighters.”
Shippentower-Thompson said that,
as she faced domestic violence, she
met with Coyote. She helped her feel
safe and understood. She, too, was a
fighter.
Althea Wolf, the granddaugh-
ter of the late Umatilla Tribal Chief
Raymond Burke, is a sexual assault
survivor. After she had a daughter
of her own, she spent eight months
contemplating whether to enroll her
as a Umatilla tribal member. She
worried that, if her daughter was
enrolled, she would have fewer pro-
tections.
Eventually, Coyote helped convince
Wolf to enroll her daughter, saying
that her daughter would be safer to-
day than Wolf was as a young girl:
“We can’t let fear stop us.” But Wolf
wanted to help survivors like her. So
she began working alongside Coyote
as an advocate, writing letters to law-
makers for support and raising funds
for rape kits for the tribes’ victim
services, speaking at annual events
around sexual and domestic violence.
“It’s almost third world,” she said, “the
way women and girls are not pro-
tected in Indian country.”
Wolf described Coyote as “a grace-
ful fighter” who “doesn’t hesitate to
believe.”
The three Indigenous women telling
their stories today all say it was Coyote
who empowered them to help others.
“It’s almost third world, the way women and girls are not protected in Indian country.”
— Althea Wolf, granddaughter of the late Umatilla Tribal Chief Raymond Burke
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