Olivia Lone Bear: and How Oil Companies and violence against Native Women go hand-in-hand

Yesterday, as I was laying in my bed, scrolling through Twitter as usual, I came across a tweet that was dedicated to Olivia Lone Bear. Olivia, who was a 32 year old mother of 5, went missing in late October of 2017. Just recently, her body was found in a pickup truck that was submerged in Lake Sakakawea, located on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Olivia was one of the thousand missing and murdered Indigenous women in the United States. I find it very important to point out that Native American women get murdered at rates that are 10 times higher than the National average. The area in which Olivia Lone Bear went missing, is known for its oil extraction. According to Mary Kathryn Nagle, who is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and is currently working for the Pipestem law form, stated that "even the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women recently gave out federal grant funding from the Violence Against Women Act to different domestic violence programs around the country, Native and non-Native. But in their recent proclamation that they were putting out different grants, they noted the increasingly high rates of violence and sex trafficking and domestic violence in the Bakken, in particular, with the increase in oil production, and have allocated millions of extra dollars to DV and sexual assault programs in the Bakken, out of a recognition that the rates are becoming extraordinarily high." (https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/3/body_of_olivia_lone_bear_found) Many oil workers in North Dakota, are often times placed in temporary homes, known as "Man Camps". Since 2009, over 100,000 new workers, many of which have never lived in North Dakota before, are moving to the Bakken to live in these man camps. Many of these camps are very close to the Native American reservations in North Dakota, and these Nations have had their jurisdiction striped away. (I will save the topic of jurisdiction for another post). However, this is the reality for many Native American Nations. We've had major companies and the United States government run all over us and contradict the treaties THEY created with us. It is sad to think about the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in the United States and Canada, and how nothing is being done to combat the issue. As a young indigenous woman, it is scary to hear and see all of this. It really feels like Native American women do not matter to the United States and Canada. When one of our women goes missing, it rarely makes the local news. I give all credit to many Native American grassroots movements, who are taking it upon themselves to bring awareness to this issue, since the federal government has not. I also think it is important to mention that violence against Native American women has been prevalent since 1492. Colonialism has still reinforced this violence toward our women in today's society. Domestic Violence on reservations is not just non-native men and women committing these crimes, but colonialism has also forced our Native men to abuse our women as well. It is time that Native people, (and non-native) understand that oil companies are not only abusing our land, but our women as well.

We must refuse this colonialism at all times.

Olivia Lone Bear

This post is dedicated to Olivia Lone Bear, and the thousands of missing and murdered indigenous women... I am our stolen sisters.