Migration Category: NCWP Old Site

In the hopes of righting a historical wrong while honoring the first American servicewoman killed in Iraq, Squaw Peak in Arizona– named for the derogatory term for Native American woman– will now be called Piestewa Peak, after Private Lori Piestewa.

Piestewa, a member of the Hopi Tribe from Arizona, also was the first Native American servicewoman ever to be killed in the line of duty, according to the Associated Press. “I’m wondering if during her short life Army Pfc. Lori Piestewa was ever referred to as a squaw.” It will never happen now. She has earned that much. Not just for herself, but for every woman like her,” wrote Arizona Republic columnist E.J. Montini.

Despite charges of political posturing by Republicans, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano pushed for the mountain name change and encouraged the State Board on Geographic and Historic Names to waive its five-year waiting period. In a 5-1 vote yesterday, the board also recommended that Squaw Peak Freeway be renamed Lori Piestewa Freeway– the State Board of Transportation could approve that change by the end of May.

Piestewa, 23, was a single mother raising a 4-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl. She was among the members of the Army’s 507th Maintenance Company, attacked March 23 when it made a wrong turn near Nasiriyah. Piestewa’s remains were recovered along with the bodies of seven other members of the 507th Company when Pfc. Jessica Lynch was rescued from an Iraqi hospital. Lynch and Piestewa were good friends and roommates, according to the AP.

Piestewa was one of 12,800 Native Americans and 56 Hopis serving in the US military– it is unknown how many of those are women. Information on female Native American servicewomen is scarce, Brenda Finnicum, a retired career Army nurse and member of the Lumbee tribe who has spent the past five years trying to gather data on Native American women veterans, told the AP. “The men bring their military home with them and the women don’t,” Finnicum said. “Indian women are what I call the invisible warrior. You don’t see them.”

LEARN MORE: Women in Military Service for America Memorial

Anti-abortion extremists Loretta Marra and Dennis Malvasi pleaded guilty yesterday to aiding James Kopp while he was wanted by the FBI for the murder of abortion provider Barnett Slepian, MD. The couple accepted a plea deal that allowed them to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy in helping Kopp avoid capture, according to the Buffalo News. Marra and Malvasi will be sentenced on July 11. Prosecutors say that the two face four to five years in prison, but lawyers for the couple argue that they should receive much shorter sentences, according to the New York Times. Based on the amount of time the couple have already served while awaiting trial, they could be released immediately following sentencing, the Times reports.

Marra admitted in court to sending money to Kopp while he was on the run abroad, and Malvasi, a convicted clinic bomber, admitted that he “knew Kopp was wanted” when he made the offer to let Kopp hide out in his Brooklyn home, according to the Associated Press. “Marra and Malvasi are part of an underground terrorist network dedicated to eliminating and intimidating providers of abortion, a constitutional right,” said Glen Murray, a pro-choice lawyer in New York who is close to the Slepian family, according to the Buffalo News. “I’m not surprised that a plea bargain was entered, but I hope that the court will take into account that they have been the cat’s paw of a terrorist network and not show leniency.”

Kopp was convicted last month of the intentional murder of Dr. Slepian, who was killed in a sniper-style shooting in 1998 in his Amherst, New York home. Kopp, who faces 25 years to life in prison, will be sentenced on May 9 by Erie County Judge Michael D’Amico. He still faces federal charges of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE). Kopp has also been indicted for the 1995 shooting of Ontario abortion provider Dr. Hugh Short and is the primary suspect in three separate shootings of abortion providers in Canada and New York.

The Bush Administration has backtracked on its plan to weaken the Violence Against Women Office (VAWO) in an important victory for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Despite a bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush that requires a more independent and prominent position for VAWO, the Department of Justice had announced that it would be keeping the office within the Office of Justice Programs. However, the DOJ announced at the end of March that it would make VAWO a separate, high-profile office within the DOJ under a director appointed by the President who reports directly to the Attorney General.

“This is a big day for those of us who’ve fought so long and so hard to shine the spotlight on the fight against domestic violence, and give it the priority and visibility it deserves,” said Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE), author of the original law creating VAWO, in a press statement. “Protecting the most vulnerable among us—battered women and their children—is not only our responsibility but our moral obligation. This Office is a big part of our efforts to do that, and I am extremely happy that after a bit of arm-twisting, the Bush Administration has recognized its importance.”

However, as the National Organization for Women (NOW) argues, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is severely underfunded. The budget for the Department of Health and Human Services’ battered women’s shelter and services program is $47.7 million below its authorized level of $175 million, and Bush’s 2004 budget cuts this program even further, down to $124.4 million. NOW is urging Congress to fully fund the program at its authorized level of $175 million. In addition, the 2000 VAWA authorized $25 million for transitional housing program for people fleeing violence, but this program has never been funded.

After Senators from both sides of the aisle demanded that a climate of hostility toward women at the nation’s Air Force Academy be addressed, the Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to appoint an independent panel to investigate the academy’s handling of close to 60 sexual assault allegations from female cadets over the past decade. If approved by the House, a seven-member panel – made up of individuals with “knowledge or expertise in matters relating to sexual assault, rape and the United States military academies” – will begin meeting May 1 and submit a report within 90 days, the Washington Post reported. Three internal investigations are currently underway. “It is abundantly clear the secretary of the Air Force has showed himself totally incapable of handling this issue,” said Senator John McCain (R-AZ), according to the New York Times.

Earlier this week, Air Force Secretary James Roche told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that Air Force officials would be open to an outside review of the issue. In addition, Roche also announced that there would be leadership changes at the Academy – after female cadets said that they had been reprimanded for reporting sexual assault to their supervisors. Women cadets quoted Brig. Gen. S. Taco Gilbert III, the commandant of cadets, as forcefully insisting they face responsibility for bringing on sexual assaults, according to the Times. Senators demanded that Gilbert, who is being transferred to a job at the Pentagon, face responsibility for his actions.

Lawmakers also questioned changes proposed by Air Force officials – including housing male and female cadets in separate dormitories and training Air Force nurses and investigators to deal with sexual assault. “This is not about segregating women from men,” Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), who graduated in the first class of women cadets at the academy in 1980, told the Times. “It’s about segregating rapists from the academy.”

Air Force Secretary John Roche and chief of staff General John Jumper told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday that the academy’s top four leaders will be replaced and reassigned. Responding to growing criticism that the academy’s top brass turned a deaf ear, and in some cases blamed the victims for reporting rape, the Air Force released a statement today pledging, “We will not tolerate criminals, nor will we tolerate their behavior… We will not tolerate any individual who shuns alleged victims of criminal activity, nor will we tolerate retribution against these victims, reported the New York Times. Set for replacement are the Academy’s superintendent, Gen. John Dallager, second-in-command Brig. Gen. Taco Gilbert, vice commandant, Col. Robert Eskridge, and the commander of cadet training, Col. Laurie Slavec. The new leadership will include Maj. Gen. John Rosa, Brig. Gen. Johnny Wlda, Col. Debra Gray, and Col. Clada Monteith, respectively.

Last week, Sens. John Warner (R-VA) and Wayne Allard (R-CO) called for the promotion of female leadership at the academy. To date, almost 60 women have come forward alleging rape or sexual assault at the academy, where women comprise roughly 16 percent of its 4,000 cadets, reported the Washington Post. Two internal investigations are pending. A third by the Pentagon will commence next week, according to USA Today.

One of four Fort Bragg soldiers accused of killing their wives last summer committed suicide in jail this weekend, reported CBS News. Master Sgt. William Wright, charged with the first-degree murder of his wife Jennifer, hanged himself Sunday evening, continuing the tragedy begun when four Special Forces soldiers at the base killed their spouses within a six-week period. Early speculation focused on the use of Larium, a common drug prescribed to soldiers to protect against malaria, among three of the men. A 19-member investigative team in November pointed instead to inadequate family support services and inconsistent soldier re-acclimation programs as contributing factors to the incidents.

In the military, the rate of reported domestic violence incidents rose from 18.6 to 25.6 per 1,000 military personnel between 1990 and 1996. Since then, the rate has decreased to 16.5 per 1,000 in 2001, but it still remains much higher than in the civilian population, which has 3.1 incidents of domestic violence per 1,000 people, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Christine Hansen, executive director of the Miles Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides services to domestic abuse victims in the military community warned the Journal-Constitution that cases may be on the rise again.

Last year, the US Congress approved Senate Amendment 4447, sponsored by Sens. Paul Wellstone (D-MN), Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), including $10 million to fund domestic violence programs on military installations in the final version of the Defense Appropriations Bill. The bill, H.R. 5010, became Public Law No. 107-248 on October 23, 2002. Fort Bragg implemented a mandatory spouse separation time of 48 to 72 hours after violence has been reported. In addition, Army officials, working with civilian social service groups and local law enforcement, now share data on domestic violence incidents.

Meanwhile, amidst the Air Force Academy scandal where there have been at least 56 reports of sexual assaults on female cadets, chair of the Armed Services Committee Sen. John Warner (R-VA) and Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) last week wrote Air Force Secretary James Roche, urging the promotion of female leadership at the Academy. “Despite warnings and clear indications that remedial action was needed, these officers failed to take effective action to correct these problems,” the letter stated, according to KMGH-TV. Lieutenant General John Dallager earlier indicated that few women officers would qualify for the positions of superintendents and commandants–typically three-star generals and one-star generals or colonels, respectively, according to the Associated Press. Lieutenant General Leslie Keene is currently the sole female three-star general in the Air Force.

Despite comparable education levels, women still lag behind their male counterparts in earning power by significant margins, according to the US Census Bureau. The disparity persists across racial/ethnic groups as well, with white men earning more than all other groups, black and Hispanic men earning more than all women, and white and black women earning more than Hispanic women.

Compared with similarly educated white men, white women and black women with bachelor’s degrees earn 46 percent less, and Hispanic women earn about 50 percent less. The gap narrows some when comparing men and women with postdoctoral degrees–white women earn 35 percent less than white men. Among high school graduates, white and black women earn about 48 percent less than white men, and Hispanic women earn 51 percent less than white men. Black men and Hispanic men earn 26 percent and 19 percent less than white men, respectively.

The gap between college-educated men and women has widened in the past ten years. White women with bachelor’s degrees earned 43 percent less than white men in 1991 and black women made only 36 percent less, compared with 46 percent now for both groups. The gap between high school graduates has also increased, with white women in 1991 earning 42 percent less than white men, black women earning 45 percent less, and Hispanic women earning 44 percent less.

James Kopp, the confessed assassin of abortion provider Barnett Slepian, MD, was found guilty today of intentional murder. After waiving his right to a jury trial, Kopp was found guilty of intentionally murdering Slepian after a single day in court. The ruling by Erie County Court Judge Michael D’Amico was based on a 35-page document of facts approved by lawyers on both sides. No witnesses were heard, and Kopp, known as “Atomic Dog” within the extremist group Army of God, did not testify.

With the conviction of Kopp for the intentional murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian, the Feminist Majority Foundation today released its latest (2002) National Clinic Violence Survey to show the public that violence still plagues our nation’s clinics. The survey, which has been periodically conducted since 1993, is the most comprehensive survey of clinic violence in the US and involves 338 clinics. Nationwide, there are reports of more aggressive interference and intimidation of clinic staff and patients as they enter clinics. In addition, anthrax threats skyrocketed; plus the percentage of clinics experiencing three of more instances of violence doubled and two-thirds of clinics experienced anti-abortion intimidation.

“The Army of God terrorist network must be cracked,” said FMF President Eleanor Smeal. “It is clear that Kopp did not get Slepian’s name from a phone book and that he has worked with others in his some 15 years of harassing clinics.”

“With threats of terrorism plaguing the nation and the recent loss of NOW v. Scheidler in the U.S. Supreme Court, we fear that the extremists may be emboldened to close down clinics,” said Katherine Spillar, executive vice president of FMF. “It is clear that a network around Kopp aided and abetted him in eluding the law.”

Kopp, who was on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, has also been indicted for the 1995 shooting of Ontario abortion provider Dr. Hugh Short and is the primary suspect in three separate shootings of abortion providers in Canada and New York.

The Clinic Violence Survey will be available online at www.feminist.org within the next few days and is available now via fax. Call 703-522-2214.

As investigation continues into reports of at least 56 sexual assaults at the United States Air Force Academy over the past 10 years, military officials are proposing changes that include housing male and female cadets in separate dormitories and training Air Force nurses and investigators to deal with sexual assault.

Officials with a 17-member Air Force investigative team have spent the past two weeks in Colorado Springs, where the Academy is located, looking into the issue after current and former women cadets said that they had been disciplined for reporting rape or assault, in some cases being forced to leave. A report by the National Organization for Women (NOW) indicates that this problem has been ongoing for many years – a 1994 report by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found that 78 percent of the 90 female cadets at the Air Force Academy reported sexual assaults or unwanted sexual advances, according to NOW.

Some victims’ advocate groups believe that separating male and female cadets will only add to the problems. “Segregating women is a very short-term and far too simplistic solution,” Kate Summers a spokeswoman for the Miles Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps victims of violence in the military, told the Associated Press. “It would be more appropriate to look at the hierarchical system they have, where the cadets that are senior can treat others as slaves. That’s abuse of power.”

While the Academy set up a 24-hour rape hotline and sexual assault counseling center in reaction to sexual assault allegations in 1993, women cadets reportedly go outside the military to report assaults because of fear of reprisal. Trust Education Safety Support Action (TESSA), a rape crisis center in Colorado Springs (TESSA) has said that at least 38 female cadets reported assaults to their center. Military officials met with representatives from TESSA for several hours earlier this week to discuss ways to improve the system currently in place for sexual assault victims at the Academy. The Pentagon hopes to make recommendations for changes sometime later this month, Air Force Lt. Col. Dewey Ford told the Christian Science Monitor.

Attorney General John Ashcroft last week announced a proposal that would allocate $1 billion over five years for DNA testing. Slated to begin in Fiscal Year (FY) 2004, the new Justice Department budget would include $176 million for lab equipment and training, $80 million for DNA testing in unsolved cases, and $15 million to reduce the testing backlog on DNA rape kits. According to the Justice Department, the backlog for rape kits is estimated at 180,000 to 500,000 nationwide, reported the Virginian-Pilot.

This latest move by the administration complements recent legislative measures in Congress. Earlier this month, Rep. Mark Green (R-WI) introduced the Debbie Smith Act of 2003, requiring health officials to test rape victim DNA samples within 10 days of receipt and allocating federal funding for comprehensive training of hospital examiners working with rape victims and standardization and facilitation of DNA evidence collection and testing.

Introduced by Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE) in January, the DNA Sexual Assault Justice Act of 2003— which requires local law enforcement agencies to assess their DNA backlog– provides federal funding for laboratory processing of rape kits, expanded DNA testing, evidence collection and handling training, and computer upgrades for the FBI’s DNA database. In addition, the bill authorizes John Doe/DNA indictments whereby DNA evidence may extend the five-year statute of limitations on a federal sexual offense. Several related bills were proposed last year. However, none passed both the House and Senate.

Prompt DNA testing is critical because perpetrators are able to roam free in the meantime– which not only adds anxiety to the victim, but also leaves all women at risk, given that the average rapist commits eight to 12 sexual assaults. The FBI’s national DNA database, established in 1990 and containing approximately 1.3 million entries, has made over 6,000 matches and aided in nearly 6,500 criminal investigations, according to the Associated Press.

Last week, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released a report indicating that more than half of all violent crimes in the US go unreported. Most crime victims–especially victims of rape or simple assault–who did not report reasoned their experience was “a personal matter,” according to the Washington Post. However, 12 percent of those raped or sexually assaulted said they did not report for fear of retribution.

TAKE ACTION Support the Debbie Smith Act/DNA Sexual Assault Justice Act of 2003

Air Force Secretary James Roche revealed yesterday that there have been 54 cases of alleged rape or sexual assault at the Air Force Academy, and acknowledged that number was likely to be much higher, according to the Los Angeles Times. “The part that is the saddest,” Roche told the Senate Armed Services committee, “is that whatever the number is, 25, 50, there’s probably another 100 that we’ve not seen,” according to the Times. An Air Force Academy official tried to downplay Roche’s findings, saying, “Where does that number come from? We just don’t know,” the Times reports.

The Air Force is investigating claims by current and former women cadets that the Academy disciplined women who reported rape or assault, in some cases forcing them to leave. Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO), who has pressed the Pentagon for a more thorough investigation, said the current situation at the Air Force Academy is worse than the Navy Tailhook scandal of 1991 because “the entire support and legal system at the academy seems to have failed. We really do need to instill confidence in the system so victims know when they report rape, they know the rape itself will not jeopardize their career,” according to the Washington Post. Roche confirmed that the Superintendent of the Air Force Academy would retire in June, and that there would be several other retirements and transfers related to the scandal, according to Denver’s 7NEWS.

The scandal broke last month with an investigative report by 7NEWS. Since then, numerous reports of rape and sexual abuse, as well as mishandling by the Academy, have surfaced. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has come under fire for disbanding a panel that addressed sexual assault throughout the military. In February 2002, Rumsfeld allowed the charter on the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) to expire after anti-feminist reactionary groups claimed that the panel was fostering “radical feminism” and was no longer needed because “women had been fully integrated into the military,” the New York Times reported. Women make up about 18 percent of Air Force Academy cadets.

Deputy Chief Heather Fong has been named Acting Chief of the San Francisco Police Department in the wake of the grand jury indictments of Chief Earl Sanders and other top command staff for alleged cover-up of a November 2002 citizen assault perpetrated by three off-duty officers. All of the ten officers indicted in the San Francisco brutality and cover-up case are male.

Acting Chief Heather Wong is a 25-year veteran of the department, and was one of San Francisco’s first female police officers. Wong joins a small number of underrepresented women in law enforcement’s top command. Despite more than thirty years of gains for women in the field, women still only comprise 7.3% of top command positions and 9.6% of supervisory positions. A study by the National Center for Women & Policing found that the lack of women at all levels of law enforcement exacerbates police brutality. In the seven big city police departments surveyed, male officers were over eight-and-a-half times more likely than female officers to have an allegation of excessive force sustained against him. “Agencies just don’t realize that increasing the number of women is the simplest way to reducing police brutality. San Francisco’s taken a step in the right direction by appointing a woman to lead them out of this crisis,” said NCWP Director Margaret Moore, one of the highest-ranking sworn women ever to have served in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms.

With widespread reports of sexual assault against female cadets continuing to surface at a Colorado Air Force Academy, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has come under fire for disbanding a panel that addressed sexual assault throughout the military. In February 2002, Rumsfeld allowed the charter on the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) to expire after anti-feminist reactionary groups claimed that the panel was fostering “radical feminism” and was no longer needed because “women had been fully integrated into the military,” the New York Times reported.

A recent rash of reports that officials at the Colorado Springs Air Force Academy were allegedly punishing women cadets who reported sexual assaults by fellow students is just one example of widespread problems with sexual harassment and abuse for women in the military. In 1995, more than one in three women had been exposed to “unwelcome deliberate physical contact of a sexual nature,” and would hesitate to report incidents for fear of punishment, according to a study by the General Accounting Office of the US Congress as reported in the Times. More than 70 to 80 percent of women at military academies had experienced recurrent sexual harrasment, the same study showed. The DACOWITS allowed women to address issues of sexual abuse and harassment in private and helped them to take action.

“Every female cadet gets labeled in the first year,” one female Air Force Academy cadet who chose to remain anonymous for fear of retribution told the Washington Post. “You’re either a slut or a prude. If you date anybody, you’re automatically a slut, and the other guys think you’re fair game. If a woman has a problem, everybody knows you’d better not report it, because the commandant’s office will side with the guys.”

There have been 96 reports of sexual assault to the Academy’s rape hotline since 1996; only 20 cases have been formally investigated, eight cadets have been dismissed, and no cadets have been court-martialed for assault. In addition, high-ranking officials have been accused; one victim recently reported that she had been assaulted by a colonel, according to the Times. Meanwhile, a 13-year-old participant in a sports camp on the academy grounds reported that she was assaulted by a 22-year-old cadet, the Times reported.