文章基本信息

标题：Native Tribes Sue Alaska - Racefile - Brief Article
作者：Samantha Chanse
期刊名称：Colorlines Magazine
印刷版ISSN：1098-3503
出版年度：2002
卷号：Spring 2002
出版社：ColorLines Magazine

Native Tribes Sue Alaska - Racefile - Brief Article

Samantha Chanse

The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) is representing 10 villages, the Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, and the Alaska Native Justice Center in a lawsuit calling for adequate police protection in Alaska Native communities. The plaintiffs in the case, scheduled for trial in April, allege that the state has discriminated against off-road Native villages by failing to provide them with minimally adequate police protection.

The plaintiffs claim that, since Alaska's 1959 statehood, the state has effectively immobilized the law enforcement and dispute resolution systems of Native Village Councils, while failing to provide the communities with any adequate police protection through the state law enforcement system. The lawsuit describes a racially based, dual system of law enforcement inherited from the prestatehood days of the territorial government, which intentionally maintained a separate system and standard of police protection for Native and white communities, rendering Native Villages defenseless to crime.

According to the lawsuit, more than 87 percent of the Alaskan population who receive fully trained and certified local police protection are non-Native, while more than 80 percent of the population who lack such protection are Native.

Seventy-three of 165 predominantly Native villages have no local police at all; the remainder are served by undertrained and uncertified officials who are prohibited--based on lack of training--from carrying a firearm.

The plaintiffs argue that the total lack of local police has a detrimental impact on a community's ability to keep the peace, and operates as an open invitation for importing alcohol and drugs--the primary factors in most Native village crimes. Victims of domestic violence, child abuse, and intoxicated assailants are particularly vulnerable.

Samantha Chanse, "RaceFile." Samantha is a part-time researcher at the Applied Research Center. She has worked at Californians For Justice during the campaigns to defeat Propositions 209, 227, and 226.