"President Obama shared a lighthearted moment with Native American leaders in July when he told them the Black Eagle family of Montana adopted him into the Crow tribe two years ago.

"So I'm Barack Black Eagle," he said before signing the Tribal Law and Order Act during a White House ceremony. Obama may have meant to elicit a different reaction, but his comment offered some comic relief from the sobering statistics he had just given.

"It is unconscionable that crime rates in Indian Country are more than twice the national average and up to 20 times the national average on some reservations," Obama said in bolstering the case for the legislation. "And all of you believe, like I do, that when one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes, that is an assault on our national conscience; it is an affront to our shared humanity; it is something that we cannot allow to continue."

Obama's remarks at the bill-signing capture a harsh reality facing many of the 574 tribes and Alaska Native communities across the land as the country observes National Native American Heritage month this November.

Other federal government statistics are equally staggering. Native Americans lead the nation in suicides among youth aged 15 to 24. Injuries and violence account for 75 percent of all deaths among Native Americans ages 1 to 19. Native American women suffer from violent crimes at a rate 3½ times greater than the national average."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Tribes face challenges in crime, mortality (The Green Bay Press Gazette 11/17)

Indian Arts and Crafts Amendments Act:
H.R.725

Tribal Law and Order Act:
S.797 | H.R.1924

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