Diane Benson: Anti-violence effort leaves out Alaska Natives

The Choose Respect anti-violence programs are great things for schools, but government needs to take tangible actions rather than just mirror sentiments to actually curb violence against women.

There is one area where Alaska could make substantive change, but the governor would have to start by changing his attitude in regard to violence against Native women.

The State of Alaska has certain obligations to provide for the protections of its citizens. The state chose to be in charge of that obligation over tribes when it opted to follow a federal mandate affecting six states -- Public Law-280. This means, in simple terms, that the state accepted an unfunded federal mandate to handle crimes occurring within tribes.

Statehood didn't change the history of law and agreements that developed between the federal government and the tribes, no matter the state's attitude. The State of Alaska chose to exercise jurisdiction through PL-280 -- with or without tribal consent. Tribes are still tribes, and a long legislative history recognizes tribes, and even PL-280 intended for states to work with tribes. Sadly, state leadership appears continually gun-shy to acknowledge tribes and their inherent powers to self-govern and this inhibits the ability for tribes to help protect their own tribal members.