Native American Spousal Abuse
Native American Spousal Abuse sadly isn’t uncommon. Kayla White was only twelve years old when her life changed forever. On January 2, 2009 her mother was killed by her father. This incident made her a victim of domestic violence.
Kayla’s Statement:
That’s when I heard my uncle say, ‘I don’t know how you’re going to tell Kayla your mom didn’t make it. That was the moment I found out my mother had passed on.
How tragic would that be? Now Kayla is twenty-two years old and a Navajo Nation member. When she was growing up she never realized there were so many signs of domestic violence right in front of her at her own home. Her older siblings told her that her father had always been mentally and verbally abusive towards their mother.
One in four women and one in seven men have experienced domestic violence in their lifetime. According to the ACESDV Native American women experience domestic violence at rates of 50% higher than the national average.
Kayla’s Statement:
Even just looking at my mom’s life insurance, the way she had things set up for my siblings and I, she knew something was going to happen to her.
Kayla said that her mother had even tried to file for divorce before but her father wouldn’t let her mother leave.
Spouse Domestic Violence
Native American reservations are said to have high rates of domestic violence. People think that that is mainly due to the lack of awareness.
Caroline Felicity Atone grew up in Southern Arizona as a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation.
Antone’s Statement:
I didn’t even know there was such a thing as domestic violence.
Antone said that she left the reservation when she was 14 years old due to the fact that she was abused when she was at home. She eventually cam back and is working as a counselor there now.
It took a while for her to return home, she went to treatment and began to cope with her abuse in a healthy way.
Antone’s Statement:
Since our tribal members don’t know about counseling in general, it’s very difficult to get them into counseling. The shame, the hurt, the destruction of their souls, some of them, they feel it’s their fault.
Hopefully the exposure gains some awareness in the Native American culture and helps lower the domestic abuse numbers.
Woman Kills Her Husband During Spouse Abuse Case
There’s some pretty morbid things in the world, one of the most recent is when a Phoenix woman shot and killed her husband in their living room then smoked cigarette while he laid dying.
A few months ago Rebekah Mellon pleaded guilty to second degree murder and is set to be sentenced. The thirty-six year old woman is facing 18 to 22 years in prison after accepting a plea deal from prosecutors.
By taking the plea deal Rebekah will be avoiding a lengthy trial on a first degree murder charge that would probably have resulted in a life sentence for the 2012 killing. The killing was actually captured by surveillance cameras in the home.
According to reports a trial would have showed that there were several incidents that proved that they had a volatile marriage. Court documents say argue that Rebekah was acting in self defense against Donald Mellon. Apparently previous acts of domestic violence made her often fear for her life.
Mellon pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
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