American Indians killed by cops at highest rate in the nation, but they're invisible in the media

I know it was unprofessional of me. But I wept when I read Stephanie Woodard’s investigative piece on the killings of American Indians by cops published Monday in the democratic socialist magazine In These Times. It’s no stretch to say it broke my heart.

The reasons for those tears, which continue to spring forth days after my first reading, are many.

Even though none were of my tribe, they were still my people, like me, descendants of the first humans to set foot on this continent 400 generations ago. Like the slayings of so many African Americans killed by police, the deaths of many of them could have easily been avoided by smarter, more compassionate and less trigger-happy cops. And, as is so often the case in matters relating to living indigenous Americans, these dead men and women were invisible. Most didn’t show up in the media or the statistics. Woodard’s story should have been on the front page of The New York Times, the centerpiece of a report on NBC, the subject of speeches on the Senate floor. 

The good news is that these killings have now been exposed. And, equally important, inspired by Black Lives Matter, some Indian activists, including Chase Iron Eyes, the Lakota lawyer of the Standing Rock Sioux who is running as a Democrat for North Dakota’s single congressional seat, have for the past two years organized Native Lives Matter to bring attention to this situation and hold police and prosecutors accountable. 

Here’s a taste of Woodard’s report: