Native Americans Get Shot by Cops at an Astonishing Rate
Indigenous Americans are more likely than any other racial group to be killed by police, according to a new study. Yet, says Mother Jones, following the events in Ferguson, Missouri, “the subsequent national conversation about police brutality in the US has largely ignored the suffering of the Native American community at the hands of police.”
“[There is] an endemic problem in the perception of non-white people when it comes to the administration of justice,” Chase Iron Eyes, an attorney with the Lakota People’s Law Project in South Dakota, told Mother Jones. The group put out a report called “Native Lives Matter” in February discussing various ways the justice system disproportionately impacts Native Americans. He said the US Department of Justice needs to address police violence against Native Americans and that Castaway’s death is only the most recent example of the problem.
“You can tell they’re shooting out of fear,” he said. “If it’s not out of hate, for some reason they’re pulling the trigger before determining what the situation actually is. Something does need to happen. Somebody does need to take a look and we need help.”
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Also, there is a crowdfunding page for the burial of Paul Castaway, shot and killed by Denver police, which is in dire need of support.