"...Along with isolation, the move to an urban area can be especially jarring for a Native person who has previously lived in an area where health care and education may be more accessible. In Seattle, those services are harder to find. “All those things that are basically provided by the United States through treaties, when you come to the cities or urban areas, they’re not there,” said Chris Stearns, Navajo, a lawyer who specializes in Indian law and a former Seattle Human Rights Commission chairman. For Natives, a mistrust of the legal system goes back generations, from soldiers forcibly relocating tribes in the 19th century to lawyers now being thought of only as someone who will put them in jail. The death of John T. Williams, a First Nations wood carver who was fatally shot by a Seattle police officer three years ago, furthered that mistrust. Among people of color, Stearns said, there exists an idea of “solve your problems yourself.” The legal system often hasn’t worked for clients in the past, and that affects their function and understanding of it, said Sean Cecil, a Seattle attorney and legal-clinic volunteer. A lot of times, the client’s suffering is not a result of the decisions they made, according to Cecil, but from a lack of understanding of the legal processes. Sometimes, a simple Google search can provide the clients the information they need, or he refers them to another lawyer. “They may not put faith in the legal system, but they may put faith in you,” Cecil said. A new beginning The legal clinic was one of the first in the nation, Echo-Hawk said. The clinic is self-sustaining and has been able to continue without as much involvement from other organizations. Dunlap said the Chief Seattle Club and the clinic are an example for the rest of Indian Country to follow. “There’s no other places like this in Indian Country,” Dunlap said. “This is unfathomable to some Natives.”
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 19:50:58 +0000
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