Bree Black Horse is featured in a Seattle Times Pacific NW Magazine story (here) regarding "the different ways women from minority and marginalized populations connect with the #MeToo movement’s outpouring of stories about sexual harassment and violence."
Described as "a rising Native American attorney in Seattle" and "a legal advocate for indigenous women at the law firm Galanda Broadman," Bree explains the "crisis of domestic violence and sexual assault against women in Indian country."
Black Horse points out that while over two-thirds of violence against indigenous women happens at the hands of nonnative men, it has been difficult for tribal courts to prosecute nonnative people accused of assault on reservation land.
She’s pushing for greater attention to the disappearance and killing of indigenous women, including Muckleshoot tribal member Renee Davis, who was fatally shot by King County deputies in 2016. Davis was pregnant at the time.
She says it’s also important for indigenous communities to address the other sad fact that indigenous men are responsible for a significant portion of harassment and violence against native women.
Bree's "been talking to her mom a lot about the traditional importance of women within families as well as in tribal ceremonial functions, and how that high esteem has been eroded by European influence."
Black Horse wants to retrieve what has been lost.
“I think it’s time for us to come together as a people and return to those traditional values,” she says. “I want us to remember who we are.”
Bree is an associate in the Seattle office of Galanda Broadman and an enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma. Her practice focuses on defending individuals’ civil rights in federal, state and tribal courts. She can be reached at (206) 735-0448 or bree@galandabroadman.com.
