What Happened to Loreal Tsingine?
Loreal Tsingine, like so many native women before her, was the victim of a police system practicing extrajudicial law enforcement on black and brown women. She was a member of the Navajo Tribe. On March 27 of 2016, she was accused from shoplifting from a convenience store, which police officer Austin Shipley responded to. According to body camera footage and audio, after being thrown to the ground Loreal pulled some medical scissors out and so Officer Shipley decided that she deserved to be killed, rather than disarmed. Eyewitness accounts said they saw neither the items that were claimed to have been stolen (beer) nor medical scissors during the encounter. Her story is not unique. She was shot four times.
What does her death mean for women?
Loreal, who was a mother, faced a lot of stress from her life, from having to support kids, to dealing with mental illness, to coping with poverty. Women who face these issues have to deal with gender discrimination in tandem with all those other issues. Women of Color have to stack that with the rest, as well. The vast majority of police officers are men, and the majority of violence (in general) is committed by men. Police violence is an issue that affects people of color disproportionately, and native women are a vulnerable population.
What does Loreal’s Murder Call to?
The murder of Loreal Tsingine by the police points to the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women nationwide, and to the way that police do not accept adequate training or oversight in regards to issues facing indigenous peoples in the United States. Native Women are 8 times more likely to be killed than non-native women, and they are more likely to be killed by a stranger or non-acquaintance than their non-native counterparts. In the US, in particular, Native Women’s murders often face little to no legal consequence for those responsible, which can be seen clearly in the case of Loreal Tsingine. The police investigation (which, it should be noted, was run by primarily white police departments and conducted by the killer’s coworkers) was grossly inadequate and reflects the ways that native women are so frequently thrown aside by the legal systems that are purportedly there to help them.
What Writers Connect with White Domination of Native Issues?
Haunani Kay-Trask has a number of pieces that discuss the ways that native peoples are oppressed under the rule of rule of imperialism in the United States. Her work, especially “The Color of Violence” reflects on how the US has forced, many times over, its own cultural ideals onto native peoples. This results in the color of violence, as she puts it, in these parts of the world being white, as Loreal Tsingine’s family and tribe are all to familiar with. In a similar vein, Paula Gunn Allen of the Laguna Pueblo writes on all the ways that her mothers and aunts raised her to be the way she is in “Where I Come From Is Like This.” She faces constant criticism from white social constructs about how native peoples and women are, and how they contradict her stories. The way that white structures ignore her identity in favor of an overwhelming sense of correctness leaves her feeling confused as to how people don't understand the variety of ways of being that Laguna Pueblo women have. Last, but certainly not least, Lila Abu-Lughod’s piece, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?” hearkens back to the colonial idea that native women needed saving from their “heathen” ways, even if they don’t want “saving” in the first place.. This idea is still clearly alive and well, and if it can apply to Muslim women, it can (and almost definitely is) applied to native women as well.
What Actions can Help Stop This From Happening Again?
Clearly, Loreal is not a unique individual in the sense of her being a person of color killed by the police. However, she has the support of a sovereign nation behind her, as the Navajo Nation is filing a lawsuit against Winslow, AZ, where the shooting happened. On a smaller scale, people can help out by donating to the nation where and when they ask, if possible, and advocating for native rights when people see them being infringed upon. On a larger scale, supporting the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center is a great way to help indigenous women; they know how to help better than any non-indigenous person does. While not US based, the organization the Native Women’s Association of Canada does some amazing work for native women’s rights in Canada, where they experience similar violence to the US, and they often partner with organizations in the country to their immediate south. Lastly, just stay aware of native issues! Doing that can help to stay in the know about what issues are currently affecting native peoples the most.
What Were the Repercussions on the Police?
The killing of Loreal is another in a long line of systemic oppressions by white people of First Nations peoples. The police officer involved received six months paid leave, and then resigned after being exonerated. The Justice Department stated that they couldn’t prove that Tsingine didn’t deserve not to get shot, which is a poor excuse, simply put. According to the Navajo Tribe, Shipley had interacted with Tsingine on two occasions within the previous 5 years before this event, so he should have been aware of her mental illnesses.
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