Dara Carlin, domestic violence advocate, gives keynote presentation to kick off AWAIC's domestic violence awareness month. The topic was the Domestic Violence Identity Change and Relocation Program.

In June 2008, I was in Washington DC participating in the NNEDV’s (the National Network to End Domestic Violence) Legislative Action Day.  At a beautiful breakfast reception, Alaska’s Senator  Murkowski was one of the guest speakers and her comments made such an impression on me that I still easily recall what she spoke about to this day. 

Senator Murkowski hit a cord with me as a Domestic Violence Survivor Advocate from Hawaii because of the many unique and particular issues that our domestic violence victims share in our respective states, with the brutality of Alaska’s winters being a distinction solely held by Alaska.

Listening to the senator speak about her homestate, I realized that both of our states host native cultures found nowhere else on earth where the purest bloodlines remain on the outskirts and in the most remote portions of our states. 

In Hawaii the island of Niihau, also known as “the forbidden isle” is home to native Hawaiians with deep ancestral roots where outsiders are forbidden from visiting.  In Alaska, the senator spoke about tribes in such remote areas that they were literally inaccessible during the winter season.

The idea of such extreme isolation struck me as “a double whammy” for domestic violence victims who are literally unable to escape the isolation their abusers instinctively enforce. Not only are our native populations hard to reach, but our states themselves are not easily accessed by the other 48: Hawaii is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean while Alaska is at the tippy-top of the North American continent. 

Being so far away from our union, it seems like we have to make double the effort to get attention and recognition to the issues of domestic violence in our states, having to overcome the romantic pictures of “paradise” and “the last frontier”, yet per capita, Hawaii and Alaska hold the dubious distinction of boasting some of the highest rates of domestic violence in our country!

The dynamics of domestic violence naturally hold its victims captive, but there are other aspects to our state cultures and societies that inhibit change from within.  When the place you’re being abused in is the land of your family origin and support system, simply up and leaving is so much more than a locational move or a long, one-way plane ride. 

The idea of being forced from your homeland (in Hawaii, aina) let alone your marriage and family ties, is unbearable for many victims of domestic violence, particularly when children are involved.  The notion of family (in Hawaii, ohana) and family ties runs strong within our cultures; fleeing your abusive marriage is more then breaking your marriage bond and disrupting the family unit – it’s disconnecting from or (worse) shaming your family which can be interpretted by the victim’s own family members as rejection of tradition and hertitage. 

Remaining at home, reporting abuse or receiving assistance for domestic violence can be just as bad since it ostracizes the victim in her community.  (If you’re thinking “What about confidentiality” imagine pulling up to or walking into the one and only DV assistance office on your island during business hours.  In Hawaii, “the coconut wireless” probably remains one of our strongest forms of communication.) 

In such self-contained states as Alaska and Hawaii, it’s not uncommon for law enforcement and social service agents to be related to or connected in some way, shape or form to the victim, the perptrator, either or both of their families or family members.  Living in such a tight-knitted environment inhibits victims from coming forward, disclosing abuse and getting help for it which in turn, only sustains a culture of acceptance and tolerance for domestic violence and family abuse.  In a court of law, it’s not a surprise to see the victim’s own family turn against her as a result (which the perpetrators then use as evidence against her). 

I made a mental note of the similarities between our states as Senator Murkowski spoke and that was the end of that until March 2009... 

I had been working with a DV survivor in Hawaii whose perpetrator was at such a high level of lethality to her that she had entered into a kind of witness protection program for DV victims to keep her safe.  This Identity Change & Relocation program, which allocated a second social security number to conceal the victim’s identity from her abuser, sounded like a stalked and hunted woman’s dream come true and it was for this survivor until her the 18 month-old daughter needed to be seen at a local hospital. 

In reviewing the survivor’s medical records, a discrepancy in her identifying information was noticed by the physicians, and suspicious, child protective services was called in for consultation.  When the survivor could not provide “honest answers” to investigators’ questions, she was deemed “uncooperative” and evasive by authorities.  (What the survivor couldn’t say was what she had been instructed by the program: do not disclose the details of your program involvement, your identity change or your previous identity lest you compromise the program, its future and the safety of other program registrants.)  Until my client could “learn to tell the truth” she was labeled as a potential (unspecified) danger to her baby and her daughter was taken from her and placed into protective custody. 

Because she knew she was completely innocent of wrongdoing, my client decided to follow the service plan the authorities provided to her, sure that she could get her daughter back on her merits alone but her “questionable past” continued to haunt the investigative efforts.  When allegations against this survivor reached the ridiculous, I sent out a national distress signal through my domestic violence network and received a reply from a therapist in California who said a similar case was occurring in Alaska, except the investigative entity was different. 

The Alaska case was referred to as “Amelia”, a name that was chosen for its meaning (industrious) and for the role model most recognized for it, Amelia Erheart, whose bravery and courageousness as aviator and explorer secured her a place in American history.  As it turned out, both cases had gone through the same Identity & Relocation program and in both instances, when investigations ensued through no fault or wrongdoing of their own, the program that had protected these victim-survivors for so long did absolutely nothing to rescue these women from the consequences of their cooperation and compliance to the program!  First these women were betrayed by men who were supposed to love, honor and protect them and then they’re betrayed by a program designed to protect them from these men! 

When the Hawaii Amelia case won a victory in June (the survivor’s now 25 month-old daughter was inexplicably returned to her post-haste) my focus turned toward the Alaska Amelia who has had no such victory but has been as equally wronged.  At my first opportunity, I came to Alaska to meet and support the other Amelia.  On October 1st, in recognition of national Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) I was invited to Anchorage’s DVAM kick-off ceremony at the Loussac Library where Alaska Governor Sean Parnell spoke.  Like Senator Murkowski, I was struck by the eloquence with which he spoke and moreover, his significant insight into the problem of domestic violence that he referred to as “treason”.  For how all of the Amelias were and are being treated, I can think of no better word.

The Alaska-Hawaii connection isn’t just tied together by bad news however.  Both of our states landed on the national radar with the last presidential election and both of our states are worth fighting for to preserve our indiginous cultures and lands.  Our men (in Hawaii, kane) descended from warriors, our women (in Hawaii, wahine) have been the backbone of the family, our elders preserve and tell the stories of old (in Hawaii, kupuna) and our children (in Hawaii, keiki) are the promise that a brighter day will come through the efforts we all make now.  Although the climate has been the complete opposite from Hawaii, the warmth of Alaska’s welcome has been the same which made me feel right at home the moment I arrived in Anchorage. 

The Bible says that “the last shall be first” and as the 49th and 50th states, I take this to mean that WE will lead the way for the rest of the country in bringing an end to the treason that is domestic violence and, now, the reverse treason being demonstrated by this federal protective program. Rather than betraying our great nation, this program and those government representatives who act recklessly in ignorance of it betray the nation’s bedrock – honest citizens seeking no more than safety in their pursuit of happiness.

Dara Carlin is a Domestic Violence Survivor-Advocate in the State of Hawaii, and was instrumental in the victorious outcome achieved through the sustained efforts of so many for Hawaii Amelia. She is currently in Alaska seeking justice for Alaska's Amelia.