If you are from the reservation whatever you say means nothing!

by Rania Ahmed/Race, Poverty and Media Justice Intern/PNN

"Discrimination and racism towards this Indian reservation has gone on since the white settlers came in the 1850s," said Susan Botts, a resident on the Yurok Indian Reservation. The Yurok Tribe was an affluent society for several generations until the white settlers and gold miners abruptly arrived hundreds of years ago. Since its near-destruction the tribe has been confined to a one-mile radius along either side of the Klamath River and up it 44 miles.

"Poverty rates here are right around 80 percent," said Botts, "and between 70 and 80 percent of the residents don't have phone service or electricity." There has also been a steady increase in prejudice against Native Americans and a blatant disregard of their rights. Botts explained that racism towards Native Americans in Crescent City and other towns surrounding the reservation is open and pervasive.

This made me remember my history classes as a young student, in which we were taught about the great rise of the United States of America. It was all very confusing and frustrating for me; I could not make any sense of it. How could these people from Europe come on their ships and take all of this land? This land belonged to the Native Americans who lived here for thousands of years before these colonizers set foot on it.

The colonizers were always portrayed as revolutionaries and people fighting to liberate themselves from the British. It was not until I was in college that I learned about the California massacre of the Native Americans and the genocide of a powerful people. I was disgusted by this harsh reality that broke down the pretty picture of the revolution that my previous history teachers had painted. Today, the descendents of these original inhabitants of America are living under incredibly unjust circumstances and are subject to extreme racism on their own soil.

Indian scalps were still purchased into the early 1900's. KKK marches occurred in Klamath within the past thirty years and people from Klamath are commonly referred to in derogatory names.

"I think it would be safe to say that whether you're looking at law enforcement, the courts or the county government, there is pervasive anti-Native American sentiment in all aspects of the local government of Crescent City," said Botts.

She can attest to the discrepancies Native Americans face today. On June 3rd of 2005, Botts' life was drastically changed and she would have to experience the inequality of the justice system.

Botts, her husband, and their three sons and daughter set out for a picnic at Jedediah National State Park. Her daughter's boyfriend, who is from Crescent City, also came along. Troubled by the young man's questionable record (he happened to be on probation at the time for assaulting a boy), Botts and her husband were hesitant to take him on the trip until their daughter threatened to stay with the young man in Crescent City if he did not accompany them.

Once they arrived at the beach, the young man went behind the bushes and smoked cannabis; a direct violation of his probation, remembers Botts. Shortly after, he and Botts' fourteen-year-old son entered the river and they rode the rapids twice. The young man emerged from the river and Botts' son remained in the river stuck in an eddy fence (where the water flowing upstream meets the water flowing downstream) about forty to fifty feet from shore. Botts and her husband noticed their son struggling to get out of the river.

"He called out, 'Help me! You've got to help me!,' recalls Botts. Instinctively, they jumped into the river to rescue their son. Botts' husband reached him first and pushed him off of the eddy fence toward Botts. Botts' husband became trapped on the eddy fence himself. Botts pushed and shoved her son toward shore. Botts and her husband are both emergency medical technicians and river guides. Botts and her son finally reached shallow water and were about ten feet away from shore in thigh-deep water where there were no rapids. Suddenly, the young man walked into the river. Botts was relieved for a moment as she saw the young approach her son.

"It was my presumption that he would walk our son to shore," said Botts. But rather than take the boy toward the shore, the young man pulled and towed her son further into the river. The young man dragged her son about 30 feet further into the river. Botts recounts seeing the young man grab her son by the armpits as he tightly held on to her wrist.

"He left huge bruises on my wrist where he was trying to hold on," said Botts. After bringing him further into the river, the young man pushed Botts' son towards her husband and paddled back out of the river. Botts and her husband came back to shore and asked a couple arriving at the beach to go for help. The family located their son below the rapid, on the bottom of the river. Botts' husband and daughter tried to swim out to get him, but could not reach him.

While Botts' husband stayed with their son, Botts and her children went to seek help. The young man went also. They begged the young man to try to reach their son, and he refused. He just sat on a rock watching them. Botts drove to look for help and came across a Park Ranger who eventually helped her husband pull their son's body from out of the river. Botts and her husband accused their daughter's boyfriend of deliberately drowning their son.

"We kept waiting for the Sheriff's department to contact us and they didn't and they didn't and they didn't," said Botts. Despite her and her husband's
statements to the police (and the Park Ranger) after the death of their son, the police regarded his death as an accident. Botts was never contacted by the
authorities after the death of her son. She also found out that her husband's statements to the Park Ranger were never recorded nor was there an attempt to gather witness reports.

Botts contacted the California Department of Justice to file a complaint. At this point, Botts was able to present witness statements she gathered on her own. The people at the CDOJ told her that she had to ask the Del Norte County Sheriff's department to investigate. Botts and her husband went to the Sheriff's department to give their statements in order for the investigation to begin. Unknown to both Botts and her husband, they found that the county
drug task force head was assigned to take the case.

"We went in and we gave him our statements. He didn't appear to write anything down. When we went back in, he had, I guess, forgot what we told him and had gone back to what was in the report, never mind what we were telling him," said Botts. The detective directly questioned Botts and her husband's accusations. He clearly did not believe that the young man being accused was at fault.

"It was shocking that we were somehow supposed to explain this young man's conduct when there was no explanation for it," said Botts. Two weeks after the death of her son, the young man accused left the state of California. Botts informed the detective that the young man left the state and he responded by suggesting that maybe his mother was trying to protect him.

"To me that seems negligent, it seems irresponsible it seems to be an obstruction of justice," said Botts. When Botts received the investigative report, the specific details of the incident were omitted. The final report said that her son's death was caused by accidental drowning and that the young man was only trying to help.

Botts went back to the CDOJ where they suggested she go to the district attorney. She filed complaints at the DA's office but never received a letter, a call
nor did she receive any sort of acknowledgements of her complaints. Botts also filed complaints with the County Grand Jury, as instructed by the DOJ, and
received no acknowledgement or response. Finally she sent a third complaint certified mail which was returned after 14 days because it was refused at
delivery. Botts later found out that the accused young man's mother works at the DA's office.

Botts and her husband continue in this legal limbo. Achieving absolutely no progress in her son's case, Botts filed several complaints to the Sheriff's Department. The only response she was given was in a letter from the Sheriff saying that everything pertaining to the case was conducted properly and within standards and that the young man was not a contributing factor to her son's death. The Sheriff ruled out the young man's involvement despite the fact
that Botts and her husband repeatedly accused him of purposely drowning their son in the statements they gave the Sheriff. Botts contacted the Federal Bureau
of Investigation. The FBI told her that the Sheriff could not possibly have lied about her case and asked Botts' husband if they were in the habit of complaining about law enforcement.

Botts has sent letters explaining her case to elected officials who have done nothing but offer letters of condolence. Because Sheriffs have full jurisdictional
discretion, the elected representatives cannot do anything to help Botts' case.

"What we have is a singular Sheriff who is obstructing justice and doing so willfully. Whether he's doing it out of racial bias or whether he is doing so to
protect the son of a local government official, I will never know," said Botts. "We're very frustrated, we're very outraged and we do think it has to do with
prejudice," said Botts. Botts has not been able to find any attorney willing to take a civil rights or wrongful death case. When they look at the biased police reports they conclude that the young man was only doing what he could to help.

"If you are from the reservation, whatever you say means nothing," said Botts. "You're instantly regarded as incredible and you don't deserve justice."

Learn more about this tragic incident at
http://www.realcrimes.com/Botts/dagbotts.htm

To sign a petition demanding more police action on this unjust incident, go to
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/investigate-the-death-of-dag-botts.html