Banished native women fight tribal leaders in federal court Friday, December 27, 2019

NPR News

Four women from the nation's second largest Indian reservation have turned to the federal court system after they were banished by tribal leadership last year.

"It changed our lives," Ute tribal member Angelita Chegup said. "One moment, I had a job, the next moment I didn't."

Banishment is a severe and rare form of punishment in Indian Country. It has its roots in pre-Colonial America, when tribes would banish murderers, thieves or mutineers from their community and into the wild.

"In many cases, that would've essentially been a death sentence," said Grant Christensen, who teaches American Indian Law at the University of North Dakota School of Law.

Read more at: https://www.npr.org/2019/12/27/790970580/it-changed-our-lives-banished-native-women-fight-tribal-leaders-in-federal-court