The Invisible Epidemic: Suicide and Accidental Death among the Yakama Indian People, 1911–1964

Abstract

In December of 1992, federal authorities in eastern Oregon arrested Nathan Jim Jr. for killing two bald and two golden eagles. As a member of the federally recognized Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and a practitioner of the Waashat and Feather religions, Jim argued that he planned to use the feathers, at the behest of his religious elders, for traditional burial ceremonies. After his arrest, he spent fourteen months in a federal jail while awaiting trial. After his day in court, the presiding judge sentenced him to probation. Jim’s lawyer appealed his probation under the Religious Freedom Act, which, in theory, guarantees Native Americans the right to use eagle feathers in religious ceremonies. The court denied the appeal. Caught between the desire to fulfill his religious obligations that included obtaining eagle feathers for traditional rites, and the fear that the federal authorities would arrest him again and sentence him to an extended period of incarceration, Jim committed suicide. Jim’s tragic death underscores the tension between state power and Native American tradition, culture, and religion. Given the seemingly impossible choice between the hardships of a long prison sentence, and the psychically crushing possibility that he could not exercise the freedom to “live in the right way,” Jim chose death. His decision to take his own life out of feelings of frustration, fear, and anxiety were, the Invisible epidemic Suicide and Accidental Death among the yakama Indian People, 1911–1964