Charon Asetoyer

Charon Asetoyer was born on March 24, 1951, in San Jose, California to a Comanche mother and father of European descent. She has been no stranger to activism and hardship, even in her young high school days. Her attempts worked and by the end of the week her school had implemented new lunch arrangements that met the desired standards. Fashion and women's beauty also had a profound impact on Asetoyer's young life; as a young entrepreneur, she started her own dress company from her home, and she later dropped out of high school in order to expand her business. Asetoyer referred to herself as "creative, independent, and an entrepreneur" and noted that she learned more in the coffee shops and streets of California than she would have in the halls of her high school. She moved to San Francisco and successfully ran her own dress shop until 1971 when she closed the boutique in order to enroll in San Francisco City College. San Francisco brought important elements into Asetoyer's life, including more activist opportunities and her marriage to Dennis Duncan. Her marriage to Dennis Duncan, officially initiated in 1972, led her into her first job that merged her activist work and women's health care; she worked as a WIC program leader and counselor at the Urban Indian Health Clinic in SF's financial district. Her job was one of the only beneficial things to come from her marriage to Duncan, his abusive nature led her to end their relationship in 1977 and resultantly compelled her to move out of California. Asetoyer relocated to Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1977, and she enrolled in the University of South Dakota, where she matriculated from in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. 1981 was a monumental year for Charon, alongside college graduation, she married Yankton Sioux tribe member Clarence Rockboy, and migrated again, this time to Brattleboro, Vermont. While in the American Northeast, Asetoyer significantly expanded her education and her family. First, she gave birth to her first child, a boy named Chaska (American version is Charles). After Chaska's birth, the couple also adopted Clarence's abandoned nephew, Reynold James Brugier. Alongside maintaining a growing nuclear family, Asetoyer obtained a dual master's degree in 1983 for Management and Intercultural Administration from Vermont's School for International Training. Their time in Vermont was short lived. Abiding by Yankton Sioux tradition, the family returned to Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1983 following the death of Clarence's father. Clarence was to serve a four-year sentence at the reservation in order to fulfill a cultural and religious memorial commitment after his father's death. The return to Sioux Falls indicates the essential beginning of Charon Asetoyer's activist and political career. == In-depth activist work ==

Her work in California and her own abusive marriage pushed Charon Asetoyer to help more dislocated women, specifically Natives. In the early 1970s, the American Indian Movement (AIM) coordinated a walk from Canada and across the United States as a way to protest the forced sterilization of Native women by the government, and this caught the eye of Asetoyer, the young activist. In 1978, Asetoyer and many other women involved in AIM joined forces and sought to reconstruct and modernize women's role in the Native community, giving them back some independence within the family unit and in regard to their own healthcare. Under Asetoyer's leadership of her branch, the organization's intentions generally targeted women's health and pregnancy issues that were prevalent on the Sioux Falls reservation, two of the most prominent being fetal alcohol syndrome and forced sterilization. Asetoyer's strong willed personality clashed with the politics of WARN, and in 1985, she abandoned the organization, and her own branch, in order to form a more meaningful program that operated precisely how she wanted it to. With the help of her husband Clarence Rockboy, Everdale Songhawk, Jackie Rouse, and Lorenzo Dion, the Native American Community Board (NACB) was born in Rockboy and Asetoyer's basement of their family home in Lake Andes, SD. The NACB started out with a broad mission and intended to help out Natives on the reservation and in the area with any problem they encountered. The NACB planned out certain campaigns in order to bring awareness to issues in the community, and their first project was centered around what Asetoyer worked on at WARN- fetal alcohol syndrome. "I wanted to get serious about this work. I felt that it was an issue that was plaguing our communities and that we really needed to get a handle on it." By examining the causes of fetal alcohol syndrome, the NACB focused on educational initiatives for young mothers that would lead to better lives for mom and child alike. As Asetoyer and the NACB embarked on this journey to try and transform life on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota, they uncovered even more issues among the community. While simultaneously working on the fetal alcohol syndrome objectives, Asetoyer was revamping the general knowledge of women in the area. == Creation of the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center ==

Through conferences and seminars, Asetoyer worked to spread the word about acknowledging the issues at hand, preventative ideology, elements for treatment, and simply about the fundamental components that would increase the standard of living within the Native American community. By spreading awareness, she met other like-minded individuals that were also seeking change. Charon Asetoyer envisioned a designated center that would provide information and assistance in regard to the feminine and reproductive health of Native American Women, and in 1988, her dream became a reality with the creation of the Native American Women's Health Educational Resource Center (NAWHERC) where she was named executive director. While creating NAWHERC, Asetoyer drew much inspiration from the National Black Women's Health Imperative after visiting their headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. The center also makes sure that the voices of these women are heard, not just in the community, but at the state and national level as well."NAWHERC's work has resulted in policy changes such as improvements in informed consent, the provision of patients with results for abnormal pap tests and mammograms, treatment for HIV+ patients, patient confidentiality, and the discontinuation of Norplant." == Recent work ==

Alongside her establishment and running of NAWHERC, Asetoyer actively participates in women's rights conventions and she travels extensively to speak around the world. In 2004, a polling place in Lake Andes, SD on the Yankton Sioux Tribe had an illegitimate sign that said in order to vote, a valid photo ID was required. Asetoyer published the book ''Indigenous Women's Health Book within the Sacred Circle: Reproductive Rights, Environmental Health, Traditional Herbs and Remedies'' in 2003, naming the author as NAWHERC so proceeds benefit her organization. Charon Asetoyer has received numerous awards throughout her forty plus years of feminist activism for the Native American community, but her notable distinctions and accolades aren't stopping her anytime soon; Asetoyer says there is still an extensive amount of work that needs to be done in so many areas of focus. Charon Asetoyer learned the power of collective uniting at a young age with her in-school protest, and her own experiences as a woman pushed her to help the Native women in need. Over the span of her continuous career, Asetoyer has touched the hearts and lives of countless Native American women by standing up for their rights, protecting them, and giving them a female icon to look up to. Through her multitude of organizations, she has revolutionized living and health conditions for female Natives that may never have happened without her perseverance, even in the face of opposition. == Writings ==

NAWHERC • • • • • • Journal articles and book chapters • • • • • == References ==