Chapter 1, Sexual Violence as a Tool of Genocide, discusses the history of and gives us an introduction to genocide. The author talks about the treatment of bodies, in particular Native bodies, and how colonial thought and theory regards Native people as inherently “rapable” and “violable,” a colonial conviction that stretches past the physical bodies of Natives, to Native independence and lands as well. She explains that patriarchy is the foundation by which power is established over Native women's bodies because hierarchal, patriarchal authority and control systems of society are seldom found within native societies. Europeans, on the other hand, have long depended on these methods to suppress and infuse fear into their people. Sexual violence, consequently, serves the colonizer as one way of assimilating Native women into Western society, which, therefore, increases Native vulnerability to gender violence. Sexual violence exists to such a degree, according to Smith, that the "phenomenon indicates the extent to which our communities have internalized self-hatred".

Chapter 2, Boarding School Abuses and the Case for Reparations, give some examples for the above mentioned violence. Boarding school systems in the United States are described as a tool for genocide and rape/sexual dominance. This chapter focuses, as well, on the reparations for such wrongs, encompassed by her communication of "abuses from a reparations framework" that is essential for coalition-building and active sovereignty. She addresses the need for a Native American involvement in the global reparations movement, but also calls attention to the unique point of view of native people. She explains that Native American organizations have objected to demands that the United States disburse land as reparation for its history of racial oppression. They have argued that the land cannot be