Did you know that there are thousands of missing and murdered Native American women? I didn’t either until fairly recently. Indigenous women are at much higher risk than white women, including the risk that law enforcement’s response will be underwhelming, to say the least. I Googled the issue and found little in the mainstream media. Why is the best coverage in The Guardian in the UK?
There was a march in February to raise visibility of missing and murdered indigenous women, www.movetoendviolence.org/…. These marches have been happening since 1992! No federal response until maybe now.
As a one-eighth Native American, I take this personally, even though I’m not part of the culture and not recognized as Native. Lawmakers are trying to pass laws to at least start collecting data at the federal level. Let’s push on this.
Meteor Blades covered this in Night Owls and I hope various writers and series will continue to bring more visibility.
Native American women disappear at about twice the rate of white American women, and are murdered at more than 10 times the rate!
“'Essential first step': Congress moves to act on crisis of violence against Native women”
Congress is trying to pass laws to collect better data and combat racism and indifference that has kept this problem under wraps.
I did find one mainstream article, from CNN:
"Why do so many Native American women go missing? Congress aiming to find out"
Coverage of Savanna’s Act and the Not Invisible Act.
Native American publications are better keeping up with the issue:
Indian Country Today: "We can't allow our Native sisters to just disappear"
[Arizona] House Bill 2570 and Senate Bill 1253 would require the committee [of tribal and non-tribal leaders] to conduct a study to determine how to reduce violence, identify barriers to providing more state resources and propose culturally appropriate victim services.
-snip-
This issue was adding to the generations of traumatic experiences.
“They’re disappearing not once, but three times. In life, in the data and in the media,” Steele said. “We can’t allow our Native sisters to just disappear at this rate and not draw attention to it.”
This is probably the best source:
Indian Law Resource Center: "Ending Violence Against Native Women"
More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence, and more than 1 in 2 have experienced sexual violence. Alaska Native women continue to suffer the highest rate of forcible sexual assault and have reported rates of domestic violence up to 10 times higher than in the rest of the United States. Though available data is limited, the number of missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Native women and the lack of a diligent and adequate federal response is extremely alarming to indigenous women, tribal governments, and communities. On some reservations, indigenous women are murdered at more than ten times the national average.
The Center’s Safe Women, Strong Nations project partners with Native women’s organizations and Indian and Alaska Native nations to end violence against Native women and girls. Our project raises awareness to gain strong federal action to end violence against Native women; provides legal advice to national Native women’s organizations and Indian nations on ways to restore tribal criminal authority; and helps Indian nations increase their capacity to prevent violence and punish offenders on their lands.
Read more at the link: Sections on racial discrimination and legal inequality, human rights violations, reforming federal law, and training native communities. Don’t let this go! Read up on Native issues and spread the word.
