Where Are They?

 

Written by: Jessica Schneider

Image credit: Lorie Shaull

        The Native populations across North America have a massive problem on their hands. Thousands of their women have gone missing or been murdered over the years with little to no news coverage or acknowledgment from the United States or Canada. The safety and well beings of ingenious women, girls, and two spirited people have been silenced for long enough. Women are starting to speak out about the violence going on, both on the reservations and in urban environments. According to statistics taken in 2019, Indigenous women are 10 times more likely to be murdered than the rest of the United States’ population (“The Tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women”, 2019). 1 out of 2 women will experience some kind of sexual violence within their lifetime. In Erik Ortiz’s article, Why It’s Difficult To Track Cases of Missing and Murdered Native American Women and Girls, he quotes that “nearly 60 percent of the cases are homicides and 31 percent involve girls 18 and younger,” (Ortiz, Erik, 2020). These women normally aren’t found. 

            The issue of violence towards Indegious women has gone on for centuries. Since women are historically more likely to be the victims of violence than men, these statistics are sadly not that surprising. With the introduction of colonialism to the native tribes, it caused physical and psychological damage within those societies (“The Tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women”, 2019). In the present day, many of these violent issues are simply ignored or unreported as domestic violence. 

The symbol of a painted hand over the mouth, usually in red, has come to represent this ongoing issue. As depicted in the image above, the statement is both provocative and self-explanatory. The idea of a hand over the mouth to silence those individuals is a call for concern. An issue this big is not something that should be silence. Women should not have to live in fear that they could be the next account in the long list of victims. 

Several different steps have been taken in the past couple years to help address this issue. With the introduction of the “Savanna’s Act” in January of 2019, police aim to better the missing and murdered Native American women data records (McLean, Scott, and Sara Weisfeldt, 2019). Since many of the reported accounts never find their way to the Department of Justice’s data banks, tracking down the actual number of ongoing missing person’s cases is nearly impossible at the current time. According to the National Crime Information Center in 2016, out of 5,712 reports of missing and murdered women and girls only 116 are actually logged in the missing persons database in the US Department of Justice (Lucchesi, Annita, and Abigail Echo-Hawk, 2019). This is an ongoing issue with the Center of Disease Control and Prevention reporting that murder was the third leading cause of death among American Indians and Alaska Natives. These statistics don’t always take into account those native people who live in urban areas. That’s where Urban Indian Health Institute wished to shed even more light on the growing violence against these women.  Since many of the current statistics focused on cases within the reservations, the Urban Indian Health Institute aimed to include cases within the different urban cities. Out of all the cities that the institute surveyed, the city with the highest case numbers was found out to be Seattle, Washington with 45 different cases (Lucchesi, Annita, and Abigail Echo-Hawk, 2019). The Institute admits that the number is most likely much higher than what has been reported due to poor data collections from the different cities. 

A handful of the states in the western United States have started to recognize the growing concern for the native people.Many reservations do not have their own police force, they are left with no means of pursuing these cases themselves. Some react out to state police for assistance. Since 2019, several bills have been signed to increase the understanding and best practices for law enforcement to better handle these kinds of cases. Washington now requires their state patrol officers to follow a given protocol for missing Native Americans (Scott, Damon, 2019). Though many of these bills simply encourage officers to study and better educate themselves on these issues, places like New Mexico, Wyoming, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have set up speciality designed teams to investigate these cases. In October of 2019, two states, Minnesota and Wisconsin, have put forth efforts to combat this growing epidemic with the launch of speciality task forces focused on these kinds of cases. Those in Wisconsin’s force will consist of at least seventeen people, ten of which are either citizens of the tribes or who work closely with the tribes previously.  Mary Lyons, an Ojibwe elder, was quoted saying, “Today we as Indigenous women rise. We’re not being forgotten today. We can call each of our missing and murdered women’s names out loud and we can embrace them in prayers. Today we let them know they did not fall to their deaths only to be forgotten.” (Milka, Ruth, 2019). This is a good step in the right direction but there is still much more that needs to be done. Cases like 

Different organizations and institutes have been created in order to help raise awareness and come beside those who have been most affected by this ongoing epidemic. The Sovereign Bodies Institute has created a database on cases from 1900 to present day. The database includes women, girls, and two spirit people that are part of the murdered and missing category. “SBI is a home for generating new knowledge and understandings of how Indigenous nations and communities are impacted by gender and sexual violence, and how they can continue to work towards healing and freedom from such violence” (“About the Data”, 2021). Northeast Oklahoma Indigenous Safety and Education, NOISE, is a group that consists of community members, families of those women who are murdered and missing, and healthcare professionals (Lee, Kurtis, 2020). The group focuses on how to get women and girls out of violent situations before anything could happen. They are also a support group for those who have been affected by this epidemic. 

As this epidemic continues, increasing awareness of this issue is key. The more people know what is happening to these women, the more likely something can be done about it. Due to pressure from activists and native tribes, laws like the “Savanna’s Act” are able to exist. We cannot ignore those who are in need of help. Speak up and speak out about this epidemic. Don’t let these women be left to memory or forgotten.

Sources:

"About The Data". 2021. Sovereign-Bodies.Org. https://www.sovereign-bodies.org/mmiw-database.

Lee, Kurtis. 2020. "Native Women Are Vanishing Across The U.S. Inside An Aunt's Desperate Search For Her Niece". Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-01-31/murdered-missing-native-american-women.

Lucchesi, Annita, and Abigail Echo-Hawk. 2016. "Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women And Girls". Uihi.Org. https://www.uihi.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Missing-and-Murdered-Indigenous-Women-and-Girls-Report.pdf.

McLean, Scott, and Sara Weisfeldt. 2019. "Why Do So Many Native American Women Go Missing? Congress Aiming To Find Out". CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/09/us/native-american-murdered-missing-women/index.html.

Milka, Ruth. 2019. "These States Are Putting Together Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women Task Forces - Nationofchange". Nationofchange. https://www.nationofchange.org/2019/10/31/these-states-are-putting-together-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-task-forces/.

Ortiz, Erik. 2020. "Why It's Difficult To Track Cases Of Missing And Murdered Native American Women And Girls". NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lack-awareness-data-hinders-cases-missing-murdered-native-american-women-n1235233.

Scott, Damon. 2019. "Plight Of Missing, Murdered Native Women Gets Increased Focus • The Seminole Tribune". The Seminole Tribune. https://seminoletribune.org/plight-of-missing-murdered-native-women-gets-increased-focus/.

Shaull, Lorie. 2021. Image. https://i2.wp.com/www.nationofchange.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/31234348878_78c1d05ae6_c.jpg?fit=799%2C533&ssl=1.

"The Tragedy Of Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW)". 2019. Powwows. https://www.powwows.com/the-tragedy-of-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-mmiw/.