Restoration Magazine

The “missing white woman syndrome” explains the lack of media attention for missing Native women, according to Makoons Miller Tanner of Duluth. “Pretty, young, middle class white women make good victims versus Native women who may have criminal pasts,” noted Miller Tanner who maintains the Justice for Native Women blog.

In Indian country, cases of the missing and murdered are often not covered by the media. They grow cold and are forgotten.

Sarah Deer, professor of law at William Mitchell College of Law, who has an extensive history of working to end violence against Native women, described the lack of data and attention to missing and murdered Native women as a conspiracy of indifference on the part of the U.S. government and law enforcement. “If we had the funding to search and assess our data, I think we would find that we in the U.S. have absolutely similar numbers to Canada in terms of missing and murdered women,” she said.

According to a 2015 report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, more than 1,000 indigenous women have gone missing or were murdered between 1980–2012. In 2014, 11 indigenous women went missing. Advocates claim that the actual number is much higher.

Deer noted that the U.S. and Canada have similar social and economic dynamics affecting indigenous women, such as histories of boarding schools and migration to urban settings. “We share a parallel trauma,” she noted. “Terrible things happen to our women, but it never seems to reach a priority among law enforcement. Our communities must empower themselves at the grassroots level to make change, otherwise it will never happen.”

Change is beginning to come, and as Deer noted, it is at the grassroots level. There are numerous ad hoc efforts to keep databases of missing and murdered Native women, as well as a growing number of social media sites dedicated to spreading the word about missing girls and women in Indian country. The Save Wiyabi Project (Wiyabi is Assiniboine for women), Justice for Native Women blog, and Sing Our Rivers Red Project (SORR) are examples of such groups.

Lauren Chief Elk and Laura Madison created a map as part of the Save Wiyabi Project to help track missing and murdered women. “This was created by indigenous women for indigenous women, because our governments and media erase the large-scale violence against us,” according to a statement explaining the site.

 

 

According to Chief Elk, Save Wiyabi has verified 1,050 violent incidents involving indigenous women, those who have disappeared been murdered or assaulted. “We also found that many of the tribal law enforcement agencies we contacted basically have no established procedures at all for collecting missing persons reports,” she said. “There seems to be a cavalier attitude about missing women even among our own people.”

 

 

SOURCES:

 

Pember, M. E. (2016, April 11). Missing and Murdered:

No One Knows How Many Native Women Have Disappeared. Retrieved from http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/04/11/missing-and-murder…

Pember, M. E. (2016, April 11). Sorrow Like a River:

Forcing the World to Listen. Retrieved from https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork. com/2016/04/11/sorrow-river-forcing-world-listen-164100

Pember, M. E. (2016, April 13). Conspiracy of Indifference:

Press and Police Ignore Violence Against Native Women. Retrieved from https://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/04/13/conspiracy-indiff…

 

The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center and the following list of 165 organizations support the resolution to create a “National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls” as of September 8, 2016

 

Advocacy Resource Center (ARC)

Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center

Alternatives to Domestic Violence

American Indian Development Associates, LLC

Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence

Bad River Domestic Abuse Program

Battered Women’s Justice Project

Bergen County Alternatives To Domestic Violence - ADV

Beyond Survival

Blue Corn Mothers Alliance

California Tribal TANF - Amador County

California Coalition Against Sexual Assault

California Consortium for Urban Indian Health

California Partnership to End Domestic Violence

Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA)

Center for Indigenous Health Research

CFS/SERV

Cherokee Elder Care

Choctaw Health Center

Clan Star, Inc

Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women

COALITION TO STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST NATIVE WOMEN

Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Community Against Violence (CAV)

Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Inc.

Creative Interventions

Crime Victim and Sexual Violence Center

DC Rape Crisis Center

Denver Indian Family Resource Center

Don’t have one

DOVE Center

End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin

Equay Wiigamig

FaithTrust Institute

Family Violence Appellate Project

Florida Council Against Sexual Violence

Fort Mojave Indian Tribe Domestic Violence Program

Futures Without Violence

Healing Native Hesrts Coalition

Hecete Band

Ho-Chunk Nation Domestic Abuse Division

HopeWorks of Howard County, Inc.

Hopi Domestic Violence Program

Hopi-Tewa Women’s Coalition to End Abuse

Hui O Na Wahine ma Hawaiʻi

Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Indian Education Program

Indian Health Care Resource Center

Indian Health Council

Indian Health Service-Blackfeet Community Hospital

Indian Law Resource Center

Indigenous Roots & Kalpulli Yaocenoxtli

Indigenous Women’s Justice Institute

Integrated Concepts, Inc.

Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S RIGHTS PROJECT

Isleta Behavioral Health Services

ITCN Family Violence Prevention Project

Jane Doe Inc., the MA Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence

Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence

Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc.

La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians

Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indian

Maniilaq Association

Mescalero Violence Against Women

Meskwaki Nation Child Support Services

Meskwaki Victim Services

Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center

Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition

MN Indigenous Women’s Society

Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence

Morongo Tribal TANF

Mothers against meth alliance

Muscogee (Creek) Nation Family Violence Prevention Program

My Sisters’ Place

National Alliance to End Sexual Violence

National Center for Victims of Crime

National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence

National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

National Domestic Violence Hotline

Native Alliance Against Violence

Native Wellness Institute

Native Women’s Society of the Great Plains

NC Coalition Against Sexual Assault

nDigiDreams, LLC

New Day Shelter

New Horizons Shelter and Outreach Centers

New Jersey Coalition to End Domestic Violence

New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NMCADV)

New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, Inc.

New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Nooksack DV Program

North American Indian Center of Boston, Inc.

North Star Group

Northern Cheyenne Behavioral Health Programs

Northern Marianas Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence

Northwoods Women, Inc., d.b.a. New Day Shelter

Oglala Lakota Nation Victim Services

Oglala Sioux Tribe Victim Services

Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence

Ohio Domestic Violence Network

One Nation Walking Together

Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence

Organized Village of Kake

OST Victim Services

Outpatient Clinic Department

P&S Legal Advocacy, PLLC

PADA

Pascua Yaqui Tribe Health Department

Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Philadelphia District Attorneys Office

Rape Victim Advocates

Restoring Ancestral Winds, Inc.

Robin Parker Garcia Fine Art

Rockford Sexual Assault Counseling

Sacred Hoop Coalition

Safe Alternatives for Abused Families

Schoolcraft College

Sego Lily Center for the Abused Deaf

Seven Dancers Coalition

Sexual Assault and Family Emergencies (SAFE)

Southwest Indigenous Women’s Coalition

Strong Hearted Native Women’s Coalition, Inc.

Talk to a Survivor

Tewa Women United

Texas Association Against Sexual Assault

The Native America Humane Society

The Women of Color Network, Inc

The Women’s Center

The Yup’ik Women’s Coalition

Ticicalli Yahualli

Transformative Healing

Tribal Health

Tulsa Indian Club, inc

Turning Point

United Houma Nation

United South & Eastern Tribes

Uniting Three Fires Against Violence

University of Maine

Virgin Islands Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Council

Wabanaki Women’s Coalition

Wakinyan Media

Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV)

Washington State Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs

WEAVE

West Virginia Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Wica Agli

Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Wise Women Gathering Place

Women Helping Women

Women of Color Network

Women’s Crisis Support Team

Women’s Resource Center, University of Utah

Yakama Nation Victim Resource Program

YWCA Missoula

YWCA Utah

YWCA Yakima