Missing and Murdered: Part 3
![](/sites/default/files/images/magazine/RM%2013.3/page%2014%20image%201.jpg)
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.
![](/sites/default/files/images/magazine/RM%2013.3/page%2015%20image%201.jpg)
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