The Silenced

Throughout the United States and Canada, Indigenous women are being kidnapped and murdered, and the US government is doing very little to stop it. Let’s talk about it,

            “The National Crime Information Center reports that, in 2016, there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, through the US Department of Justice federal missing person database, NamUS, only logged 116 cases.”  – The National Crime Information Center -NamUs. Only two percent of missing reports were logged into the missing person database. To add to this, in 2022, 56.1% of Indigenous women reported having experienced sexual violence, 55.5% reported having been physically abused by their partners, and 48.8% reported having been stalked in their lifetime. There are multiple reasons why this is the case; the first is the historical factors. Native Hope, a nonprofit organization that works to fight for the voices of Native and Indigenous women, says that the biggest reason for these statistics has to do with the Indian Relocation Act.

The Indian Relocation Act of 1956, or Public Law 959, was a law that assisted and encouraged Native Americans to move from reservations to cities to help them assimilate into the general population and find them more employment. The law offered one-way bus tickets to cities, funds for tools for apprentices, grants for work clothing, tuition for school, and funds to help purchase a home. On paper, the law seems like it would be a great way of assimilating a culture into the melting pot, which is the US. The problem with this law is that problems now arise between agencies, such as reporting policies, jurisdictional issues, and coordination problems. This means that 78 percent of Native Americans living in cities have very few resources linked to the tribal community. They often fall into a “pipeline of vulnerability,” as Native Hope puts it. This means that due to a lack of resources, they often find themselves in areas of poverty, crime, and injustice.

The Urban Indian Center of Salt Lake says there are ways in which you can help with this issue. The first is to wear red on May 5^th and post on social media with the hashtags “#NationalDayofAwareness, #MMNWG, or #MMIW.” May 5^th is the official missing/murdered Indigenous women’s day, with the color red to symbolize the violence. Social media posts will allow you to raise awareness for the issue and show your support to the communities. On May 5^th, you can find rallies, fundraisers, bike rides, and more in your area. This brings us to our second way: attending events related to MMIW. The third way is to post a list of women missing from your community, whether you’re at home or at school at JMU. Finding a list of missing women and getting the word out to your community might be enough to save a life. The bottom line is that finding ways to get involved and show support for this issue is the biggest thing that will help it. The main problem with missing/murdered Indigenous women is that it is not being talked about enough. The statistics and too shocking, and the resources are too little for this issue to go unnoticed. Getting involved with the JMU Native American Student Union is a great way to see if there is anything that you can do to help raise awareness at JMU.

Cited courses:

Admin. “Six Ways to Be Active in MMIW Movement.” Uicsl.Org, 3 May 2021, uicsl.org/six-ways-to-be-active-in-mmiw-movement/#:~:text=Safely%20attend%20an%20event%2C%20prayer,Indigenous%20Women’s%20Resource%20Center%20webinar.

“Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).” Native Hope, http://www.nativehope.org/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-mmiw?utm_term=missing+and+murdered+indigenous+women&utm_campaign=MMIW%2B-%2BSearch&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_tgt=kwd-499968175672&hsa_grp=144380966783&hsa_src=g&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_mt=b&hsa_ver=3&hsa_ad=646853914079&hsa_acc=3651624507&hsa_kw=missing+and+murdered+indigenous+women&hsa_cam=19633980915&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwxsm3BhDrARIsAMtVz6M8DywM9UTJLXZ1RdOvC7GgndCwj2pLQIYYyFIdmBnASZjAMjwxe2EaAhkBEALw_wcB. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.