No More Stolen Sisters

[ysabetwordsmith]

Today is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls. This is a longstanding human rights issue. Many jurisdictional barriers, racism, sexism, and other problems mean little or no investigation into these crimes; they are rarely solved. It's not an accident; it is one facet of the continuing genocide. We can fight back; we are not alone. Mitakuye oyasin -- we are all related.




STATISTICS

Indigenous Womxn (girls +) murdered 10x higher than all other ethnicities

Murder is the 3rd leading cause of death for Indigenous Womxn (Centers for Disease Control)

More than 4 out of 5 Indigenous Womxn (American Indian & Alaskan Native AI/AN) have experienced violence (84.3%) (National Institute of Justice Report)

More than half Indigenous (AI/AN) Womxn experience sexual violence (56.1%)

More than half Indigenous (AI/AN) Womxn have been physically abused by their intimate partners (55.5 percent)

less than half of Indigenous (AI/AN) Womxn have been stalked in their lifetime (48.8 percent).

Indigenous (AI/AN) Womxn are 1.7 times more likely than Anglo-American women to experience violence.

Indigenous (AI/AN) Womxn are 2xs more likely to be raped than Anglo-American white women.

Murder rate of Indigenous (AI/AN) Womxn is 3xs higher than Anglo-American women.


My Writing

I have written about this issue more than once.

Iron Horses thread in Polychrome Heroics
"Whatever You Do to the Animals"
"Reaching Out to Rescue One Another"
"To Prevent Future Tragedies"
"Ways to Make the Pain Go Away"
"Quicker Than You Can Lower Them"
"A Crazy and Drunk Life"
"Repair Just About Anything"

Blackfeet Confederacy thread in Daughters of the Apocalypse (on layaway)
"The Little Shadow Across the Grass"
"Don't Let the Grass Grow"
"On the Path to Friendship"


Learn More

Library Resources

Tribal Resources


How You Can Help

Donate to organizations working to solve this problem. Do you enjoy stories, art, or other cultural material from tribal people? Give back by helping to protect the people who make them.
Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women
Indian Law Resource Center
National Indian Women Resource Center

Follow Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA on Facebook.

MMIWG2&MMIP Organizing Toolkit

No More Stolen Sisters Campaign (Canada)

Take Action (Indian Law Resource Center)

Watch for the red hand and red dress symbols of the movement. If you see them, offer support and encouragement. Many people will be protesting or posting about this today.

Post about this issue and/or link to posts about it today, to help raise awareness and agitate for action. You may direct people to this post if you wish.

Comments

[librarygeek]

1. "To Prevent Future Tragedies" - link isn't working, says blocked.

2. Can you give me the prices for these, and I'll try and sponsor one, and send a donation to one of the listed organizations too.

"Ways to Make the Pain Go Away"
"Quicker Than You Can Lower Them"
"A Crazy and Drunk Life"
"Repair Just About Anything"

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> 1. "To Prevent Future Tragedies" - link isn't working, says blocked. <<

Known bug; copy/paste error. Try it now.

>> 2. Can you give me the prices for these, and I'll try and sponsor one, and send a donation to one of the listed organizations too. <<

Yay!

For reference, these are in the same thread about Warshirt rescuing Spotted Deer and ultimately several other women from human trafficking. The next batch doesn't deal with that directly, but it's an important part of the background, why their relationship is often awkward.

"Ways to Make the Pain Go Away" 12-11-20 (fishbowl spillover)
Story Date: Friday, October 2, 2015
Summary: Warshirt deals with a bad day by getting drunk. Spotted Deer takes care of him.
229 lines, Buy It Now = $115

"Quicker Than You Can Lower Them"
Story Date: Saturday, October 3, 2015
Summary: The morning after, Warshirt feels fine, until suddenly he doesn't.
122 lines, Buy It Now = $61

"A Crazy and Drunk Life"
Story Date: Saturday, October 3, 2015
Summary: Upset by everything that's happened, Warshirt seeks advice from Many Tongues.
358 lines, Buy It Now = $179

"Repair Just About Anything"
Story Date: Saturday, October 3, 2015
Summary: Warshirt and Spotted Deer work things out.
426 lines, Buy It Now = $213

Re: Thoughts

[librarygeek]

Ok, I'm going to sponsor "Quicker Than You Can Lower Them" and hope someone else or a group can sponsor "Ways to Make the Pain Go Away".

Send me an message copy if you can't post it yet, please? Thanks!

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Ok, I'm going to sponsor "Quicker Than You Can Lower Them" <<

Thank you! I have made a note that this was for the Day of Awareness.

>> and hope someone else or a group can sponsor "Ways to Make the Pain Go Away". <<

I posted a message calling for cosponsors to cover that one.

>> Send me an message copy if you can't post it yet, please? Thanks! <<

I have sent you copies of both the first two poems in the set. Ideally, they should be posted in order; the second won't make much sense without the first.

I'm going to introduce

[dialecticdreamer]

Nimkii and Torrin by video chat.

I can't wrangle a whole new story arc right now, but it at least points out the NEED for these conversations.

Re: I'm going to introduce

[ysabetwordsmith]

Thank you so much!

Nimkii's situation is actually quite closely related to the day's theme. It's just that stolen children (boys and girls together) are sometimes considered a separate branch from the (women and girls together) branch. It can be phrased as "missing and murdered aboriginal women and children." The other branch of stolen children is the foster care and adoption fiasco that Nimkii already ran afoul of.

The wider statistics of risk to indigenous women and girls would be something for the Strange Family to consider, because that risk isn't going away and will be higher on a reservation than elsewhere. They're spending roughly a third of the year in a very high-risk environment. O_O

Regrettably human trafficking is one area where Terramagne's problems are worse than here rather than better. Several of the rescued victims from the Iron Horses thread are tribal women/girls, because it's an easy hunting ground with not enough legal pursuit of cases. :/ And that family has already had to deal with Dom's hard kidnapping, stalking, and Nimkii's foster fuckup. Touchy topic.

Re: I'm going to introduce

[dialecticdreamer]

There are factors in L-America that sicken me--it took something like thirty YEARS after the initial amendments to Native American laws in the seventies to identify and close the loophole that a white man living on the reservation with a girlfriend COULD NOT be charged under those laws, as they were written presuming that the men lived outside the reservation. It was literally a license to murder as it was written!

Re: I'm going to introduce

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's probably not an accident either. >_

Re: I'm going to introduce

[dialecticdreamer]

Probably not. However, the loopholes are being closed, one by one.

I think that the way the Strange Family will handle the risk is to make a current assessment, only to immediately realize that the kids need self-defense training, as Genna does, since she was working at a severe disadvantage before her shoulder was repaired.

But the practical risks of violence against Nimkii and Genna are horrifyingly high.

I wonder if they're JUST as high off the reservation, as when Genna is at the county museum?

Re: I'm going to introduce

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Probably not. However, the loopholes are being closed, one by one. <<

Closed on paper and closed in practice are two very different things, as shown by the laws allegedly protecting native children vs. the high rate of abduction into the foster system.

>> I think that the way the Strange Family will handle the risk is to make a current assessment, <<

That's logical.

>> only to immediately realize that the kids need self-defense training, as Genna does, since she was working at a severe disadvantage before her shoulder was repaired. <<

Good idea.

Consider asking their supervillain friends, many of whom excel at self-defense. Another option would be a more permanent tracker, which Kraken has. After the way Genna blew a gasket over the previous incident, it might be kind of embarrassing to request, but that's a great way to foil kidnapping attempts. Hence why Pips has one; he wants to make sure that backup can always find him.

>> But the practical risks of violence against Nimkii and Genna are horrifyingly high. <<

Yyyyyeah. O_O

>>I wonder if they're JUST as high off the reservation, as when Genna is at the county museum?<<

It's probably highest on the reservation, where tangles of jurisdiction make it easier to get away with crimes. Still high risk elsewhere, though, because of both the tribal and soup aspects.

Re: I'm going to introduce

[(Anonymous)]

It would be nice/useful seeing more examples of men/whitefolk trying to help with these sorts of issues (just in general). And teaching boys/white kids awareness and helping skills too.

...hmmm, do the Iron Horses ever do self-defense classes?

Re: I'm going to introduce

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> It would be nice/useful seeing more examples of men/whitefolk trying to help with these sorts of issues (just in general). And teaching boys/white kids awareness and helping skills too. <<

Feel free to ask for those in any relevant prompt call.

>> ...hmmm, do the Iron Horses ever do self-defense classes? <<

They do. They also provide escorts for abuse survivors, as do some other motorcycle gangs.

Re: I'm going to introduce

[dialecticdreamer]

Yeah, that law has been around for half my lifetime and is being violated more often than it's kept, ESPECIALLY in South Dakota.

Re: I'm going to introduce

[ysabetwordsmith]

Let's say there are a lot of reasons why I write Rabid City the way I do. >_<

I may not be able to solve the problem, but I can certainly shame people for it. That's part of a Bard's job.

Re: I'm going to introduce

[(Anonymous)]

>>There are factors in L-America that sicken me--it took something like thirty YEARS after the initial amendments to Native American laws in the seventies to identify and close the loophole that a white man living on the reservation with a girlfriend COULD NOT be charged under those laws, as they were written presuming that the men lived outside the reservation.<<

Well, if the anti-murder laws don't apply to resident whitefolk, what about anti-everything else laws?

Invite some grumpy white feminists [as declared by rude men] to live on the reservation. They can throw eggs at Mr. Jerk's door and bang pots and pans around his house at 3 am...

Re: I'm going to introduce

[ysabetwordsmith]

Well, I know Rocky Boy's Reservation had one, a hippie girl who drifted in and never left. Not sure if she's still alive, but I bet there's some interesting history.

Re: I'm going to introduce

[dialecticdreamer]

That won't work because the loophole involves RESIDENCY on the reservation while having typical American (not BIA recognized) citizenship. Having the local women raise Cain against the target is simply too dangerous because the response is out of proportion. When I play my stereo at two in the morning loud enough to rattle the windows, it's a misdemeanor under local laws. But because nearly every crime on the reservation violates FEDERAL statutes, the same crime is a felony there.

There's very little being done to even teach people to NAVIGATE the gaps, and it's going to take ten years or more to repair each law that's unwieldly or leaves loopholes. Probably more.

Re: I'm going to introduce

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, like how smoking on an airplane is a federal offense.

But if Mr White Dude can break laws without being arrested bc US citizenship, why couldn't a white woman (for example) break a noise ordinance (with approval from the locals) and get away with it bc citizenship? The _only_ difference is the crime and gender...unless it's the old 'we don't want to ruin his life' cow poop they've been spouting forever?

Re: I'm going to introduce

[dialecticdreamer]

Because the way the laws are written, the Native law enforcement doesn't have the leeway to give warnings in MOST cases. So the Native women raise a ruckus and torment a jerk who deserves it, but the reservation law enforcement CANNOT let them off with a warning.

I don't know all the details, and there are variations from one area to another in HOW closely these laws are followed, but the rules themselves are so complicated that it's practically impossible to know HOW to charge a white person driving through the reservation for littering, and under whose jurisdiction.

How many American tourists would understand the problem, even? There were news articles recently about reservations setting up COVID checkpoints, with American neighbors who should KNOW BETTER whining that "they didn't have the right."

In fact, I'd bet chocolate that forty-nine out of fifty random people asked couldn't tell WHICH divisions of law enforcement have authority on the reservation, let alone be able to name one exception to the baseline.

[fianna9]

You know I've thought for some time about suggesting a sign that says "Black Lives, Brown Lives, Native Lives...All of Our Lives Matter". I wasn't certain how it'd go over with people but sometimes....thought of it as a counterpoint to the "All Lives Matter" signs.

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

From an ethical perspective, All Lives Matter is the correct version.

Protests aren't about ethics, though. Black Lives Matter is an attempt to convince white people to stop murdering black people. It's not very effective, because to the murderers, black lives don't matter. Black lives have negative value to some people, especially police. Black lives matter to black people and to cosmopolitans, but not to a lot of white Americans. So that's a problem.

Take any disadvantaged group that gets murdered a lot, and the problem is likely similar. Someone wants them not to exist and is willing to work on that actively.

When you try to list them together, it tends to aggravate people who already feel like they're fighting for survival. Most activists have lost the skills for teaming up with other groups to work on a common cause. If black people, Hispanics, Native Americans, the disabled, women, poor people, etc. all united to broadcast how police murder and abuse them, then that coalition might be big enough to force major changes.