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

[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.