Written by: Lili Minato | Freelancer
Content warning: this article contains mentions of murder and violence.
May is Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Children and Two Spirit Awareness Month. May 5 is National Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day. Native and Indigenous communities in North America have experienced an epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous people for decades.
Native Hope — a resource for Native communities — released a statement on the crisis. “Sisters, wives, mothers and daughters are gone from their families without clear answers. There are families whose loved ones are missing — babies growing up without mothers, mothers without daughters and grandmothers without granddaughters. For Native Americans, this adds one more layer of trauma upon existing wounds that cannot heal. Communities are pleading for justice.”
For dozens of years, Indigenous women have gone missing and experienced violence, and police have historically been unhelpful in finding these women. This is how the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Movement began. Family and community members have fought to find and bring justice to those lost and victimized.
In recent years, there has been an increase in awareness. In 2021, Secretary of the Interior and Laguna Pueblo Tribal citizen, Deb Haaland, created the Missing and Murdered Unit. This unit was open for Indigenous people to assist with cases and to make their voices heard.
In 2023, the Not Invisible Act Commission released an over 200-page report to Congress, detailing their findings surrounding missing and murdered Indigenous people and over 300 recommendations on how to address the epidemic.
While the awareness movement first focused on the missing and murdered Indigenous women, it has now moved to focus on children and Two-Spirit people as well.
The symbol for MMIWCTS is a recognizable red handprint, which is usually placed over the mouths of individuals. This represents standing with victims who have been silenced.
Murder is the third leading cause of death for Indigenous women and 84 percent of Indigenous women and girls have experienced violence. The violence against Indigenous women has reached epidemic levels and is considered a national crisis.
May is a critical month for remembering MMIP loss, educating oneself and becoming aware of the silent epidemic that has been occurring.
Special thanks to the Cow Creek Umpqua Tribe.
For more resources and education, check out Native Hope’s website — https://www.nativehope.org.
For survivor support on campus, look to Abby’s House in the Werner University Center in room 106 or on their website — wou.edu/abbyshouse.
Contact the author at lminato22@mail.wou.edu
