Blog
I wasn’t always aware of the MMIP crises. I was not raised on a Reservation nor have I ever met anyone who has directly been linked to someone from the Indigenous community that has been taken or murdered.
l am partially Caddo, but was adopted out into a family that had their own cultures, without any introduction to my own. My childhood looked much different than young girls raised on Reservations and I have never had to worry about being taken or murdered. Now, as a mother, I do not have to worry about this terrible crises affecting my own child.
The truth about MMIP’S is shocking, but so is much of what that Indigenous community has experienced for decades.
This first blog could be about a number of injustices that have, and continue to plaque tribes.
l am not an expert, however I have been deeply affected by this crises, and the
many issues that the Native community face.
In 2016 there were 5712 reports of missing or murdered Indigenous women but NamUs only logged 116 of those cases.
These victimization rates have only grown and there has been very little improvement in how these cases are handled even though being murdered is the third leading cause of death for young adult Native women.
The facts remain that 84 percent of Native women experience violence, over 55 percent experience sexual violence and the murder rate is 10 times higher than the national average. This information is available without any real focused data.
These cases are rarely investigated by police which is reason for national out cry.
Awareness increases our knowledge about something that is happening. It did wonders for the AIDS epidemic and is effective with environmental issues as well as endangered species. We must shift again because real injustices deserve that.
Native girls will continue to be abducted and trafficked. Native boys will boys will continue to be murdered without proper investigations or any justice. These national averages for the Indigenous community have only increased, despite our nation’s acknowledgment that it is indeed happening.
Why hasn’t it improved? If, as a nation, we have been keeping some type of data of the likelihood of what these young women will face, why isn’t more being done?
The community has had to rely mostly on itself, but these tribes deserve accurate data collection and critical federal
resources. The significance of the flaws in properly investigating these cases is debilitating to the victims and their
families.