Native American women go missing at shocking rates; these women want to change that (2023)

FAQs

Why are Native Americans going missing? ›

For decades, Native American and Alaska Native communities have struggled with high rates of assault, abduction, and murder of women. Community advocates describe the crisis as a legacy of generations of government policies of forced removal, land seizures and violence inflicted on Native peoples.

As a group that has been "socially, economically, and politically marginalized", Indigenous women have been frequent targets for hatred and violence. Underlying factors such as poverty and homelessness contribute to their victimization, as do historical factors such as racism, sexism, and the legacy of imperialism.

But while they received significant media attention, these cases certainly don't tell the whole story. In fact, in 2020 alone, according to the National Crime Information Center there were 5,295 reports of missing women and girls — all of them American Indian and Alaska Natives.

The oldest case UIHI identified happened in 1943, but approximately two-thirds of the cases in UIHI's data are from 2010 to 2018,” the report says. “This suggests the actual number of urban MMIWG (Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women) cases are much higher than what UIHI was able to identify in this study.”

For 1,000 years, long before Columbus, the Anasazi Indians were lords of what's now the American Southwest. Their civilization was as complex and sophisticated as that of the Mayans. Then, apparently without warning, the Anasazi all but disappeared.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the current total population of Native Americans in the United States is 6.79 million, which is about 2.09% of the entire population. There are about 574 federally recognized Native American tribes in the U.S.

The root causes of the MMIW injustice include colonization and historical trauma, racism, and sexual objectifcation of Indigenous women and girls.

A New Docuseries, Murder in Big Horn, Spotlights the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Crisis. When Henny Scott—a 14-year-old girl from the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana—went missing in December 2018, it took the Bureau of Indian Affairs two weeks to put out a missing-persons report.

The MacDonald siblings have been working on documentary storytelling in the Indigenous community for years and are currently producing a documentary, “When They Were Here,” centered on families whose loved ones went missing or were found dead in the Blackfeet community in northwestern Montana.

Native women face barriers in the workplace, epidemic rates of domestic violence and sexual assault, and difficulty in trying to maintain the appropriate work-family balance.

How can we help missing and murdered indigenous women? ›

Support line. This website deals with topics which may negatively impact the reader due to its subject matter. If you are affected by the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people and need immediate emotional assistance, call 1-844-413-6649.

The states with the highest number of cases are as follows: New Mexico (78), Washington (71), Arizona (54), Alaska (52), Montana (41), California (40), Nebraska (33), Utah (24), Minnesota (20), and Oklahoma (18).

I had seen other Native women with this handprint at rallies and marches. I had seen some relatives with a black handprint over their mouth to raise awareness of those who experienced violence due to the oil pipelines that have man camps near our communities. I felt this symbol and meaning was honoring those stolen.

Native American children comprised 415 of the 27,733 children reported missing to the National Center in 2021. From 2012-2021, of the Native American children who were Endangered Runaways, 65% had two or more missing incidents, 45% reportedly suffered from mental illness, and 26% expressed suicidal behavior.

Deborah Maytubee Denton-Shipman is the founder of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA, which assists MMIW families, tries to locate these women, and works with law enforcement on behalf of the families.

The Sentinelese are the most isolated tribe in the world, and have captured the imagination of millions. They live on their own small forested island called North Sentinel, which is approximately the size of Manhattan. They continue to resist all contact with outsiders, attacking anyone who comes near.

The Chickasaws were one of the last to remove. In 1837, we signed the Treaty of Doaksville with the Choctaw Nation and purchased the right for the settlement of our Chickasaw people in our own district within Choctaw Territory. Most Chickasaws removed to Indian Territory from 1837-1851.

Some 100,000 American Indians forcibly removed from what is now the eastern United States to what was called Indian Territory included members of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole tribes.

They had never experienced smallpox, measles or flu before, and the viruses tore through the continent, killing an estimated 90% of Native Americans. Smallpox is believed to have arrived in the Americas in 1520 on a Spanish ship sailing from Cuba, carried by an infected African slave.

Do Native Americans pay taxes? ›

Members of a federally recognized Indian tribe are subject to federal income and employment tax and the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), like other United States citizens. Determinations on taxability must be based on a review of the IRC, treaties and case law.

A quarter of a million women and teenage girls are reported missing every year in the U.S. And many of these cases are connected to male violence.

A national action plan to end violence against women which addresses the root causes of violence and identifies holistic, culturally-appropriate ways in which to prevent violence and to support those impacted by violence.

Perhaps you've even noticed people using it to describe themselves. “Indigenous” describes any group of people native to a specific region. In other words, it refers to people who lived there before colonists or settlers arrived, defined new borders, and began to occupy the land.

Taylor Sheridan has tackled the MMIW epidemic, on his hit series Yellowstone and in his 2017 film Wind River, in which a hunter (played by Jeremy Renner) and an FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen) investigate the death of a young Native woman whose body is found on a snowy Wyoming reservation.

“Hugh Dillon, Elizabeth Olsen, and Graham Greene star in Wind River.” A dead, 18-year old, Native American woman's frozen body is found on the Wind River Reservation. This scene is the catalyst for the story in Wind River, a feature film written and directed by Taylor Sheridan.

“Murder In Big Horn,” which focuses on the murders of three Indigenous women in Montana, will be available on Showtime starting Feb. 3. Luella Brien, a journalist based in Hardin who grew up on the Crow Reservation, is the central narrator in the production.

In The Snow Girl, a young reporter investigates the case of a missing girl with a determination that belies her youth. It turns out that, not long before the girl's disappearance, the reporter herself suffered a major trauma, and she knows the pain that the victim's parents are suffering.

The four-episode series from ABC News Studios is called "Still Missing Morgan" and is produced by Ridley Scott. The documentary crews began interviewing Nick's family in 2019, 24 years after her disappearance. This was also the year the Morgan Nick Foundation expanded to help even more families in Arkansas.

The documentary tells the story of one of the most high profile child abductions in history, and you can watch the trailer for the documentary below. The trailer shows the rollercoaster ride that was the case to find Madeleine McCann. This is one of the biggest missing child cases in recent history.

What is the biggest problem for Native Americans? ›

For the past 500 years, Native Americans have faced genocide, dislocation, and various forms of physical, mental, and social abuse. These factors have led to high rates of violence, assault, suicide, poverty, and abuse among the Native American people today.

Interesting Facts about the Roles of Women and Men

The women were in charge in the homes. They often owned the home and everything in it. Women were well respected in the tribes for their hard work and providing food from farming. Men and women had different roles, but generally had equal rights.

The men honored the women for being the source of life and for providing a feeling of fortitude, balance, and harmony to their lives. In Native cultures and tribes, men's and women's responsibilities were equally crucial to the functioning, even the survival, of their societies.

It has been said that red is a color that transcends the physical world and calls to the ancestors in the spirit world. For ceremony and pow-wow, Native Americans dressed their children in red as an introduction to the ancestors – calling upon them as guardians to the young.

If you haven't heard of these women, it's no surprise. They're four of the untold number of Indigenous women and girls who have been murdered, kidnapped or gone mysteriously missing. A significant number of victims are from communities that are subjected to the harmful presence of fossil fuel and mining companies.

Red Dress Day honours the memories of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls across Canada. Métis artist Jaime Black helped inspire the red dress movement, where red dresses are hung from windows and trees to represent the pain and loss felt by loved ones and survivors.

With a few notable exceptions, the states with the highest reports of missing people are those with the largest populations. California (3,213), Texas (2,299), and Florida (1,650) are the three most populous states and have the highest number of missing persons.

The phrase “missing and murdered indigenous women” (MMIW) refers to the hundreds of deaths and disappearances of Native American women that occur each year. A growing human and sex trafficking industry that exploits indigenous women as forced sex workers is causing these numbers to increase year after year.

Sovereign Bodies Institute recorded 183 cases of missing or slain Indigenous women and girls in California, according to a 2021 report, though that's probably an undercount.

The powerful image of a red handprint has come to symbolize the Missing Murdered Indigenous Women movement as a way to represent the thousands of women who have been silenced. Beyond politics and detective work, the handprint has found its way into art and fashion as a way to raise awareness.

What does red hand over mouth mean? ›

The MMIW Red Hand

A red hand over the mouth has become the symbol of a growing movement, the MMIW movement. It stands for all the missing sisters whose voices are not heard. It stands for the silence of the media and law enforcement in the midst of this crisis.

A red handprint, usually painted across the mouth, is a symbol that is used to indicate solidarity with missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in North America, in recognition of the fact that Native American women are up to 10 times more likely to be murdered or sexually assaulted.

The typical Native American family had around three to four children. This was small compared to the average European family at the time, which typically had around six or seven children.

According to the NamUs database, there are 600,000 people declared missing every year. Alongside that statistic, there are 4,400 unidentified bodies discovered every year. That means only 0.7333% of people who go missing are found and unable to be identified.

Hundreds died over the course of 150 years, the Interior Department found. More than 500 American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children died over the course of 150 years in Indigenous boarding schools run by the American government and churches to force assimilation, according to a new report.

European settlers killed 56 million indigenous people over about 100 years in South, Central and North America, causing large swaths of farmland to be abandoned and reforested, researchers at University College London, or UCL, estimate.

The root causes of the MMIW injustice include colonization and historical trauma, racism, and sexual objectifcation of Indigenous women and girls.

In the mid-19th century, nearly all American Indians were driven to the west of the Mississippi River, and forced by the U.S. government to live in Native American reservations.

At least 600 Indigenous men in Canada have been murdered or missing since 1974 investigation shows. Experts say the number is likely higher and needs more research.

How many native children are missing? ›

Native American children comprised 415 of the 27,733 children reported missing to the National Center in 2021. From 2012-2021, of the Native American children who were Endangered Runaways, 65% had two or more missing incidents, 45% reportedly suffered from mental illness, and 26% expressed suicidal behavior.

There are more than nine million Native Americans living in the United States, representing hundreds of tribal nations with diverse languages, cultures and traditions. Since time immemorial, Native Americans have lived on this continent, from the northern reaches of Alaska to the Gulf Coast of Florida.

Between 1830 and 1850, the U.S. government used treaties, gun- and bayonet-toting soldiers, and private contractors to remove about 100,000 Native Americans from their eastern homelands to territories west of the Mississippi River.

The Native population continues to grow yearly. The Census Bureau projects that American Indian and Alaska Natives will reach 5 million individuals by 2065. At the present time there are 574 federally recognized tribes. The population of Native Americans however extends beyond those with this federal recognition.

Between 1492 and 1600, 90% of the indigenous populations in the Americas had died. That means about 55 million people perished because of violence and never-before-seen pathogens like smallpox, measles, and influenza.

It's estimated that as many as 1 in 3 Indigenous children were taken between 1910 and the 1970s, affecting most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia. This all took place under past Australian Government policies.

There are nearly 200 missing Native Americans from New Mexico and the Navajo Nation. The FBI is working to tackle unsolved cases | CNN.

Interesting Facts about Life as a Native American Child

The typical Native American family had around three to four children. This was small compared to the average European family at the time, which typically had around six or seven children.

A red handprint, usually painted across the mouth, is a symbol that is used to indicate solidarity with missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in North America, in recognition of the fact that Native American women are up to 10 times more likely to be murdered or sexually assaulted.

Tens of thousands of Native American children were removed from their communities and forced to attend boarding schools where they were compelled to change their names, they were starved and whipped, and made to do manual labor between 1819 and 1969, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Interior found.

What do Native Americans prefer to be called? ›

The consensus, however, is that whenever possible, Native people prefer to be called by their specific tribal name. In the United States, Native American has been widely used but is falling out of favor with some groups, and the terms American Indian or Indigenous American are preferred by many Native people.

Most Indigenous American groups are derived from two ancestral lineages, which formed in Siberia prior to the Last Glacial Maximum, between about 36,000 and 25,000 years ago, East Eurasian and Ancient North Eurasian.

The Hopi Indians are the oldest Native American tribe in the World.