National Day of Awareness for MMIWG

May 05, 2021Nicole Diwag

By Brandi Morin. “Our women continue to disappear and die. There have been approximately 4,000 or more Indigenous murdered or missing women and girls in the last 30 years. That works out to about 133 a year, or three a week. If white women were being stolen at this rate there would be worldwide outrage.”

Published by the Urban Indian Health Institute. “The MMIWG epidemic deeply impacts urban American Indian and Alaska Native communities, and the dialogue must shift to include them. Any policy addressing MMIWG that does not account for the violence urban Native communities experience will not adequately address the issue.”

Published by the National Indian Council On Aging. “The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that murder is the third leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women and rates of violence on reservations can be up to 10 times higher than the national average. However, no research had been done on rates of violence among American Indian and Alaska Native women living in urban areas, even though 71 percent of them live there. A lack of data and an inaccurate understanding of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls creates a false perception that the issue does not affect off-reservation American Indian and Alaska Native communities.”

Published by the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women. “The U.S Department of Justice found that American Indian women face murder rates that are more than 10 times the national average.”

By André B. Rosay. “Victims identified a variety of needed services. American Indian and Alaska Native female victims most commonly needed medical care (38 percent of victims) and were 2.3 times as likely as non-Hispanic white-only victims to need this type of care. They also needed legal services (16 percent), housing services (11 percent), and advocacy services (9 percent). Medical care and legal services were the most commonly reported needs for male victims as well. Unfortunately, not all victims were able to access services. More than one in three American Indian and Alaska Native female victims (38 percent) and more than one in six American Indian and Alaska Native male victims (17 percent) were unable to get the services that they needed. American Indian and Alaska Native women were 2.5 times as likely as non-Hispanic white-only women to lack access to needed services.”