Research Guides: Murdered &amp; Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW): Welcome

Statistices from Urban Indian Health Institute

Artwork - Indigenious woman with red hand on face

Stacey in RED, MMIWG painting project portrait

Welcome

WVC MMIW Event

This guide is meant to serve as a starting point for Murdered & Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) and is not meant to be exhaustive. Scroll down to review various resources owned and subscribed to from the WVC Library and free resources from the free web.

WVC Library Books

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Searching for Savanna : the murder of one Native American woman and the violence against the many

Forever Loved: Exposing the Hidden Crisis of Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada

Health and Social Issues of Native American Women

Highway of Tears : a true story of racism, indifference, and the pursuit of justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls

cover of Indigenous Justice and Gender, 2023.

WVC Library Subscription Databases

To access the West Valley databases you must use your school email address. Instructions can be found here.

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If you are off campus you will be required to login to the West Valley College Subscription Databases

using your last name and student ID. Visit the New York Times LibGuide for instructions on how to set up your account.

"In Indian Country, a Crisis of Missing Women. And a New One When They’re Found." (Intro) "The federal government is trying to catch up with a crisis of missing Native American women. But no one is addressing the problems that arise when they’re found."
"Native American Women Are Facing a Crisis"
"Rural Montana Had Already Lost Too Many Native Women. Then Selena Disappeared" (Intro) "For decades, with little public notice, Native women have gone missing or been found murdered. The search for Selena Not Afraid showed how much things had changed."

"Missing, Murdered, but Never Forgotten" (Intro) "On October 16, 2014, emerging actress Misty Upham was found dead after falling over a cliff in Auburn, Washington. Though she'd disappeared 11 days before, local police refused to help her family search for her, according to family friend Tracy Recto."
"“Folks Don’t Understand What It’s Like to Be a Native Woman”: Framing Trauma via #MMIW." (Abstract) "Indigenous people are often part of the “fourth world”—a subaltern community whose members experience poor social outcomes despite living in a first world context. In North American, fourth world status has resulted in a “crisis” of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Activists have successfully garnered attention to the issue of “MMIW,” pressuring Canada to launch a National Inquiry and prompting US policymakers to introduce legislation. This study considered how Twitter has facilitated MMIW (cyber)activism by cultivating a collective indigenous identity. It considered how participants in #MMIW framed the nature of indigenous trauma in contrast to mass media framings of indigenous issues. The researchers conducted a thematic analysis of 481 tweets sampled from May-July of 2019. They found that hashtag participants framed indigenous trauma as (a) personal and pervasive, (b) systemic and structural, and (c) continued injustice, mobilizing a nation-building discourse."
“Two Young Native American Lawyers Call for Action on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.” (2020) (Abstract) "The article reports on lawyers including Lauren van Schilfgaarde and Heather Torres introduced the American Bar Association (ABA) to the missing and murdered indigenous women crisis. Topics include murder of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a 22-year-old Spirit Lake tribal member who was eight months pregnant; and acknowledging and prioritizing respond to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW)."

"Embodied Liminality and Gendered State Violence: Artivist Expressions in the MMIW Movement" (Abstract) "This article examines four multimedia artivist artefacts at the nexus of the missing and murdered Indigenous women's (MMIW) crisis. I position artivism as a decolonial methodology that radically alters our attunement to embodied aesthetics, contending that feminist artivists employ a radical imagination to liberate the body/body politic. Decoloniality must be an enacted praxis, and for many Indigenous feminists, creative and artistic practices provide a transformative pathway towards "making" and "living out" one's indigeneity as knowledge and tradition-bearers. Each of the four exhibits illustrate the ways in which settler politics are narrated and resisted through and by the Indigenous body. My analysis illuminates what I theorize as an "embodied liminality" allied to Anzaldua's (1987) "Borderlands" and Bhabha's (2004) "Third Space." By articulating both feminist and decolonial forms of liminality, I explore the radical dimensions of artivism and the strategic subjugation of the liminal's in-between threshold in which Indigenous women are traditionally relegated as "monstrous" Others. Using feminist artivism as a pathway to decolonization renders indigeneity clearly visible, such that the once-shadowy forms of its liminality is now simultaneously the protagonist and antagonist of the settler state. Building a decolonial movement against the MMIW crisis must begin with the recognition of the Indigenous body across fluid boundaries of radical resistance and critical vocabularies of aesthetic deviance."
"Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women The Role of Grassroots Organizations and Social Media in Education" (Abstract) "Allegations in 2014 against prominent figures in Canadian media and politics, in 2015 and beyond within the Canadian military, and into 2017 against political leaders in Ontario, have brought to light the systemic and widespread nature of harassment and violence against women in Canada. While women of all backgrounds are targets of gendered violence, Aboriginal women are seven times more likely to be victims of homicide than non-Aboriginal women (O'Donnell and Wallace 42). A 2014 report from Amnesty International acknowledges that" [t]he scale and severity of violence faced by Indigenous women and girls in Canada... constitutes a national human rights crisis" ("Violence Against" 1). The Canadian federal government responded to this call by initiating the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in 2016."
"Native American Student Teaches Self-Defense" " MESA--With kicks, blocks and twists of the wrist, 16-year-old Kylie Hunts-in-Winter is teaching Native American boys and girls to stay safe. Her defense classes have a mission: to keep more indigenous women and girls from disappearing and dying. An estimated 500 have been lost to violence over the past decades, but experts said the number is under-reported. "Native women are more likely to be a target of attacks and will need to defend themselves more," Hunts-in-Winter said as she taught members of the Native American Club at Westwood High School."

If you are off campus you will be required to login to the West Valley College Subscription Databases

using your last name and student ID.

Wiley Handbooks in Criminology and Criminal Justice: The Handbook of Homicide"Homicide in Canada" Statistical information includes crimes against indigenous women in Canada.

"We're Still Here" Segment 5 (06:46) (Description) "Indigenous people face many challenges as a result of assimilation and colonialism; the land is the basis of First Nations culture. Hip hop music provides a cultural bridge. The disappearance and murder of indigenous women continues to be an issue."

The Free Web

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Missoula Art Museum - "We Stand With You: Contemporary Artists Honor The Families Of The Missing And Murdered Indigenous Relative Crisis "While this crisis first focused on Indigenous women and girls, numerous murders and disappearances of LGBTQ+/ Two Spirit people and men make this a broader issue inseparable from generational legacies of forced removal, land seizures, and violence. While women still are targeted the majority of the time, MAM uses Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, or the acronym MMIR, though it is common to see MMIW, MMIWG, MMIP, and MMIX as well. When confronted with the individual stories, much less the statistics, the enormity of this crisis is overwhelming. Tribal people have disproportionately high rates of assault, rape, abduction, and murder. Indigenous women are 4 times as likely to go missing, murdered at a rate 10 times higher than the national average, and homicide is one of the leading causes of death for young Indigenous women, with sexual assault occurring at a much higher rate and with more serious consequences than any other racial or ethnic group in the United States. In 2021, the Montana Missing Persons Clearinghouse listed 179 active missing person cases, with 57, or 32%, of them identified as Indigenous. Indigenous people make up 6.9% of the state's population. According to the FBI's National Crime Information Center, in 2020 alone there were 5,295 Indigenous women and 4,276 Indigenous men reported missing across the United States. "
Museum of Northwest Art - "Outside In" Virtual Gallery
The Smithsonian - "Portrait Project Memorializes Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women" "A new exhibition available to view online features 94 photographs, as well as original artwork."
Springfield Museums - "Portraits in RED: Missing & Murdered Indigenous Peoples Painting Project " "n her powerful series of portraits, artist and activist Nayana LaFond sheds light on the crisis affecting Indigenous peoples, particularly women, who are eleven times more likely to go missing than the national average. Each portrait depicts a missing or murdered Indigenous person, a family member, or an advocate, rendered in shades of gray and marked by a vivid red handprint to raise awareness, inspire action, and honor the lives and stories of those impacted by this crisis."
Five Points Art Center - "Nayana LaFond: Portraits in RED, Missing & Murdered Indigenous People Painting Project"
UCSC American Indian Resource Center - "Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls (MMIWG) " "The UCSC American Indian Resource Center is dedicated to raising awareness about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), a human rights issue impacting Native communities all across the United States, Canada, and abroad. In 2019, the Urban Indian Health Institute reported that 95% of MMIWG cases are never covered in national or international media."

BBC "Native American Pageant Honours Missing and Murdered Women" (Intro) "The Native American equivalent of Miss World will be dedicated this year to the deaths and disappearances of indigenous women, its organisers say." Includes imagery.
Harvard Kennedy School "They Disappear “Not Once, but Three Times: In Life, In the Media, and In the Data" "The National Institute of Justice’s report was “the most thorough assessment on the extent of violence” against Indigenous people to date; it wasn’t until 2016 that there was clear data about the extreme levels of violence faced by these communities. And despite the lack of attention and data, it is also understood that there is a crisis of murder and disappearances; both congressional representatives and senators are pushing for legislation to address it. So now is the time for local governments and law enforcement to step up and do the data work for the Indigenous women who are missing and murdered. Below are several recommendations for chief data officers, city police, and other officials on how they can appropriately conduct data collection, address bias in their systems, and help honor the lives of Native women."
The Seattle Times "New Federal Missing & Murdered Unit Aims at Crisis of Violence Against Indigenous women" (Intro) "Growing up in Canada, Agnes Woodward, who’s Plains Cree and originally from Kawacatoose First Nation, always knew that her family cared deeply about missing and murdered Indigenous women. In the 1990s, she watched as her aunt Mona and a few others began trying to draw attention to the lacking police response when Indigenous women went missing: They would hold up images of missing friends on street corners. In 1992, they organized the first march in Vancouver, B.C., in memory of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW)."

U.S. The Department of Justice "Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women" "The Department of Justice’s annual Tribal Consultation on Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women is held pursuant to Public Law 109-162, Title IX, Section 903 of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2005. This law requires the U.S. Attorney General to conduct an annual consultation with Indian tribal governments to address the federal administration of all tribal funds and programs established under the Violence Against Women Acts (VAWA) of 1994, 2000, and 2005. The statute further directs the Attorney General to solicit recommendations from the Indian tribes at an annual consultation concerning the following items: Administering tribal funds and programs; Enhancing the safety of Indian women from domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, homicide and stalking; Strengthening the federal response to such violent crimes; and Improving access to local, regional, state, and federal crime information databases and criminal justice information systems."
Congress - "Unmasking the Hidden Crisis of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW): Exploring Solutions to End the Cycle of Violence" Video proceedings and Reported to House, Part I (09/16/2020) Not Invisible Act of 2020 This bill increases the coordination of efforts to reduce violent crime within Indian lands and against Indians. Specifically, the Department of the Interior must designate an official within the Bureau of Indian Affairs to coordinate prevention efforts, grants, and programs related to missing Indians and the murder and human trafficking of Indians. In addition, Interior and the Department of Justice (DOJ) must (1) establish a joint commission on violent crime within Indian lands and against Indians, and (2) submit a written response to the recommendations developed by the joint commission. The joint commission must develop and make publicly available recommendations to Interior and DOJ on actions to combat violent crime against Indians and within Indian lands, including recommendations for identifying, reporting, and responding to instances of missing persons, murder, and human trafficking."
Congress - " H.R.2438 - Not Invisible Act of 2020 "
Congress - " S.1942 - Savanna's Act" "Passed Senate amended (12/06/2018) Savanna's Act This bill directs the Department of Justice (DOJ) to review, revise, and develop law enforcement and justice protocols to address missing and murdered Indians. Among other things, DOJ must: provide training to law enforcement agencies on how to record tribal enrollment for victims in federal databases, conduct outreach to Indian tribes regarding the ability to enter information through the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System or other public portal, develop guidelines for responding to cases of missing and murdered Indians, and report statistics on missing and murdered Indians. Federal law enforcement agencies must modify their guidelines to incorporate the guidelines developed by DOJ. The FBI must include gender in its annual statistics on missing and unidentified persons published on its website."

Mending the Sacred Hoop TA Project
National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) (About Us) "The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Inc. (NIWRC) is a Native-led nonprofit organization dedicated to ending violence against Native women and children. The NIWRC provides national leadership in ending gender-based violence in tribal communities by lifting up the collective voices of grassroots advocates and offering culturally grounded resources, technical assistance and training, and policy development to strengthen tribal sovereignty."
National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) Toolkit Toolkit house resourcess on cultural issues, national sources, statistics, topical issues and approaches, existing programs, and available material and resources to create awareness and promote important discussions about MMIWG.
Native Women's Wilderness "Murdered & Missing Indegenous Women" Statistics and timelines of policy and landmark decisions.
Urban Indian Health Institute - "Missing and Murdered Women & Girls: A Snapshot of Data from 71 Urban Cties in the United States" (Intro) "The National Crime Information Center reports that, in 2016, there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, though the US Department of Justice’s federal missing persons database, NamUs, only logged 116 cases.i,ii The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that murder is the third-leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women and that rates of violence on reservations can be up to ten times higher than the national average.iii, iv However, no research has been done on rates of such violence among American Indian and Alaska Native women living in urban areas despite the fact that approximately 71% of American Indian and Alaska Natives live in urban areas."
Urban Indian Health Institute - "MMIWG: We Demand More"
Downloadable report
Native Womens Wilderness - "MURDERED & MISSING INDIGENOUS WOMEN" "Our women, girls, and two-spirts are being taken from us in an alarming way. As of 2016, the National Crime Information Center has reported 5,712 cases of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls. Strikingly, the U.S Department of Justice missing persons database has only reported 116 cases. The majority of these murders are committed by non-Native people on Native-owned land. The lack of communication combined with jurisdictional issues between state, local, federal, and tribal law enforcement, make it nearly impossible to begin the investigative process. Please click here to learn more."
Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women - "MMIW"
National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) - n"Research Policy Update State of the Data on Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and Girls" "Key Points: American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) women and girls experience higher rates of violence. AI/AN women and girls experience violence more commonly by non-AI/AN perpetrators. AI/AN victims of violence are less likely to receive needed services. Violence against AI/AN women and girls continues to experience a lack of comprehensive reporting and prosecution at the federal, state, and local levels."

National Indigenous Women's Resource Center @niwrc "Women are sacred. Our mission is to provide national leadership to end violence against Native women by supporting culturally grounded, grassroots advocacy."
NativeWomensWilderness @nativewomenswilderness "A gathering to share stories, to learn, and to support other Native Womxn."

Streaming Videos
Podcasts

YouTube "MMIWG2S Final"
(Description) "In 2019, the Senate officially made May 5th as the National Day of Awareness for MMIWG2S, Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirits. On this day we honor those we have lost and those we are still looking for. We honor the family and friends who are mourning their presence. We honor their life and pray for their journey."
YouTube "Voices Unheard"
(Description) "Marty Coulee is a Native American entrepreneur living the good life in New Your City. When her Native American business partner Jess, vanishes without a trace on a business trip to Arizona, Marty becomes a voice for the voices unheard."
The Atlantic "The Search for Murdered and Missing American Indian Women"
(Description) "“If you’re just out there somewhere on the land, dead, and nobody’s looking for you—that’s the worst thing in the world,” says Lissa Yellowbird-Chase in Vanished, a new documentary from The Atlantic. Yellowbird-Chase, a private citizen and volunteer investigator, has devoted her life to searching for missing American Indians.

American Indian women and girls are reported missing at a disproportionately high rate compared with most other demographics. Although there is no federal database that tracks their disappearances, Mary Kathryn Nagle, a tribal sovereignty attorney, told The Atlantic that legal structures help to “create a climate in the United States where Native women go murdered and missing.”
TEDTalks "Running for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women"
(Description) "Rosalie Fish is an 18-year-old member of the Cowlitz Tribe and a competitive runner from the Muckleshoot Reservation in Auburn, Washington. She graduated this year from the Muckleshoot Tribal School, where she represented her school in the Class 1B Washington State Track Meet, earned three gold medals, a silver and a sportsmanship award, and used that platform to raise awareness for missing and murdered indigenous women (MMIW). Her passions include running, youth empowerment, indigenous visibility, upholding and practicing native traditions, as well as uplifting and advocating for native communities and native women. She is excited to share her work on MMIW with the TedXYouth @ Seattle community because, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute, Seattle leads the nation in MMIW cases. Recruited for her running ability and proven leadership Rosalie will attend Iowa Central Community College in the fall where she will continue her athletic career and her activism for MMIW."

NPR "7 States Step Up Efforts To Fight Violence Against Indigenous Women"
(Introduction) "How do you investigate a crime when the victim lives in two nations at once? It is an urgent question for women who are citizens of the United States and also citizens of Native nations because Native women are being murdered at shocking rates. Seven states have now set up special task forces to address this problem. Melodie Edwards of Wyoming Public Radio has a story that some listeners will find disturbing, and it begins with the story of a single crime."
NPR "Interior Department's New Unit To Investigate Missing And Murdered Native Americans"
(Intro) "Less than a month after taking office, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American cabinet secretary in U.S. history, announced the creation of a unit to investigate missing and murdered Native Americans. She made the announcement this past week, and the unit will be housed within the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The message - that the government needs to do more."
Speaking Our Truth, Podcast for Change by the National Indigenous Women's Resource Center
"Safety and justice require action. As a movement, we can use our collective voices to engage and influence change for Native women."
Stolen the Podcast Series
(Description) "In 2018, a young Indigenous mother named Jermain Charlo left a bar in Missoula, Montana, and was never seen again. After two years and thousands of hours of investigative work, police believe they are close to solving the mystery of what happened to her. We go inside the investigation, tracking down leads and joining search parties through the dense mountains of the Flathead Reservation. As we unravel this mystery, the show examines what it means to be an Indigenous woman in America."
Taken the Podcast
"A true crime documentary podcast series focusing on solving the mysteries behind Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls by sharing their stories as told by their loved ones, and following the search for justice, and the clues that link these stories." Episodes available in Cree and English.