The month of May is MMIP Awareness Month, focusing awareness on Indigenous people who are missing or who have been murdered in the United States. On or near May 5, advocates hold awareness events and encourage people to wear red to bring visibility to those who have disappeared from our tribal communities and families.
What originated as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) awareness movement has evolved into the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) awareness movement, to include our missing and murdered Indigenous children and men.
MMIP awareness events and wearing red on MMIP Day raises awareness about the need for better protection for Indigenous people, improved resources for solving cases and more timely prosecution in cases involving kidnapping, assault, human trafficking and murder.
From current data, we know that murder is the third highest cause of death among Native women—a rate 10 times the U.S. national average. Approximately four in five Native women (an alarming 84.3%) have experienced violence. Most violence against Native women is committed by non-native men, both on and off reservations. If we had more accurate data, these statistical numbers would increase and provide a more honest picture of this devastation happening among Indigenous people. You can read a full report from the Urban Indian Health Institute.
This tragedy is rooted in colonialism and Federal Indian Policy that undermined and continues to undermine tribal protections. While this history holds sadness, it is encouraging that this movement has brought attention to state and federal offices. We are seeing state task forces being organized and the U.S. Department of Justice recently appointed an Assistant U.S. Attorney dedicated to prosecuting MMIW/MMIP cases in the Northwest. Last year in a presidential proclamation, President Joe Biden recommitted to dedicating resources to stopping violence among Indigenous people and help reverse the inequity and neglect that has happened for too long.
Please join us this afternoon, Friday, May 3 from 5–5:30 p.m., on the lawn at the bottom of the north facing steps of Memorial Building. We will share a hand-drum song, a short talk about MMIW/MMIP and a reading of names of some missing and murdered people from our local tribes. (Flyer attached.)
