When girls or women are murdered they are always on the nationwide news, but why when it’s a woman who is of the native heritage we don’t hear anything or better yet read anything about it. According to National Public Radio, as far as 300 indigenous women go missing and or killed under very suspicious circumstances in Canada and the United States. The number hasn’t been exact due to the fact that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is not keeping track.
Most believe that even if a police report is filed majority of those cases never make it on the FBI’s database. Although some are trying here in the states it’s not just happening here, it’s also currently happening in Canada as well. Last year the Congress in Canada introduced Savanna’s act. The whole point of Savanna’s act was that it requires an annual report of the number of missing and murdered indigenous women.
As people are trying to figure out and work on this unfortunate circumstance happening in our country, many have started organizations to help and enhance the safety of indigenous women and their children. One of the ones that I found is called The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) this native nonprofit organization is created to specifically serve with the National Indian Resource Center to address the domestic violence and safety for Indian women. Under this project, it will help American Indian, Alaska Native tribes, Native Hawaiians and tribal Hawaiians to help and respond to the domestic violence in the United States.
The whole mission and goals are support and hold up to the grassroots to improve the safety of all native communities and end the gender-based violence through technical assistance, education, public awareness, and policy department. Their own key principals to fight and continue to end the gender-based violence is to provide national leadership, develop educational programmatic materials, provide direct technical assistance, build the capacity of indigenous communities and support tribal sovereignty.
This nonprofit organization is mostly to restore the safety of native women and the communities. If you want to continue to know what this organization is doing you can look up their Restoration of Sovereignty and Safety Magazine. How the publication came to be was in 2003. And of course, this publications goal is dedicated to informing tribal leadership and the communities. The name is meant to represent the grassroots strategy and strengthen the Indian nations. To continue on this subject I just want to write from the heart.
As someone who is beginning to learn how native Indians are still being treated in the year 2018 going to 2019, I find myself asking why. I like to consider myself a historian as I am taking a few history classes and well I do minor in history I have come to the conclusion that we as a human race will not learn from our mistakes. Whether it comes to genocide and dictatorship we as a society tend to repeat history. but, let’s continue to hope that things will change, we now have native American women in Congress and that itself is an accomplishment on its own, we just have to continue to move forward.