Applications to Resiliency

Compared to non-Hispanic white women, Native women experience violence at much higher rates. The disproportion is a margin of 13% of experiencing violence in a lifetime (Ault, 2019). The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement showcases memorials for the women who have gone missing, many of them most likely murdered.

  • over 5,700 American Indian and Alaskan Native women and girls were reported missing in 2016 (Ault, 2019)

        and yet

  • the United States Department of Justice had only 116 reported missing (Ault, 2019)

The Red Dress movement, in correspondance to the acknowledgment of the Missing and Murdered Indigneous Women campagin, is a display of hanging red dresses to bring awareness to the cause.

The movement, which began in 2011 by Jaime Black at the University of Winnipeg in Canada, has made its way into the U.S. in recent years (Ault, 2019). Earlier this year in March of 2019, New Mexico Representative Deb Haaland, a Native American woman herself, wore red to the U.S. House of Representatives hearing on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women issue (Ault, 2019).

This display is just one of the many ways in which Indigenous Women are fighting against the traumas of persecution under the law, rather than protection under the law. With jurisdiction conflict between tribal law enforcement and otherwise, many allies stand alongside their Indigenous sisters saying that these women have experienced violence since Christopher Columbus arrived and enough is enough.

The Red Dress display shown here symbolizes the call to action that is much needed in ending the violence towards Native women.

Citations

Ault, Alicia. These Haunting Red Dresses Memorialize Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women: Artist Jaime Black says the REDress Project is an expression of her grief for thousands of Native victims. (2019, March 19). Smithsonian.com. Retrieved from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/these-haunting-red-dresses-memorialize-murdered-and-missing-indigenous-women-180971730/.

The National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. (2019, May 4). Rematriation. Retrieved from https://rematriation.com/mmiw-may-5-2019/.

Applications to Resiliency