Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Anchorage Assembly - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Anchorage Assembly Public Safety Meeting October 2, 2019

Land Acknowledgement Let’s take a moment to acknowledge & honor the First Peoples of this land. The original caretakers, the 20 Indigenous Tribes of Alaska. Chin’an Dena’ina

Overview WE ARE IN A NATIONWIDE CRISIS as our missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls continue to be targets for violence, abduction and homicide. Many of these women become invisible. Our mothers, daughters, grandmothers, granddaughters and friends are losing their lives at alarming rates - their eir stories ries are e un untold ld, , and d the e data, ta, the e medi dia a and at times, s, even law enforcement don’t acknowledge them. We are here, with our partners, friends and Indigenous people across the Nation in our corner, to fight for justice, and we are becoming more mobilized to demand justice for our women and girls.

Overview - Understanding the Problem Alaska ranks first in the United States with the highest rate of females murdered by males. From the Violence Policy Center Report released September 2019 We have a short PSA released from AK Native Women Resource Center to help ground the data by connecting to real people and experiences

Understanding the problem 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls experience violence in their lifetimes A recent study found that in some places, American Indian and Alaska Native women are murdered at a rate ten times higher than the national average The perpetrator in the murders of Alaska Natives and American Indian women, were generally not domestic violence or intimate partner related. The majority of the deaths were non-DV related, or 86.1% -Info from AK Native Women Resource Center

Understanding the problem No Protections Missing Data Missing in the Media Murder is the third In 2016 there were 5,712 reports More than 95% of the cases in of missing American Indian the study by UIHI were never leading cause of death and Alaska Native women in covered by national or among American Indian girls, the US Dept of Justice international media. and Alaska Native women, logged only 116 cases. AND rates of violence on Out of 934 articles, which reservations can be up to Misclassification including covered 129 cases out of 506 TEN times higher than the race, mislabeling deaths as a in the study, one quarter of suicide rather than homicide, the total number of cases were national average. mislabeling the origin location covered by local, regional or of the crime. national media.

“We have always known that violence against Native women was an issue, but people refused to acknowledge it. We are showing that data is going to be important to bring change and that more research is urgently needed to protect our women and girls.” -Abigail Echo-Hawk, Director of Urban Indian Health Institute

Where does Alaska stand

Where does Anchorage stand

The Invisible 153 Of the e 153 cases s iden entifi tified ed by UIHI that at were e not locate ated in any law w enforc rceme ement t records, ds, nine were re locate ated in the e city of Anchor orage, age, rankin king it within in the e top ten cities s with h the e highe hest st number ber of MMIWG G cases es that at are re not in law w enforc rcement ement records rds.

Where do we go from here?

The UIHI Study shows you just a piece of the injustice This is not in the hands s of just one e group, up, one e department, or one government… NOW, what are you this is for r ALL L OF US to addres ress s and STOP the viole lence ce. going to do? Federal · State · Local Tribal · Communities · Non -pro profit its

Proposals Work with other agencies - federal, state, non-profit ● Update law to update law enforcement data enforcement data Ensure individuals are classified correctly ● Work with local, state, Community organizations need an avenue to ● federal, tribal & non- participate in data collection profits Protocols in place to work together ● Investigations ● Funding specific to Data collection ● MMIWG cases Public Safety Officers ● Procedures in place to ensure MMIWG are in APD ● Record Keeping database Protocols Searchable system by race ● *This is not an exhaustive list of actions that need to be taken, this is a small part.

Indigenous Organizations Working Together for Change AK Native Women Native Peoples Action First Alaskans Institute Native Movement Resource Center National Indigenous Women Resource Center

BUT for change, we need EVERYONE Who does this include: working together - Local Governments - Police Departments When we come together, we can - State Troopers & VPSOs accomplish great things. - State Dept. of Public Safety - Tribal Governments - Non-profits - Federal Bureau of Investigations - Congress - State Legislatures