MMIW: Political Leaders Should Reject Attempts to Erase Murdered and Missing Indian Men

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Rebecca Stewart

Telephone: 513-479-3335

MMIW: Political Leaders Should Reject Attempts to Erase Murdered and Missing Indian Men

WASHINGTON / January 26, 2022 – In 2013 the federal Violence Against Women Act was amended to include a new title on “Safety for Indian Women.” This gave rise to a national campaign known as Murdered and Missing Indian Women, or “MMIW.” Elected officials should question the one-sided claims of the MMIW campaign, and assure that no Native American is dismissed on account of his or her sex.

The Centers for Disease Control recently released a report on “Homicides of American Indians/Alaska Natives” that delves into the problem of Native American homicides from 2003 to 2018. The CDC report reveals that the homicide rate is three times higher among American Indian/Alaska Native males than females. Males represented 75.5% of all Indian victims of homicide — 1,681 male victims versus 545 female victims (1).

The problem of murdered and missing Indian men is devastating for indigenous families. In 2017, Brandon Lee Sandoval disappeared from the family home on the Navajo reservation. “It’s so hard to wake up and face another day,” his mother Margaret Bitsue said, her words muffled by sobs. “I have accepted the fact he might be gone, but I still have that little hope.” (2)

But MMIW advocates downplay or ignore altogether the existence of murdered and missing Indian men. For example, a recent report from Montana State University states, “Statistics reveal that American Indian and Alaska Native women experience 10 times the murder rate of the national average.” (3) But the report does not mention the greater problem of male homicide victims.

Media reports have taken note of the one-sided focus of the MMIW movement. One Voice of America News article asked, “Are Missing and Murdered Indigenous Men in US Being Ignored?” (4) Commentator Wendy McElroy has noted that the MMIW movement represents a “parody of human rights in which only approved groups are recognized as victims….Only those who share the secondary characteristic of approved genitalia receive compassion.” (5)

The bias reaches to high political levels. Last year, Senators Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska published an editorial titled, “Shocking History of Violence Against Native Women is a Crisis We Can Stop.” (6) The article made no mention of violence against American Indian men.

Apparently, when a problem affects 545 Native women, it’s a “crisis.” But if it affects 1,681 Native men, it’s not.

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