After years of neglect, the problem of abused, missing, and murdered Native Americans is coming to the attention of the media and lawmakers. However, the way the subject is treated serves as a troubling case study about the intersection of gender politics and science.
Let’s do a quick perusal of the science. First, nearly identical percentages of male and female Native Americans have experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetimes: 81.6% of males and 84.3% of females, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Also, 73% of Native American males and 66% of American Indian females have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner in their lifetimes.
The Department of Justice hosts a database called the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs. The database reveals that a strong majority, 68%, of missing American Indians are boys and men: 523 males and 242 females.
The Centers for Disease Control also recently released a report on “Homicides of American Indians/Alaska Natives.” Based on its analysis of 1,496 homicides of Indigenous persons, the report found that males represent 75.5% of all American Indian victims of homicide.
So in the abuse arena, men and women have approximately an equal chance of being victimized. But for missing and murdered American Indians, it’s men who are at far greater risk.
Now for the fun part….any guesses how the politicians decided to frame the problem?
In 2013, Congress added a new section to the Violence Against Women Act, titled “Safety for Indian Women.” This amendment soon spawned a national campaign known as Murdered and Missing Indian Women, or MMIW.
The MMIW movement engaged in zealous advocacy for missing and murdered Indian women. But systematically avoided mention of Indian men.
Last year, for example, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska published an editorial titled, “Shocking History of Violence Against Native Women is a Crisis We Can Stop.” The essay repeatedly referred to the “crisis” of missing or murdered Indigenous women.
The article made no mention of the larger problem of missing or murdered American Indian men, such as Russell Shack of Gallup, New Mexico, who was shot by Amber Yazzie during the course of an armed robbery. Or Odell Vest of the Southern Ute tribe, who disappeared without a trace on July 10, 2000 — to this day, nobody knows his whereabouts or whether he is still alive.
Apparently, when a problem affects 578 murdered Native women, it’s a “crisis.” But if it affects 918 Native men, it’s not.
Then, on Mar. 3, the House of Representatives held a hearing on “The Neglected Epidemic of Missing BIPOC Women and Girls” (BIPOC standing for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). The hearing was convened by Rep. Robin Kelly of Illinois.
The hearing’s all-too-apparent exclusion of missing men did not go unnoticed. For example, the National Black Guide issued a statement that “African American Leaders Should Censure Rep. Robin Kelly for Neglect of Missing Black Men.” The NBG statement schooled Rep. Kelly in the basics of constitutional law, ironically noting that “The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted on July 9, 1868, guarantees ‘equal protection of the laws’ to all persons.”
Just a few days ago, PBS premiered “Bring Her Home,” an hourlong video that doesn’t cite any government studies, quote leading academics, or provide contrasting perspectives on this topic. Rather, the film recounts the quest of three Indian women to highlight the problem of missing and murdered Indians. Not one mention is made of missing or murdered Indian men.
In response, commentator Rebecca Stewart noted that in the “Bring Her Home” video, “men are spoken of as perpetrators with the comment that society must ‘reteach men how to be in a relationship with women.’ This generalized misrepresentation damages the truth of the process and sadly stagnates progress for the entirety of indigenous society.”
And Jack Kammer remarked, “Here we have the possibility that a young boy attending one of these rallies might get the impression that he and all other males are excluded from protection and being cared about. And quite likely get the message that you better not talk about what you need because nobody cares.”
The collective effect of years of one-sided hearings and media accounts has resulted in what we might call the collective brainwashing of the American mind. A Google search on “murdered and missing indigenous women” turns up 55,700 results, while a Google search on “murdered and missing indigenous men” turns up a very different number — only 2,100 results. That’s a 26-fold disparity.
Why do the lives of Native American men seem to count for so much less than the lives of Native American women?
Edward Bartlett is the founder of the Coalition to End Domestic Violence.
