National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls 2023

I wore red today because May 5 is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). It’s estimated that four out of five Native women experience some form of violence in their lifetime. Native women also face murder rates more than 10 times the national average. (Veterans Affairs).

I have known about this horrible trend for some years now. It is through my obsession with true crime that I learned about what many Indigenous women face and the fact that many people do not know of these horrors.

Here are two resources that opened my eyes to the treatment of Indigenous women:

• Missing and Murdered Podcast. This podcast covers the story of an Indigenous women and girl who went missing. The podcast also shares challenges that Indigenous people face.
• Highway of Tears. The Highway of Tears is a 450 mile corridor of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada, which has been the location of many missing and murdered Indigenous women. There are documentaries that explain what happens along this highway.

I hope these two resources help bring awareness and encourage people to take action. Because that is what we need to do: we need to raise awareness and take action to end the violence.