On May 5, we recognize the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). We raise up this issue because Indigenous women are at such great risk of experiencing violence and being murdered. More than 4 out of 5 Indigenous women have experienced violence in their lifetime, which adds up to about 1.5 million women. Homicide is the #3 leading cause of death for Indigenous girls ages 10-24 and the #5 leading cause of death for Indigenous women ages 25-34.
It is also important to lift up this issue because MMIW are often overlooked by law enforcement. In 2020, there were 5,293 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, with only 690 cases logged in the federal missing person database. And the media does them no favors either. In the Urban Indian Health Institute’s 2016 study, more than 95% of the MMIW cases in the study were never covered by national or international media. In the same study, 31% of the media outlets that did cover MMIW cases used violent language to describe the victims.
To observe May 5, Central and the ELCA encourage you to:
- Join people across the United States in wearing red to raise awareness and post a selfie or group picture on your social media channels, using the hashtags: #MMIW #ELCA #TruthAndHealing #NoMoreStolenSisters.
- Come to Central’s Monday worship on May 4 at 11 a.m. as we pray together the “Candlelight Vigil for Murdered and Missing Women,” written by Dr. Kelly Sherman-Conroy.
- Or you can also join the Women of the ELCA (WELCA) for a virtual vigil on the evening of May 5 at 7 p.m. You can register for the WELCA event here.
- Check out the ELCA’s MMIW page for more information and resources about this issue at elca.org/mmiw.