ipl-logo

Native American Women Essay

1449 Words6 Pages

“Bad people commit these horrible crimes against native women, but it is the system that allows it to happen generation after generation.”(Limberhand, NIWRC) Indigenous people have a history of being underserved and overlooked by law enforcement, politicians, the media, and many more. Native American women and girls make up a significant part of missing and murdered cases. Murder is the third leading cause of death for Native American women and girls. Not only are they victims of murder, but they are also victims of domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault. The root causes of these missing and murdered cases are colonialism, racism, and sexual objectification of these women and girls. Indigenous women should not be targeted for these crimes …show more content…

According to native hope, “America has written a stereotypical narrative for its first people. They are seen as lazy, drug addicts, and alcoholics who rely on the government to survive." (Native Hope) Also in an article, it states that “Many Americans think of being American Indian not as a real identity for people but as something that is a fun thing to pretend about.”(Hunter) Later in the article, it states that “men who commit these horrible crimes can do so because they don't see their victims as real persons.” (Hunter) These stereotypes come from colonization. This shows that they are viewed as women and girls who are not important and not worth being protected. Because of these negative stereotypes, the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls has continued. This leads to a lack of action and accountability for those who are responsible. Not only does this affect the crimes, but it also affects the investigations of these …show more content…

In northwestern British Columbia, hitchhiking is common among indigenous women and girls. There’s this highway called the Highway of Tears, also known as Highway 16. According to Morton, the primary mode of transportation used by women who have disappeared on the highway of tears is hitchhiking. This highway has had many cases where indigenous women and girls go missing and are then found dead near the highway. This shows that not only is it the violence that leads to these cases but it also is the choices that they have to make. Fortunately, some signs can help women and girls to avoid hitchhiking. It is important to educate women and girls about the potential dangers of hitchhiking and provide them with alternative transportation options. Additionally, law enforcement agencies should increase their efforts to prevent and go after the criminals who are making the highway of tears

Show More
Related

  • How Did The Indian Act Affect Canada

    1685 Words  | 7 Pages

    This alienation from the community is leading Aboriginal women to experience violence because they are not being protected by the community. This is alarming because today at least three quarters of Aboriginal women are experiencing family violence and the mortality rate for Aboriginal women due to violence is three times higher for Aboriginal women than none Aboriginal women (ibid 23). The Indian Act is a direct result of why Indian women are experiencing increased violence and being attacked because the Indian Act is refusing women Indian status and therefore they are forced off reserves where they are unprotected by the community and frequently target for acts of violence. Aboriginal women also face higher suicide rates and sexual abuse rates which are three times higher then the national average (ibid: 23). As Aboriginal women are being exiled from the community they are being increasingly targeted for sexual violence and abuse, this increased violence is due to the Indian Act because it is not allowing women who marry non-Aboriginal men to gain Indian status and therefore they are subjected to more violent acts because they are left defenseless.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Thunder In My Soul: A Mohawk Woman Speaks

    105 Words  | 1 Pages

    Monture Angus, a law professor and member of the Mohawk Nation, shares in this peer reviewed article, [Thunder in My Soul: A Mohawk Woman Speaks] by Native American women, that the society is allowing misleading representation to take away from their culture, she expresses that we should “- Understand it, understand where the pain comes from and why. I have to struggle with that...without understanding, (it) does not mean anything, does not reflect reality, and does not reflect people's experiences,” although her view is bias, it’s a very valid point, that we should understand that what we seek out as ineffective, is truly damaging

    Read More

  • Gerald Stanley's Storying Violence, Questions And Answers

    1633 Words  | 7 Pages

    The two authors used the killing of Colton Boushie as background to explain how certain settler-colonial narratives and stereotypes present in the Prairie region of Canada created perpetual forms of racism. More importantly, the authors allude to the fact that these tendencies will continually affect Indigenous peoples unless there are profound

    Read More

  • Summary Of A War Of Words By Coleman

    979 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Such battle images reflect longstanding stereotypes of United States-Native American interaction) in which battles over land and cultural values historically favored the more powerful invader” (Coleman, 1998, p.190). This statement directly relates to the last paper we had to write. The last paper we talked about the stereotypes and generalization of Native Americans. As of today, we still use stereotypes for the native populations. Nobody will ever truly be able to understand the indian people completely, and by generalizing and stereotyping them, it will just make it harder.

    Read More

  • How Is Montana 1948 A Corrupt Society

    1064 Words  | 5 Pages

    Because the Hayden family covered up the crime, Native Americans continuously suffer in this corrupt society. Therefore, the lack of proper justice and ethical value endangers the existence of laws and destabilizes society by letting culprits perform more crime and creating insecurity among

    Read More

  • Guilty Until Proven Innocent By Louise Erdrich

    1257 Words  | 6 Pages

    In the past Native Americans would kill anyone who sexually assaulted their women to show a swift response to their victims and the importance of strong leaders that set out to protect their communities. In today’s society sovereignty needs to be given back to Native Americans to once again be able to protect their people from the failing legal system so they can prosecute non-tribal personnel on their

    Read More

  • Sexual Assault In 'The Break And Where The Blood Mixes'

    1123 Words  | 5 Pages

    Hope VanderVelde Ms. Bowes NBE 3UOI June, 16 2023 The Effects of Sexual Assault on The Characters Elsie and Mooch An alarming statistic reveals that 40% of Indigenous peoples have experienced sexual violence before the age of 15. Victims of sexual assault have experienced devasting effects on their quality of life and most of them rely on alcohol and drugs as a way to cope. Indigenous communities have become greatly impacted by sexual violence which can better explain the abundant generational trauma and dysfunctional families.

    Read More

  • National Inquiry Of Missing And Murders Women And Girls Final Report

    1773 Words  | 8 Pages

    During this time, family members emphasized that understanding and honoring individuals whose lives were cruelly cut short necessitates a detailed accounting of all the ties that molded their loved one's life and that their loved one, in turn, shaped. Throughout the process, public community hearings were held, private statements were collected, expert panels were formed, and written archive records and existing studies on the problem were reviewed. This process aims to find the truth by gathering many stories from many people to have the truths woven together to show the world what violence really looks like for Indigenous women and girls in Canada. The National Inquiry reached out to put families first throughout the process rather than others who hold power, as well as being informed about the trauma encountered and making sure there is no further harm, and decolonizing where in they center Indigenous ways of being, knowing, and doing. The idea of cultural safety emerged from this process as a foundational principle of wellness.

    Read More

  • Abuse And Violence In Still There, By Tommy Orange

    1287 Words  | 6 Pages

    Opal’s experience also makes it clear that more awareness and action needs to be brought to women that are facing abuse and violence in Native American communities. Another character who has

    Read More

  • The Round House By Louise Erdrich

    846 Words  | 4 Pages

    “1 out of 3 Native women will be raped in her lifetime” (219). The high raping rate of Native American women is discusting, feeling unsafe in their own tribe where they should be able to call “a safe home”. The white men have the courage to continue these horrible acts upon these women because they know that they will never be prosecuted by the tribal court and pay for the great deal of damage they have caused in a tribe. “The round house is on the far edge of tribal trust, where our court has jurisdiction… So federal law applies.

    Read More

  • Forcible Removal Research Paper

    440 Words  | 2 Pages

    The law ruling Indigenous parents as unfit to look after their children shows that white society believed their parenting was more superior. The children taken were raised as white people and lost their sense of identity. Some children were taken when they were a few months old, and as they grew they believed they were part of the white community. Being removed from their heritage and not being able to fit in society left children confused on who they were (Dudgeon, 1997). Some adolescents got confused on their identity and their heritage, and not being able to deal with the constant battle led them to commit suicide.

    Read More

  • Louise Erdrich Round House Analysis

    1124 Words  | 5 Pages

    In a 2008 CDC study, 39% of Native women surveyed identified as victims of intimate partner violence in their lifetime, a rate higher than any other race or ethnicity surveyed. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs at least 70% of the violent victimizations experienced by American Indians are committed by persons not of the same race— a substantially higher rate of interracial violence than experienced by white or black victims Federal government studies have consistently shown that American Indian women experience much higher levels of sexual violence than other women in the U.S. Data gathered by the U.S. Department of Justice indicates that Native American and Alaskan Native women are more than 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than women in the USA in general (5 vs. 2 per 1,000).10 Additionally, 34% or more than one in three Native women will be raped during their lifetime, whereas for women as a whole the risk is less than one in five. 11 A 2004 study that examined intimate partner rape among American Indian women found that one in five respondents (20.9%) reported they had been a victim of at least one incident in their

    Read More

  • Katherena Vermette's The Break

    1674 Words  | 7 Pages

    A man followed the girls in his car, leering at them until they made it home. All of the girls were scared, even if they showed it in different ways. Cheryl called the police but they took hours to arrive. The only response the police had was to Cheryl’s qualms was to no longer allow the girls to go the store unaccompanied (Vermette, 2016, p. 165-169). This incident not only speaks to the hypersexualizing of young indigenous women, but also the lack of concern of the local law enforcement.

    Read More

  • Misrepresentation Of Native Americans

    1058 Words  | 5 Pages

    They were the country 's foundation before the 18th century. However, the media plays a major role in the misrepresentation of the Native Americans and refuses to reveal the hidden truth about them and their culture. Native Americans are seen as “savage people” and always have been since the first settlers arrived to America. This is not how all Natives are but that 's how the TV and media have shown them.

    Read More

  • Domestic Violence In Australia Essay

    1407 Words  | 6 Pages

    Historically the highest risk factor of domestic violence followed colonization (Brownridge 2008, p. 355). The loss of history and way of life has caused violence against the Aboriginal women to become normalized through the pathway of poverty, lack of education, substance abuse, and the european worldview. When comparing the violence ratio of Aboriginal woman and non-Aboriginal women the Aboriginal female has an eight time greater chance to be a target of violence such as spousal homicide and severe abuse (Brownridge, 2003, p.66). Aboriginal women were noted to have a significantly higher rate of violent victimization in comparison to a non-aboriginal females. Statistics showed that one quarter of aboriginal women will have experienced partner violence in comparison to only 8% of non-Aboriginal women (Brownridge, 2008, p. 355).

    Read More

More about Native American Women Essay

Open Document