WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 Music 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:12.000 I do a lot of volunteer work with MMIWSA. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:16.000 I have done some advisory for their prevention program that I'll talk about later on, 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:24.000 and also do some scholarship around MMIW, looking at the root causes, not just like where we're at, but how we got here, what we need to do to make changes. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:36.000 And so, I'm really- I'm really thankful to be able to share this information with you all. As part of your gathering this evening- or it's not evening, it's in the morning. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:45.000 I'm used to talking at night, so we get in our modes, but and it's also Native American heritage month, so it's a great time to highlight indigenous, 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:51.000 issues and really appreciate Western doing what they can to help as well. 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:56.000 And, oh yes, and the pronunciation of the center is the Kaku-Ixt Mana Ina Haws. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:69.000 It's -if you know OSU, it was formerly known as the Native American LongHouse Ina Haws, so it went through a rename that was approved in August, so. 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:20.000 Okay, I have some session takeaways for you all. I want you all to learn about the MMIWG2S+ crisis. That's what I'm going to shorten it down to instead of saying all of it everytime. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:31.000 And ways that we can all help end these violences because it's a huge effort, and it seems really daunting, and it sounds really, it is really sad, so it sounds sad, 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:35.000 and it's- sometimes it's hard for folk to think about what can I do as an individual? 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:46.000 And so, I want you to learn some of that. I want you to understand the historic and current day contributions to the crisis, and understand how this crisis impacts indigenous students as well 00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:59.000 in the context of our conversation today, and to recognize this is a systemic issue, that will take systemic change, and, also again, some tangible ways you can help. 00:01:59.000 --> 00:01:63.000 I want to give a content warning, at the beginning of this presentation. 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:11.000 It's really important for you all to know that there's going to be references to sexual violence, gendered violence, settler colonial violence, and generational trauma. 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:19.000 And that's really hard sometimes to sit through and listen to, especially if any of these topics touch your life personally. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:29.000 And so, I wanted to let you all know ahead of time that these topics are going to be brought up, and if you need a break, I understand, but I ask that you try to stick with it and, 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.000 kind of hear through the presentation. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:39.000 But if you need a break, I understand. And first let's go over some terminology. 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:47.000 That's important too because we have different ways of interpreting words, and I want you all to understand the way that I'm using these words today. 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:60.000 For indigenous, I'm talking about the original people of these lands and, waters, of course, but it's not a term to super say- supersede tribal, nation, or community words for specific 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:11.000 populations, so I identify more broadly as an indigenous person, but, I identify mostly with my coastal Chumash heritage, so that's my tribal affiliation. 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:22.000 And I also recognize that I have Waztec and Kushime ancestry, too, and so, but it's kind of like an umbrella word, and so that way you all know, it's not talking about in a global context for this 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:32.000 conversation today; it's talking about North America mostly, and the pacific islands are often included in these conversations as well. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:41.000 Woman and women and girls is a gender identity that's not the same as sex assigned at birth, and in this conversation, it's including trans women and girls. 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:51.000 I'm not separating trans women and girls out. I know that's a separate identity, but, I want you all to know that they're included in the conversations about MMIWG2S. 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:64.000 And Two-Spirit is a contemporary umbrella term, used only- for use only by indigenous folk. It was created by indigenous people in the early 90's as a unifier umbrella term. 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:14.000 We'll talk about why that word came into existence a little bit later, but it's acknowledging identity and responsibilities with it in one's own community. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:24.000 It's not just having- or being part of the LGBTQI2S+ community; it emcompasses a little bit more than that. 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:35.000 In settler colonialism, we could have a whole like, probably academic course on that one, but just for today, just really briefly, it's talking about the process of going to a land and asserting 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:44.000 one's own governing structures, belief systems, and norms as superior, while striving to replace the existing systems. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:54.000 So, settler colonialism, a lot of indigenous scholars, and settler colonial scholars will say, like, it's using this, this mode of, like, trying to, replace, like, exterminate and replace basically. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:61.000 And it is definitely not the same as a immigration, so that helps with folk when you hear the term for the United States as a nation of immigrants. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:08.000 It's really a settler colonial nation, as you'll see in this presentation. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:22.000 A little bit more with terminology, a lot of times people talk about MMIW as an epidemic, and I really appreciate the, legal scholar, Sarah Deer's, unpacking of the word epidemic. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:26.000 And I'll just read her quote for you all. It says, 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:39.000 Using the word epidemic deflects responsibility because it fails to acknowledge the agency or perpetrators and those who allow the problem to continue. 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:44.000 The world also utterly fails to account for the crisis's root in history and law. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:51.000 So, this is talking about violence against indigenous women and how that is often termed as an epidemic and why that can be problematic. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:55.000 And she says, also in that same book, 00:05:59.000 --> 00:05:67.000 If we frame it more as a crisis, it helps us see it as more systematic than an epidemic where it's kind of like something that needs to be solved by somebody else, 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:13.000 instead of we all have a responsibility to help in this violence. 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:23.000 And, a little bit of- so we're going to go in a circle and do group review now. And, oh, I forgot to- do you all have paper? Stuff to write with? Or, like a little, maybe on your phone? 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:39.000 And not the invitation to check emails, of course, while we're talking, but, if you need to type or use your phone for that, for notes, that works too. 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:50.000 So, a historic overview is a little bit- is rape has been used as a tool of contest- conquest and control since contact, and so that started with Columbus. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.000 There's plenty of his, diaries that explain this. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:64.000 Hopefully, folk know about Indigenous Peoples Day and why that's important so that we're not celebrating genocide and trans-atlantic slavery and sexual violence, 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.000 all the thing that he brought. 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:18.000 And part of that was that trafficking and slavery of indigenous people, it was mostly young people, so he was bringing people from the Caribbean to Europe and started that trade of 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:21.000 indigenous slavery at that time. 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:34.000 A lot of people died. A lot of people don't know about this unfortunately. And it kind of opened the whole idea of like, we can ship people back and forth across. 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:43.000 There was this huge shipping of indigenous people to Europe, and then there was the bringing in of African folk to the Caribbean and to North America, more broadly. 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:52.000 And it really started with that initial contact where it was used as a way to remove people from their communities and their leadership positions 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:58.000 and really dismantle entire societal structure that was built around that. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:07:67.000 It really started to, set up the patriarchal norms of government so that men were in charge, men that were the heads of states and of governing structures, 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:13.000 and woman and Two-Spirit people's political autonomy was completely disregarded. 00:08:13.000 --> 00:08:19.000 Those existed all over the place in North America, and South America really. 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:28.000 But when the colonizers came, they were like, 'That doesn't make sense for us because we are used to this really patriarchal, men are in charge kind of structure. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.000 We need to get rid of this. This is not how we want things to run. 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:43.000 And it set the way for gendercide, which is the attempt to exterminate people because of their gender, so women and Two-Spirit people, in particular, were really targeted by violence. 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:59.000 And, the reason why that they were targeted so heavily, is they were viewed as uncivilized and sinful and conquerable. 00:08:59.000 --> 00:08:69.000 So, to conquer a people, you can conquer somebody's bodies, and this was, a really targeted effort that destabilized political systems, the governing structures, the societal norms. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:20.000 So, if you completely mess up a system, like if somebody was to, come to the United States and totally destroy, like, the governing system of the US, 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:23.000 we would be in complete chaos, right? 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:27.000 We wouldn't have the systems we're used to, even though they can be oppressive for some folk. 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:39.000 We wouldn't have that, and we would have to find something else. And so, it made it easier to instill colonial governing structure and societal norms. 00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:47.000 There was no accountability for the gendercide by colonizers at all, so it was just like, this was the norm back then, 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:51.000 and it set the stage to create the norms we have now for around this violence. 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:61.000 That etching is actually from Panama. It was a practice that happened in the southeast as well, where Two-Spirit people were literally thrown into pits with dogs. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:04.000 They were called, like, their dogs of war, if you've ever heard of those. 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:14.000 And studying, like, histories, and they would literally, they would subject Two-Spirit people to this level of violence in front of their whole villages. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:23.000 And so, if you think about what that does, that instills a lot of fear within a community and causes people to ostracize their own community members because of, 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:26.000 they don't want to get thrown in this pit too. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:33.000 And so, it was very systematic. And that's a colorized version, of course, it wasn't in color. 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:47.000 And so, we're going to talk about how that historic stuff lead- it continues over time and colonial history, which is considered like US history, but it's also really distorted, 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:56.000 so I'm gonna give you two examples of particular people that you may have heard of before, like, have you all heard of Pocahontas before? Yeah. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:64.000 What about, have you heard of Sacagawea, I'm sure? Yeah, you've heard of those two women, right? 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:15.000 As they're framed. Is your baseline of understanding about Pocahontas mostly through Disney or have you heard other things? Disney? No? Other things? 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:31.000 Grade school textbooks, okay cool. So, I'm gonna show you two clips and, I want you to- what I want you to do is pay attention to how she's talked about from different, viewpoints. Okay? 00:11:31.000 --> 00:13:33.000 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:37.000 So, what are some things you notice about that one, like she's really framed as a princess, right? 00:13:37.000 --> 00:13:45.000 Does this sound a lot like what you learned about in school and through Disney and stuff like that? So, for like, she was held hostage, they usually don't tell that part. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:54.000 One thing that stands out the most to me besides her being called a princess in this video is it's completely told from the voice of, like, a white man. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:70.000 And, that's who's telling the story, and also, they said she learned the European lifestyles. So, keep that quote in mind while you watch this next video about her. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:18:47.000 00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:50.000 So, let's like, take a moment to like take that in, right? 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:62.000 Like it's so contradictory that, like, the story of what happened to her, how it's told, how it's reinforced by pop culture and the media, and even in school curriculum. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:12.000 And, there's just a lot that's going on, sorry, I get like a little bit emotional when I talk about this too, just, like, as a heads up, I shouldn't say sorry 'cause it's very emotional work, but, 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:19.000 just knowing what she went through and knowing that she never got to see her family again after she was abducted and held on that ship for a year. 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:31.000 It wasn't in a house; it was actually on a ship. And that her father agreed to have her married to John Rolfe to- in hopes to help bring her home, right, and help bring peace. 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:34.000 And then, she was sent to Europe, where she died. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:46.000 And she's so much framed as, like, this woman in this love story, but she was really held up as, like, this is what we can do. We can conquer people like this. We can conquer women. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:55.000 We can shape, how we want the lands to look, in, North America and send that word back to Europe by using her, pretty much, as a token, in that way. 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:71.000 And so, I won't unpack some of the other pieces of it until we watch the other one. But this one is a little bit about, Sacagawea. And mostly about her because of the Oregon Trail, right? 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:18.000 We are in Oregon, like, that's a big story here. It is all over the place but especially, when you live in the Pacific Northwest. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:30.000 And so, have you all heard things outside of like the mainstream, what's taught? A couple people have. Okay great, I'm glad that her story is reaching more people. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:23:50.000 English 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:59.000 So, even in that one, it's still a little bit romanticized, right? Like 'Aw, she was like- she decided to give this belt. and yeah she probably didn't have a choice. 00:23:59.000 --> 00:23:64.000 She decided to join them instead of staying with her people. Like really, do you think she had a choice in that? 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:21.000 So even as the stories are being retold and hoping to bring in more truth, there's still a lot that's not explained and there's a lot that's still left out, and it still causes harm in how indigenous 00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:26.000 women and girls are depicted in history and to- and to the present time. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:36.000 So with hers, I would say that there's a lot that- there's some contradictory stuff, like she dove into the water, and all those kinds of things are- there's some contradictory stories about 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.000 whether or not that happened. 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:46.000 And so, I showed this one because it showed a little bit, but it also shows that it's still romanticized, and this is one of the better ones I could find. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:57.000 And so, that's kind of frustrating, so hopefully her story gets told a little more thoroughly by her own people, sort of like how Pochahontas' was, and that way, we can learn more about what 00:24:57.000 --> 00:24:62.000 really happened and how it was passed down, but did y'all notice how young she was, right? 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:10.000 And sometimes, her story too and other stories like hers, is used as a way to say native people were kidnapping native people and were selling them, and so therefore, 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:19.000 it's native people's fault this problem is here, and that's totally inaccurate, and it's just used as a way to justify violence, instead of addressing violence. 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:28.000 And so, I wanted to point that out with her story, too. Okay, so this is a little reflection moment for you all to take a little pause. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:37.000 You can write it in your- if you have paper or if you need to type it in your phone or your device, and so just like think about it. 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:42.000 What does it mean to have a master narrative about the Oregon Trail that really romantisizes pedophila? 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:49.000 That's what was going on, right? She was a young girl and sold and bought, that still happens today. 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:61.000 There's a lot of trafficking in the Pacific Northwest. I-5 and 84 are crossroads of trafficking. And how does this impact local tribes to this day? 00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:10.000 Like this whole fascination with young bodies, and especially young girls- young boys are also trafficked in Two-Spirit, teens and kids. 00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:20.000 And how does understanding Pocahontas' story amplify the reason that stuff like the 'sexy indian' costumes are problematic, and how might this all impact indigenous college students? 00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:28.000 So, I'm gonna give you a couple minutes to reflect on that, and, and then we'll come back- I'm not gonna ask people to share out right now, but later on maybe, 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:37.000 but this is for your own reflection, so whatever you wanna write down to think about. 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:45.000 It doesn't have to be well formed thoughts, just write a few notes to yourself, and you can come back to these ones too. 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:56.000 I really want y'all to understand that this has present day impacts on students that may be here at Western, as well as other campuses too, so that's- and the local tribes too, 00:26:57.000 --> 00:26:59.000 we're on Kalipua lands, right? 00:26:59.000 --> 00:26:68.000 You all know the closest neighbors are the Grand Ronde tribes, and so I know there's a relationship with the tribes with most of the universities at this point, too. 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:17.000 So, as you continue to reflect, you can keep writing as we're going along if you'd like, but I want to make sure we have time for questions too. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:24.000 So really, as a historic overview, this normalization of violence is embedded in so many things. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:38.000 And using women like Pocahontas and Sachejewea, kidnapping and rape become a love story in the dominent imaginary. Forced servitude and assimilation become a story of bravery. 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:50.000 Children become women and then this national imaginary is created to absolve colonizers from responsibility, so instead of comforting these histories, it's glossed over, romanticized, and 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.000 reinforced, which leads to a lot of the problems that we have. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:68.000 And by creating that silence, it normalizes the silences around these issues today. Oh yeah, and it's expected that we stay silent too about them. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:16.000 And so, just for some key takeaways about this historic context to leave us where we're at now, this is not a new crisis, that should be super clear, alright? 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:25.000 This has been going on for over 500 years. This isn't- they didn't start with #MMIW, it started with contact. #MMIW is super important though. 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:35.000 But young girls and teens are framed as adults to help prevent talking about pedophila and child rape. 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:42.000 And so, by framing these girls as women, it prevents us from having those really hard conversations in communities, 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:52.000 not just in indigenous communities but broader communities as well. Kidnapped and trafficked people's stories are always reinvented, that even happens now, like people- 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:59.000 when people go missing, it's like, 'Oh, they probably ran away,' and we'll talk a little bit more about this later or 'They're out partying,' and all these dangerous 00:28:59.000 --> 00:28:62.000 stereotypes that exist about indigenous people. 00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:14.000 But really, we have to talk about gendercide in order to address the issues today because a lot of it, you're gonna find out, is embedded in law and policy, too. The silence is intentional. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:17.000 If we're silent around it, then we'll never know about it. 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:27.000 And it all sets a stage and it leads- I put that note on here, the underreporting of sexual assults on college campuses is a reality, like people know that, right? 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:32.000 If you work in higher ed, you should know that, especially in student affairs. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:42.000 It's especially true for indigenous students of all genders, not just women or Two-Spirit folk, like indigenous people have really high underreporting, which is because of all these things. 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:51.000 It's not taken seriously when indigenous people talk about these forms of violence that are embedded in all parts of society, 00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:55.000 like from pop culture to history books to Halloween costumes to everything. 00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:67.000 It's all over the place that's being reinforced. And so, there's also a theft of children by law, there's the Indian Civilization Act Fund. 00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:15.000 That was really what set the stage- if you've heard about the boarding school, the all children- all chil- 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:23.000 Every Child Matters, excuse me, movement to bring home the bodies of the children from boarding schools, that fund really started it. 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:33.000 And it was a way to really civilize kids and set the stage it was another form of abducting kids and normalizing the taking of children and teens and sexual violence and silences around it that 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:35.000 happen in the boarding schools. 00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:45.000 And then, in California in particular, a lot of people don't know that there was an act that was called for the protection of Indians, but it really wasn't. 00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:54.000 It was the ability to remove indigenous children and enslave them. Literally, like all somebody had to do was go take a child and say like, 'I'm providing a better home,' 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:59.000 and usually they were forced into like house labor. 00:30:59.000 --> 00:30:69.000 There was a lot of abuse going on. It was a very undertold story. California Indigenous history in general, but this part is as well. 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:18.000 It wasn't until- I think it was 17 years, I might be off by a year or two, after slavery was abolished, that California- that slavery in California actually ended. 00:31:18.000 --> 00:31:25.000 And it was the slavery of indigenous people sold in auction blocks and everything. And some of it had to do with that law. 00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:30.000 And then, the first boarding school itself opened on the Yakima reservation. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:42.000 It wasn't the off reservation boarding schools that a lot of people know about but Carlisle opened as a flagship one in 1879, a little bit later with that whole horrible model- motto of 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:60.000 So, it was normalized even in education, like violence, right, and abduction and being in higher ed, like knowing why there's a little bit of hesitancy around education in some tribal 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:03.000 communities or with some native folk. 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:11.000 It's helpful to know that it's because it was so violent towards us all the way until like really recently, and like to the point where people are still trying to get those remains returned to their 00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:16.000 homes if they can identify them, 'cause a lot of them are unmarked. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:26.000 Just so you know the extent, by 1926, so this was in- it wasn't like ancient history, like 1926 isn't that long ago in the history of the United States, right? 00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:32.000 Nearly 83% of schoolchildren were attending boarding schools. And a lot of people don't know how many there were. 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:44.000 You mostly hear about it in Canada, but there were over 300- there's 367 and some of them are in operation today, as tribally controlled and native controlled kind of schools now, 00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:49.000 but they serve a different purpose than what they did historically. 00:32:49.000 --> 00:32:53.000 There's a couple other roles of law and policy. 00:32:53.000 --> 00:32:66.000 These are federal laws that are super important to know about to understand like why this violence occurs, so The Major Crimes Act of 1855 stripped tribes' authority for- 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:19.000 to prosecute certain crimes on their own lands, and those crimes include things like murders, sexual assult, kidnapping, trafficking, all the ones that tribes should have an ability to prosecute 00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:24.000 people for, they do not have that ability because of the Major Crimes Act. 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:34.000 And it gets even worse because like those go under the jurisdiction of the Bearer of Indian Affairs and the Department of Justice to take those cases up and they decline over 70% of the 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:37.000 cases reported federally. 00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:45.000 And so usually, they take up murder cases if they find somebody, but if somebody is abducted, they don't always take those cases up at all. 00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:56.000 It's created this normalization that you can go to tribal lands and you can just get away with it really. And it happens, and it's horrible. 00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:68.000 Ophilant versus Suquamish in 1978, that was just up in Washington, ruled that tribes- Oliphant, I always say that one wrong for some reason, and the tribes have no criminal jurisdiction over 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:18.000 non-native people, and so that even reinforced it even more, so even like civil cases and like all these other things, you can't, if you're not native- or if you're not from that tribe, 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:21.000 tribes don't have any criminal jurisdiction. 00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:33.000 There was a couple things that happened that were on the positive side, so in 2010, the Tribal Law and Order Act that was- increased tribal sentencing ability and law enforcement presence, 00:34:33.000 --> 00:34:39.000 but again, it's like only for certain crimes, and it's very limited. 00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:50.000 And in 2013, VAWA was reauthorized and that was one of the biggest shifts to addressing violence against indigenous women, in particular, because it allowed for the prosecution of 00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:61.000 non-tribal members for certain crimes, like sexual assult but- but there's a but laughs of course. It only related to intimate partner crimes. 00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:07.000 And so, the trafficking was not addressed by VAWA 2013. 00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:18.000 It neither was just somebody that was sexually assulted by someone they were not in a relationship with, so if there was workplace violence, or if there was just in general. 00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:22.000 And you get the picture. It did a little bit. 00:35:22.000 --> 00:35:32.000 It also, allowed, for tribes to prosecute people for those crimes, only if they were able to provide a jury of peers and provide a public defender, 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:39.000 so it required a complete legal infrastructure overhaul for tribal, justice systems, which costs a lot of money. 00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:49.000 And it also allocated money but never- or they said they would allocate money but it was never allocated, so it was- the certain amount was approved to send to tribes for this legal 00:35:49.000 --> 00:35:53.000 infrastructure overhaul, but it didn't happen because the funding was never actually allocated. 00:35:53.000 --> 00:35:59.000 And so, there's a few tribes, that were able to bring in this kind of prosecution. 00:35:59.000 --> 00:35:65.000 Umatilla's one of them in Oregon, and there's several other tribes as well that did have the infrastructure in place and were able to do it, 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:10.000 so I don't want you to think it didn't have a positive impact because it did. 00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:24.000 It just had- there's- it's just such a big problem. We need more. We need way more. And so, where we are now is the VAWA,- okay, I already told you that part. 00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:35.000 In Oregon, here, House Bill 2625 was launched. It launched an inter agency investigation to look at Oregon's specifically MMIW numbers. 00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:40.000 That one, got interrupted, some of the listening sessions, because of the pandemic unfortunately. 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:48.000 But it did have some findings. It didn't find as much as we were hoping, but there's more work to do on that. 00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:53.000 That was a first step, like representative Tawna Sanchez that introduced that bill said, 'This is step one. 00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:63.000 So, there'll be more, coming through in Oregon. That bill actually was- was used by other states too as a model. And so that's kinda cool. 00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:15.000 In 2020. Savannah's Act- that was in honor of Savannah LaFontaine-Greywind, who was murdered and they took her child out of her body and everything. It was horrible. 00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:26.000 I encourage you to learn more about her story. But that was after her, and it helped reform the MMIW law enforcement and justice protocols at the federal level. 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:36.000 And so, these are really recent, and the Not Invisible Act, mandated the commission to coordinate the intergovernmental efforts to address MMIW. 00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:48.000 And right now, I know that secretary Deb Haaland did the callout to, to create the Non Invisible Act commission, and so that is forming as we speak, like the nominations closed last month, 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:51.000 so it's really- that's, still in works. 00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:57.000 The only thing with some of these federal acts- oh wait, there's one more of- I don't like the name of Operation Lady Justice. 00:37:57.000 --> 00:37:69.000 I think it sounds just really weird and dismissive, so I just put OLJ, but that's what it stands for. But they opened cold case offices in 2020. 00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:20.000 Nationwide and the- the problem with that one is that they didn't go to the states with the high numbers of MM- of MMIW cases. They just- I don't know how they even selected them, really. 00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:25.000 It seemed really random, and it doesn't match the data at all. 00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:33.000 And they also didn't work with any localized efforts, like GrassRoots Organizing were not open- or not invited to speak or be at that grand opening of their first cold case office, 00:38:33.000 --> 00:38:36.000 so it was kind of performative. 00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:47.000 I wrote a whole thing about it, but but the federal efforts really focus on the federally-recognized tribes, and- which is good because of the government to government relationship, 00:38:47.000 --> 00:38:49.000 and we also need them to do a little bit more. 00:38:49.000 --> 00:38:58.000 We need, indigenous people more broadly to be included in these efforts and these numbers because not everybody's enrolled with a federal tribe because of the complexities of tribal 00:38:58.000 --> 00:38:61.000 enrollment and federal recognition. 00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:06.000 My tribe is not federally recognized, so if something happened to me, I would not be listed in those numbers. 00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:14.000 I hope nothing happens to me, but just sayin', like as an example. I don't want to use somebody else as an example, but it's just really complicated, right? 00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:20.000 And these relationships and upholding sovereignty while including all the folk that need to be included. 00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.000 They don't always include trans women and Two-Spirit people in some of the legislation as well. 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:37.000 So, there's still a lot of work to do that I hope changes in the future. And just so you know who MMIW USA is, and where MMIW came from as an acronym. 00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:47.000 It came out of GrassRoots efforts out of Canada by First Nations. In Canada, they call their tribal nations First Nations. That's a Canadian term, just so you all know. 00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:58.000 But it was women in Two-Spirit people who led those efforts and put a lot of pressure on the Canadian government, where they ended up launching an official investigation in 2016. 00:39:58.000 --> 00:39:62.000 So, the US is a little bit behind, way behind. 00:40:02.000 --> 00:40:12.000 And the hashtag was created to help spread awareness, and it traveled down to the US and Deborah Maytubee-Shipman, who is the director of MMIW in the USA, 00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:20.000 worked in close relationship with the, folk in Canada before even using that name for MMIW USA. 00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:27.000 That's based out of Portland, though. It's local, but it does nationwide work, and they were formed in 2013. 00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:38.000 Their primary efforts focus on helping families with searches, so, I spoke with Deborah many times, listened to her talk many times, and she always says it's heartbreaking when families 00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:46.000 have to choose whether or not they're gonna eat for that day or they're gonna pay for gas to go search for their missing loved one because there's not a lot of support from a lot of law 00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:49.000 enforcement agencies, especially on tribal lands. 00:40:49.000 --> 00:40:51.000 But that's everywhere too. 00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:62.000 So they help with on the ground searches, they help with recoveries of, people that are lucky to be found, that are being trafficked, or otherwise, missing for other reasons, 00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:12.000 and reunite them with their family, so they, help provide plane tickets, send somebody to go with them, and they also help in the unfortunate event that, when somebody's body is found, 00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:19.000 they help, make sure that their remains are handled with care and returned to their family and their communities in a good way. 00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:27.000 They work a lot with, local law enforcement agencies and the FBI. So, they share data, they have a huge data set now too. 00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:35.000 And so, groups like this are very GrassRoots and organized by indigenous women and Two-Spirit people particularly because we have to do something, 00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:42.000 and that's being able to talk with more people about these issues is really important because we need help. 00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:49.000 And it's an international movement like I said, across Canada, the United States, and Mexico. 00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:60.000 A lot of times people will see an MMIW map, and it only shows, Canada and the United States when this issue is not contained just to these settler countries, it's a huge issue in Mexico as well. 00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:09.000 And, the femicide down there is really high especially along, some of the border towns there's a high rate of trafficking and women going missing. 00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:19.000 A lot of times they're indigenous women or they're migrant, folk that are coming- trying to get to the United States that get caught up in, a really, really, bad situation. 00:42:19.000 --> 00:42:29.000 And so I know in particular, MMIW USA is starting to work with some of the organizers in Mexico as well, and we've been doing some of the conversations with like some of the press 00:42:29.000 --> 00:42:33.000 down there and stuff too. 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:40.000 So impacts on youth, and one of the reasons I want to show this is because indigenous students carry all of this with them to college campuses, right? 00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:47.000 This isn't just some like, presentation. These are our lived realities, as hard as it is to hear, like we face them every single day. 00:42:47.000 --> 00:42:55.000 And we carry these stories and these experiences with us and so, before they get to college campuses, they already carry that historic trauma and generational trauma, 00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:61.000 and even some students- not all students, I don't want you to think this applies to all students, of course. 00:43:01.000 --> 00:43:10.000 So, make sure you keep that in mind, but a lot of indigenous students do carry this with them. These are the cases for 2020. 00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:20.000 For 11-17 year-olds that they pulled together for a grant report, and gave me permission to use in presentation, so you can see like, this is not like going away, and there's not like, 00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:29.000 not a month in the entire year of 2020 where there was less than twenty cases of, missing youths, or murdered youths. 00:43:29.000 --> 00:43:38.000 And so, every month- those are new cases every month, those aren't, like, repeated cases. And so, this work is critical and it's important. 00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:52.000 It's an ongoing issue, that started with all that historic context is why these numbers are what they are now. I don't know the 2021 numbers because they don't have them yet but. 00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:63.000 So, for a reflection for you all to think about, I want you to do another reflection before I wrap up with you all because it's a lot of information probably. A little bit, yeah. 00:44:03.000 --> 00:44:10.000 So, how does dominant discourse and pop culture reinforce violence against indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people? 00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.000 Why is talking about this at multiple levels necessary to create change? 00:44:14.000 --> 00:44:21.000 But how can learning more about this impact student affairs work in particular, especially as it relates to supporting indigenous students? 00:44:21.000 --> 00:44:26.000 I would ask that you probably think about it in the context of Western's campus. 00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:39.000 Music 00:44:39.000 --> 00:44:50.000 Okay so, continue to think about it, continue to write about it, and think about how it can relate to what your work is on campus. Does it relate? And if not, why not, and how can it relate? 00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:64.000 Okay, so I told you all I would tell you some ideas of how to help with this, right? And so, we're at that point as we start to wind up my presentation part and I open up for questions. 00:45:04.000 --> 00:45:06.000 Before I do that, like, how can you help? 00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:15.000 So, if you make policies, if you're a policy maker, whether it's on campus or off campus, sometimes people do volunteer work in the community, so I never know, like, 00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:18.000 what levels of policy making people do. 00:45:18.000 --> 00:45:24.000 Can you evaluate the tie to hics- historic experiences of the communities impacted? 00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:38.000 I know that sometimes policies can feel really oppressive for folk from different backgrounds, and we're working on a policy over, at OSU about students being able to smudge, 00:45:38.000 --> 00:45:47.000 especially in residence halls, and so, having that, cultural connection piece to help process because like I said, students carry this stuff with them to campuses, and so, 00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:57.000 how do you reinforce, like, practices on campus through policy that help them to be able to stay grounded and help process that, trauma as they need to, 00:45:57.000 --> 00:45:61.000 and in ways that are culturally relevant? 00:46:01.000 --> 00:46:08.000 So, GrassRoots organizers are doing the groundwork and need to be involved with major decisions, so like, this is really related to MMIW stuff. 00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:15.000 If you ever end up in a case where, you're working on policies that could include people that are doing Grassworks work- GrassRoots groundwork, 00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:25.000 I would encourage you to have them involved or to involve tribes with reviewing policies that may impact indigenous people. 00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:36.000 And then, one thing that is really tangible that everybody can do is advocate for local and national laws and policies being developed, so like, example, VAWA is still not reauthorized; 00:46:36.000 --> 00:46:42.000 it expired several years ago, so it's, like, at a complete standstill federally, like why is that happening? 00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:45.000 There's a huge MMIW component in there, there's some other things. 00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:56.000 So, it's not super hard, and I know it can be really intimidating, but you can email your representatives, you can, make phone calls, you can email folk at the federal level and say like, 00:46:59.000 --> 00:46:66.000 Once you get the hang of it, it's not as scary as it is. You can also provide public testimonies if that's something that, is really something you want experience with. 00:47:06.000 --> 00:47:14.000 It's kind of fun to provide public testimony. You have to be like really on point though. They give you like two minutes. I didn't know that the first time I went. 00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:20.000 And so, I always tell people, 'If you go, make sure you got it down because they will definitely cut you off. 00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:30.000 But, the more support, that law makers and policy makers at the state and federal level here, from the people that they represent, the more likely they are to pass something. 00:47:31.000 --> 00:47:35.000 And so, a lot of times people are like, 'Oh, that's a great idea. That's gonna totally pass. And, it doesn't always happen. 00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:41.000 VAWA was a great example, it's been expired for several years, and it's still not reauthorized. 00:47:41.000 --> 00:47:50.000 And then following groups doing the work on social media and/or following their listsers, it sounds really simple, but it actually helps a lot. 00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:56.000 Just like the other one of sharing information about missing peoples, it really does save lives. 00:47:56.000 --> 00:47:68.000 Deborah told a story about, - okay, so major news outlets rarely cover missing indigenous people. It's really horrible, like, we were hoping that would change, but it didn't change. 00:48:08.000 --> 00:48:11.000 It's still not changing. There's tons of people out there missing. 00:48:11.000 --> 00:48:20.000 So, what they started doing was sharing, like, the missing fliers in the comment sections of white identified folk that were missing, to help gain attention. 00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.000 That's how bad the coverage is of missing indigenous people. 00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:30.000 And so, like, if you know people in the media too, then that's another way, I didn't put that on there but, that's another way you can help is like, 00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:43.000 And, they put a missing flier of this one woman, and a group of truckers ended up finding her because they had seen that comment. 00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:53.000 And, nobody would've found her if they hadn't stumbled upon that comment on social media. People have been located by hitting that share button. And, it can be overwhelming. 00:48:53.000 --> 00:48:58.000 And, sometimes your friends on social media are like, 'Why are you sharing all this? This is so sad and depressing. 00:48:58.000 --> 00:48:62.000 And you're like, ' I'm just trying to spread the word, you can just scroll on by. 00:49:02.000 --> 00:49:11.000 If you're on social media, it's like all the platforms are just spreading information about indigenous people, like, even TikTok is. There's a whole bunch of stuff on there, too. 00:49:11.000 --> 00:49:16.000 I don't use TikTok. My kids do, and they told me. 00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:17.000 laughter 00:49:17.000 --> 00:49:25.000 But, yeah, my daughter was like, 'Why aren't you doing stuff on TikTok?' I was like, 'I don't even know how to use it, but I know how to watch the videos. 00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:32.000 So, but sharing it on social media a lot of times people think that that sounds so trivial and doesn't make a lot of change or do anything. It does a lot. 00:49:32.000 --> 00:49:37.000 Like, people are literally found that way. Some people are never found. 00:49:37.000 --> 00:49:45.000 There are so many cases out there where people never know what happened, and it's really heartbreaking to hear the stories from those families. 00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:53.000 And anytime I talk about that, I always think about all the families whose stories I've heard, and over the years, and like I always carry them with me too. 00:49:53.000 --> 00:49:64.000 So it's like I know that those numbers are real people. And they have real families, they have real lives, and yeah it's a lot so. And continue to learn beyond this session. 00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:13.000 So it shouldn't be like the end point that you should continue learning, keeping up with all these laws and policies is really important 'cause they continue to evolve. 00:50:13.000 --> 00:50:23.000 Like nobody thought those two laws were actually going to pass in 2020, especially 'cause it was in 2020 'cause there was so much drama as everybody knows. But they did pass, right? 00:50:23.000 --> 00:50:30.000 And that's amazing, and who would have thought that Deb Haaland would be the secretary of interior, right? 00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:39.000 And so she's able to intervene at that high level with some of these laws and policies and make sure they actually do something 'cause a lot of times stuff passes and nothing happens. 00:50:39.000 --> 00:50:50.000 So it's like holding law makers and policy makers accountable too, and say like, 'Hey, we helped get you into office. Can you help us as well?' 00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:60.000 And so, here are some organizations to follow. They have various social medias. MMIW USA only has Facebook and Instagram. I think Sovereign Bodies Institute has both as well. 00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:08.000 Urban Indian Health Institute is up in Seattle, so I'll tell you where they're located, so MMIW USA is in Portland, like you know. 00:51:08.000 --> 00:51:16.000 Sovereign Bodies Institute is in Northern California, I can't remember which town. Sorry, folk from there. Urban Indian Health Institute is from Seattle. 00:51:16.000 --> 00:51:29.000 Urban Indian Health Institute and Sovereign Bodies Institute have published several reports with data. So if you like data, I like data. Very nerdy about it, but it tells a story, right? 00:51:29.000 --> 00:51:38.000 And you can see, you can learn more through those numbers. The Urban Indian Health Institute really focused on urban areas and missing peoples. 00:51:38.000 --> 00:51:49.000 The report came out, I believe, in 2018, and it showed, like, where the hot- not hot states, where the high number states are and the highest urban areas. 00:51:49.000 --> 00:51:57.000 There's a lot in the Pacific Northwest and in California. Again, that I-5 and 84 are corridors are some of the highest trafficking areas in the country. 00:51:57.000 --> 00:51:65.000 In Urban Indian- oh wait, Sovereign Bodies Institute focuses a lot on California so they have a lot of California data. 00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:21.000 Like I mentioned before, California indigenous history is highly misunderstood, and so having their support for this is helpful. The OLJ's listserv is kinda cool. I subscribe to it. 00:52:21.000 --> 00:52:25.000 They give you updates on what's going on federally with those efforts. 00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:30.000 And you can learn about, like, what happened with these listerving sessions with tribes and with community stakeholder groups. 00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:37.000 How is that impacting federal work and the Department of Justice, like what else needs to be advocated for? 00:52:37.000 --> 00:52:44.000 It's helpful to know what's going on because then you can know what to advocate for. So if you're like 'This needs to happen,' and it's already happened, then they'd be like 00:52:47.000 --> 00:52:51.000 And then, the National Native American Boarding School, I had put that in there. 00:52:51.000 --> 00:52:59.000 Their healing project in case y'all want to learn about that more about that, or they have some really great curriculum sets in there too if you're interested in learning more 00:52:59.000 --> 00:52:68.000 about how to talk about it with folk of all ages. 00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:22.000 Okay, so what's next? There's where you need to write down, this one I do want everybody to do, in your head, on your phone, on your pap-. 00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:28.000 So, if you can write down one thing you want to learn more about, and/or one thing you're going to advocate for change. 00:53:28.000 --> 00:53:32.000 And if you want you can, this is an opportunity to share it with the group. 00:53:32.000 --> 00:53:39.000 So, we'll just take a moment to do that. 00:53:39.000 --> 00:53:45.000 Man #1: Canada recently took some action to acknowledge children that were missing, I believe a series of boarding schools. 00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:52.000 Was there action taken just beyond acknowledging that, 'Hey, a bunch of people died on our watch when they shouldn't have been there in the first place?' 00:53:52.000 --> 00:53:63.000 Or is there some sort of a, for a lack of a better word, a what's the word I'm looking for' 00:54:03.000 --> 00:54:09.000 Main Speaker: Like symbolic gesture, maybe? Man #1: Yeah, well, what are they doing to make up for this atrocity? 00:54:09.000 --> 00:54:12.000 Main Speaker: So that's going to be your question you're going to learn more about? Man #1: Yes. 00:54:12.000 --> 00:54:18.000 Main Speaker: Awesome! That's a good example. I could answer, but I'm going to let you look it up. 00:54:18.000 --> 00:54:20.000 Laughter 00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:28.000 Okay. Anybody else want to share? 00:54:28.000 --> 00:54:41.000 Man #2: I had a similar line of thought to the person who just spoke, but also how it relates to the recent report of finding so many bodies, you know, under schools, 00:54:41.000 --> 00:54:45.000 the remains under Catholic schools, residential schools. 00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:58.000 I feel like there is a strong connection between students being forcefully placed in boarding schools. I'd like to learn more about how much connection there is between those two. 00:54:58.000 --> 00:54:62.000 Main Speaker: That's awesome. Thank you for wanting to learn more about that. It's incredibly connected as you'll find out as you learn. 00:55:03.000 --> 00:55:14.000 Okay, alright anybody else want to share maybe one more? If not, it's okay. 00:55:14.000 --> 00:55:22.000 Okay, well whatever it is, I wish you luck with that journey, and if you ever need to chat, just let me know about it. 00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:29.000 If you run into a barrier looking stuff up or you don't know how to contact somebody for that action step you want to take. 00:55:29.000 --> 00:55:37.000 Okay so, of course, a not shameless plug of some of my publications related to this if y'all are interested in reading more in depth. 00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:47.000 Or if you are ever working with students that are like, 'cause there's not a lot of scholarship out there. There's one other academic article that talks about MMIW, but there's not a ton. 00:55:47.000 --> 00:55:52.000 There's a couple books, but I know students are always looking for resources as well. 00:55:52.000 --> 00:55:61.000 So, there's a few that they can use for academic citing and stuff. 00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:08.000 Okay, there's my contact information, and now I welcome questions that I will answer instead of telling you that's a great thing to research. 00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:11.000 laughter 00:56:11.000 --> 00:56:20.000 Any questions? We have like 15-ish minutes. 00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:28.000 Man #2: I'm curious about your thoughts on sex trafficking. 00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:38.000 I feel like there is not much mentioned about MMIW, but I mean there is a huge connection between MMIW and sex trafficking, in general. 00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:40.000 Could you speak more about that? 00:56:40.000 --> 00:56:49.000 Main Speaker: Yeah, that's a, there is a huge connection. Thank you for bringing that up, and that's why those areas along the I-5 and 84 and other areas. 00:56:49.000 --> 00:56:59.000 Actually I found out, 'cause I helped with some of the listening sessions for House Bill 2625, and I found out through those listening sessions that, like, 00:56:59.000 --> 00:56:68.000 the highest trafficking area in Oregon is actually in the burns area. Like, who would have known, right? See, everybody's like, 'What?' Completely unknown, right? 00:57:08.000 --> 00:57:17.000 And so, they are incredibly connected. That's why people are- a lot of people are going missing, especially the younger folk, like teenage folk. 00:57:17.000 --> 00:57:28.000 There's, in Montana, their rate of missing teenagers for indigenous girls and boys and Two-Spirit people is really high. A lot of it is because of trafficking. 00:57:28.000 --> 00:57:38.000 Same in South Dakota, but Montana has this enormous rate. It's horrible. There's like, whole rings about it, and so my thing is always, like, that completely grosses me out. 00:57:38.000 --> 00:57:43.000 The reason why it's so bad is because there is a demand, right? Like, this wouldn't be happening. 00:57:43.000 --> 00:57:54.000 So like, normalizing talking about why pedophilia is not a good thing, and child rape, what that means helps confront that and ackoweldge that it is a problem because it seriosuly is. 00:57:54.000 --> 00:57:65.000 And that's where a lot of the missing young people end up, and so one thing I didn't talk about but that same sacred, or same sacred, MMIW USA houses a prevention program called 00:58:05.000 --> 00:58:11.000 Staying Sacred, where they teach young people from travel communities in urban areas. 00:58:11.000 --> 00:58:20.000 They were doing it throughout the pandemic too through Zoom, learn more about consent, body etonomy, self defence, and all kinds of other things, 00:58:20.000 --> 00:58:23.000 how to reach out for help if something happens to you. 00:58:23.000 --> 00:58:30.000 And so, they are doing this whole body of prevention work too, that's related to and incredibily tied to sex trafficking. 00:58:30.000 --> 00:58:46.000 And they're getting ready to launch their first like tribal sponsored Staying Sacred branch over on the Warm Springs reservation, too. 00:58:46.000 --> 00:58:55.000 Woman #1: So recently, well like last week, I was, you know, I have a new baby, so I was just watching TV and on came a show about MMIW. 00:58:55.000 --> 00:58:66.000 A couple of cases and it was interesting because it seemed like there was a missing piece to the story. I mean, to the narrative. 00:59:06.000 --> 00:59:09.000 They talked about they were missing and the Bureau of Indian Affairs didn't do all this stuff. 00:59:09.000 --> 00:59:16.000 And then with your piece about the laws that tribal nations can't prosecute people. I mean, that was like the missing link for me. 00:59:16.000 --> 00:59:25.000 So what, how can we, what's a good way to spread that piece of it because it seems like the whole story was there, except that piece, and that was like an 'aha' moment when you said 00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:30.000 that of like, 'Oh my gosh, no wonder nothing could get done. 00:59:30.000 --> 00:59:38.000 And it took months for the Bureau of Indian Affairs to get involved, and it was done- it was like, the- one of the girls. 00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:47.000 I mean, she was a young girl, was with her friends and like they saw her jump a fence, and so she was still on tribal lands, and that was the last time they saw her, 00:59:47.000 --> 00:59:50.000 so if it was done there, obviously nobody can prosecute. 00:59:50.000 --> 00:59:57.000 How can we get that word out? That that's why these aren't being addressed? Or a big piece of it. 00:59:57.000 --> 00:59:67.000 Main Speaker: Yeah, so I'm hoping, did anybody hear about the stuff that happened in Oklahoma with the court case that- the federal court case? 01:00:07.000 --> 01:00:15.000 A bunch of Oklahoma was deemed as under tribal jurisdiction, and it was due to an appealed murder case that happned over there. 01:00:15.000 --> 01:00:30.000 That's how the person actually got their charges removed, which is kinda sad, but it's also- it's good for native law stuff because it showing- it will help people understand how horrible the 01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:33.000 major crimes act really is and how restrictive it really is. 01:00:33.000 --> 01:00:43.000 And I'm hoping that that case, a lot of people are actually, will help create an entire legal infrastructure overhaul at the federal level because that's what's needed. 01:00:43.000 --> 01:00:49.000 And so helping people understand like this is really embedded in federal law and policy. 01:00:49.000 --> 01:00:56.000 And that's what's making this really possible and helping normalize it because people are like, 'Oh, cool. I can go to tribal land and get away with it. 01:00:56.000 --> 01:00:62.000 It happens way more than people realize, and then it creates this- it's not just contained. 01:01:02.000 --> 01:01:07.000 That's the other thing I want to make sure people know about. It's not just contained to tribal lands, it's like everywhere. 01:01:07.000 --> 01:01:15.000 So it creates, it normalizes violence and the perception that you can get away with it because of what happens on tribal lands because of stuff like the Major Crimes Act. 01:01:15.000 --> 01:01:24.000 But then, it spills over everywhere too because it's like, okay native womens and girls and Two-Spirit peoples' appearances aren't taken seriously anymore, 01:01:24.000 --> 01:01:27.000 and so it completely normalizes it everywhere. 01:01:27.000 --> 01:01:35.000 And so, that's why there's high urban cases too and rural cases. It's not just like a native issue, right. It's an issue. 01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:45.000 So, I think helping people understand that there is that federal piece of it, and I don't know how to get that changed. 01:01:45.000 --> 01:01:50.000 That's something, I hope somebody, like, maybe one time when I'm presenting, somebody is like, 'Oh, I know how to do that,' and they do it. 01:01:50.000 --> 01:01:52.000 laughter 01:01:52.000 --> 01:01:59.000 But that's really what needs to happen, right? Because it is going to take an act of Congress to change the Major Crimes Act and return jurisdiction to tribes. 01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:05.000 And then, provide the infrastructure, and that's the thing. It's like, 'Oh, it's so expensive, and where's the money going to come from?' 01:02:05.000 --> 01:02:14.000 And we're like, 'What about treaties? What about, like, we need to protect the people?' And all these things. It really usually comes down to funding, but yeah. 01:02:14.000 --> 01:02:22.000 Thanks for that question, but I'm glad that that helped because I think in some of like the datelines and other things, they're like, 'This is horrible. 01:02:22.000 --> 01:02:35.000 And the people are like, 'Why aren't the tribes doing anything?' Then it turns into like why aren't they doing it? Which also reinforced that dangerous narrative. 01:02:35.000 --> 01:02:43.000 I think we have time for a couple more. 01:02:43.000 --> 01:02:54.000 Okay, well I'll offer something as well as somebody that does work with college students on a public campus is that a lot of time indigenous students want to help create awareness events 01:02:54.000 --> 01:02:64.000 around MMIW, and so finding ways to support those events and encouraging your colleagues and students you work with to go to those to learn more is really big too. 01:03:04.000 --> 01:03:09.000 So like, when we had the red dress display on campus, people were like, 'Woah, what are all these doing around?' 01:03:09.000 --> 01:03:14.000 And so, it created this curiosity point, and then they started reading these signs. 01:03:14.000 --> 01:03:25.000 I know last year during the pandemic, I worked with a couple of students from the Senthrow on campus to do a red dress display and we did a QR code for people to learn more and the 01:03:25.000 --> 01:03:32.000 memorial union stuff helped us place it in an area that everybody stops at on campus tours. 01:03:32.000 --> 01:03:40.000 And so, like, everybody on campus tours were going to see that, and they could just scan the QR code, something as small like that to help create those awareness events. 01:03:40.000 --> 01:03:50.000 So what are those, I know y'all have native club on campus, right? What do they want to do? Do you still have a native club? It's not a native club? What is it? It's a multicultural center? 01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:55.000 Yes, there we go. I was like it's something I can't remember. I haven't worked for inaudible for so long. 01:03:55.000 --> 01:03:62.000 But what does the center want to do? Do they want to help support an event, and how can you collaborate across different partners? 01:04:02.000 --> 01:04:16.000 That way it's showing that the campus is invested in creating awareness and helping people learn more, too. So that way it's not just all falling on one group of people. 01:04:16.000 --> 01:04:21.000 There's another tangible takeaway, too. 01:04:21.000 --> 01:04:25.000 applause 01:04:25.000 --> 01:04:34.000 music