#RedDressDay

[rabbitcruiser]

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

Advocating for justice, honor, and remembrance, ensuring visibility and action to address the safety and rights of indigenous women and girls.

A serious problem has been going on for many years surrounding the high statistics of indigenous women and girls who go missing or are murdered each year in Canada, the United States and other countries. Indigenous or native women and girls have a much higher vulnerability to violence, particularly in relation to crimes such as sex trafficking, abuse and more. 

From 2001 to 2015, the homicide rate for indigenous women in Canada was almost six times higher than for other women. In the United States, native women are at least two times as likely to experience violence than women from any other demographic. It is also estimated that the murder rates for native women are ten times higher than the national average. 

In recent years, many activists, journalists, law enforcement officers, charitable organizations and others have been calling for more attention to be paid to these inconsistencies. The desire is to increase public awareness about the issues while improving access to the urgent support that these women and girls so desperately need.

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

An important impetus for the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls came through a Canadian artist named Jaime Black. In the early 2000s, Black used her influence to start the REDress project as an art installation to call attention to the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada and the US. This artistic expression led to hundreds of red dresses being donated for use in future installations and also was the start of REDress Day being celebrated on May 5. Each year, many different important spaces house REDress installations, including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. in 2019. 

The official campaign for the United States to declare this as an awareness day was started in 2017 by two senators from Montana. In 2018, the US declared this same day that had started as REDress Day, but the name was adjusted to the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls.

How to Observe National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Get involved with this important day of awareness by participating in some of the following activities:

Learn More About Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

One of the most important ways to participate in this national day of awareness is to commit to getting more educated and informed, and then sharing this with others in your sphere of influence. Learn more about the statistics and needs by visiting the website of the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, the US Department of Indian Affairs or other important resources.  

Read the Apology to Native Peoples

In 2009, the United States Congress issued an acknowledgment and apology to the Native peoples for the way the US government has treated them with depredations and policies that were to the disadvantage of native and indigenous peoples. Access this apology online and read through it in observance of the National Day of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. 

Source

[cyarskaren52]

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A post shared by SAFE Halton (@safehalton)

safehalton May 5 is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ peoples. This day, also known as Red Dress Day is recognized as part of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Week of Action.

On this day, and during this week, we honour and remember all missing and murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

The dresses are empty, to symbolize the missing and murdered persons who should be wearing them.

Indigenous women are 12 times more likely to be murdered or missing than any other women in Canada.

#genderbasedviolence

#VAW

#endvaw

#mmiwg2s

#Mmiw

#nomorestolensisters

#SAAM

#women

#endsexualviolence

#survivors

#reddressday

#mentalhealth

#rapeculture

#safehalton

#supportsurvivors

#trauma

#ptsd

#sexualassault

#womenempowerment

#consent

#narcissisticabuse

#sexualabuse

#psychologicalabuse

#sexualassaultawarenessmonth

#sexualabuse

#childhoodabuse

#metoo

#domesticviolence

#domesticviolencesurvivor

#sexualassault

#rapesurvivor

#livedexperience

[coochiequeens]

Indigenous rights advocates in Canada and the United States have renewed longstanding calls for concrete action to stem disproportionate rates of violence against Indigenous women and girls in both countries.

Thursday marks Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day in the US, while it is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), otherwise known as Red Dress Day, in Canada.

“The Federal Government has an obligation to ensure that cases of missing or murdered persons are met with swift and effective action,” US President Joe Biden said in a proclamation recognising the day.

“My Administration is fully committed to investigating and resolving these cases through a coordinated law enforcement response, as well as intervention and prevention efforts. We are also dedicated to researching the underlying causes of this violence and to working with Native communities to address them,” Biden said.

Indigenous communities have sounded the alarm for years over the disproportionately high number of women, girls and two-spirit people who have been killed or disappeared in the US and Canada. Two-spirit is a term used by some Indigenous people to describe their gender and spiritual identity.

Advocates also have denounced systemic inaction on the part of government and law enforcement agencies to address the issue.

In 2014, the federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) reported that nearly 1,200 Indigenous women had been murdered or gone missing in Canada between 1980 and 2012 – but advocates say the real number was likely much higher.

A National Inquiry on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in 2019concluded that the violence “amounts to a race-based genocide of Indigenous Peoples” that especially targets women, girls and members of the LGBTQ2S+ community.

“This genocide has been empowered by colonial structures … leading directly to the current increased rates of violence, death, and suicide in Indigenous populations,” it said.

But Indigenous community advocates say too little has been done to address the problem.

“Almost three years after the National Inquiry into #MMIWG released their Final Report, we are still waiting on the concrete actions that must be taken outlined in the Calls for Justice,” Lynne Groulx, CEO of the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), said on Twitter on Thursday.

In the US, the National Crime Information Center in 2016 documented 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, according to a report by the Urban Indian Health Institute (PDF).

“The Center[s] for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that murder is the third-leading cause of death among American Indian and Alaska Native women and that rates of violence on reservations can be up to ten times higher than the national average,” the report also said.

A 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice also found that 84.3 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime, including 56.1 percent who have experienced sexual violence, the US Department of the Interior says on its website.

US interior secretary Deb Haaland, the first Indigenous person to head a cabinet agency in the history of the country, held an event on Thursday to recognise National Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day.

“Everyone deserves to feel safe in their community, but a lack of urgency, transparency and coordination have hampered our country’s efforts to combat violence against American Indians and Alaska Natives,” Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, said in a statement.

“As we work with the Department of Justice to prioritize the missing and murdered Indigenous people’s crisis, the Not Invisible Act Commission will help address the underlying roots of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples crisis by ensuring the voices of those impacted by violence against Native people are included in our quest to implement solutions.”

The US Congress signed the Not Invisible Act into law in October 2020, just months before Biden took office, and the commission aims to increase coordination and implement best practices to fight “the epidemic of missing persons, murder, and trafficking” affecting Indigenous communities.

In Canada, communities are hanging red dresses on Thursday to symbolise the many Indigenous women and girls who have gone missing or been murdered in the past decades.

“I’m wearing red on #RedDressDay to remember all the #MMIWG and to honour their families and communities. I’m wearing red also because I continue to hold a vision of the future where our women and girls are protected and treated with dignity and respect always,” RoseAnne Archibald, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations in Canada, tweeted.

“On May 5, we will see the red dresses suspended from trees, hanging from windows, swaying in the breeze. But we will see much more than that. We will see the people who would have worn those crimson garments,” Lorraine Whitman, president of NWAC, said in a statement this week.

“They were our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, our aunties, our friends … We want to know what happened. How were they taken from us? And why? But mostly, we want to know that other families will be spared this pain.”

[diinadaring]

ʕ•ᴥ•ʔつ ɪꜱɴ’ᴛ ɪᴛ ᴡᴇɪʀᴅ ᴡᴇ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ ɪɴ ᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇᴀᴅꜱ? 🤔 ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴜꜱᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴛʜɪꜱ 🤣❤ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #stonergirl #alternativestyle #grungefashion #metalgirl #grungegirl #gothgirl #bluehair #girlswithpiercings #alternative #emogirl #tumblrgirl #alternativegirl #scenegirl #grungegirls #girlswithtattoos #alternativemodel #reddressday #tattoomodel #punkgirl #gothgirls #bluehairedgirl #girlswithpiercings #girlswithink #piercedgirl #alternativemodeling #girlswholikegirls #metalgirls #ruhrgebiet #düsseldorf #nrw (at Have A Nice Day

[itsedwinlv]

Thank you @hbo and their #HumanByOrientation initiative for allowing me to be apart of #RedDressDay by supplying me with some cool red themed outfits #GiftByHBO. Red Dress Day has been a tradition since the early days of @aidslifecycle; the idea was that if everyone dressed in red on Day 5, the riders would look like a giant red ribbon #AIDSLifeCycle #My545 . . . . . . . . . . . #CheerLA #Cyclepaths #CyclingTeam #TeamValencap #CheerLosAngeles #PCArocks #PCApridetour #LoveIsLove #LAPride #LoveWins #Pride2020 #BearLife #Husbands #Husbears #AIDSLifeCycle2020 #Ride545 #Cyclist #EndStigma #BodyPositive #CyclingPhotos #CyclepathsALC #AIDSLifeCycle2021 (at Quarantine Café) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBB0A2YjDzq/?igshid=1m0p98gqvlst9

[sacredsocialjustice]

Some powerful moments from this afternoon’s Red Dress Day event. #yeg #reddressday #yegdt #indigenous #mmiwg #photojournalism #yegphotographer #yegactivist #streetphotography #iphoneography https://www.instagram.com/p/BxGK6FTgb44/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1o3o3dtfu17b4

[sota29]

Voices in my head . . . #darkmoodphoto #cactusph #reddress❤️‍🔥 #witchofinstagram #witchplease #darkmoodphotography #darkfantasyart #cactuses #darkmoodph #darkmoods #witchyvibe #reddressday #darkfantasyartwork #tatautoportrait https://www.instagram.com/p/ChhVZS4DCl_/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[lorene1voice]

On May 5 + every day we remember the murdered & missing Indigenous women & girls & gender diverse people. #mmiwg2s #reddressday #nomorestolensisters #whywewearred #remembermmiwg2s https://www.instagram.com/p/CdMgLBMJ_U9/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[asandafoji]

A Red Dress is not a Trend, It’s an Expression, A Lifestyle👠 Shop our dresses today - www.fellegance.com #dress #dresses #dressup #dresstoimpress #red #redress #reddress #reddresses #reddresscollection #reddresscollection #reddressrun #reddress❤️ #reddressday #eveningdress #partydress #fellewomen #fellegance https://www.instagram.com/p/CTWwcglqdrJ/?utm_medium=tumblr

[namyascloset]

Jivantika Vrat Special !!! Hurry Buy Now!! Limited Stock @namyascloset Ishin Women's Cotton Bandhani Print Embellished A-Line Kurta Sharara Set- Red, NC 50319 50319 👈 search this code in website. Website link is provided in Bio MRP : 1999 Price: 1199 Discount : 40% Hurry Buy Now!!! Product details Ishin Women's Cotton Red Bandhani Print Embellished A-Line Kurta Sharara Set Kurta Fabric: Cotton Bottomwear Fabric: Cotton Fabric: Cotton Sleeve Length: Three-Quarter Sleeves Set Type: Kurta With Bottomwear Bottom Type: Sharara Pattern: Embroidered Sizes: S, M, L, XL ,XXL #namyascloset #redkurti #kurtiset #sharara_ethnic #shararastyle #shararaset #shararadress #sharara #shararasuit #kurtisets #shararasuits #kurtisethnic #jivantikavrat #womenwears #womenfashions #womenaccessories #ethnicwearforwomen #redsaree #reddress #reddressday #reddress❤️ #redkurti #redtop #redclothes #embroideredclothes #embroideredkurti #reddresses #redsaree❤ https://www.instagram.com/p/CRneO2rL6eH/?utm_medium=tumblr

[silerroad]

#RedDressDay; I wore, um, white. How embarrassing. 💪🏻 #muscles. #aidslifecycle #loverides (at Goleta, California)

[normstelfox]

Red Dress Day raises awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women. #normstelfoxphotography #reddressday #missing #indigenous #fortlangley https://www.instagram.com/p/COf7b9Csx0z/?igshid=1ggfiv1prngbx

[tinofotografie]

///Fashion Vintage\\\ - Fascino Anni 50 - - @beatricebinibb - con la sua bellezza in uno scatto dallo stile retrò, primo set nel mio nuovo studio #reddressday #reddressph #fashionphotoshooting #fashionphotografy #fashionphotostudio #fashionmodelingprofile #fashionmodelagency (presso Reggio Nell Emilia)

[emilycrafty]

Vintage Knee Length Festive Red Geometric Print Dress size 12 #size12 #size12fashion #vintagefashion #vintagefashionista #vintagefashions #vintagefashionfinds #vintagefashionforsale #vintagefashionfriday #reddress #reddresses #reddressday #reddressboutique #reddressparty #reddress❤️ #tagify_app https://www.instagram.com/p/B5-royYgkeD/?igshid=x91t3tpqeakw

[sacredsocialjustice]

#reddressday #mmiwg #indigenous #yegdt #photojournalism #iphoneography #yeg #yegactivist #yegphotographer https://www.instagram.com/p/BxF7riFg_Eq/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=122pawmqu0m1q