THREAD 👇
The disappearance & murder of Native Americans in the US is an epidemic affecting land-based tribes across the country.
In Montana, Native Americans are 5 times more likely to be reported missing than any other group in the state aje.io/9pdzf
The disappearance & murder of Native Americans in the US is an epidemic affecting land-based tribes across the country.
In Montana, Native Americans are 5 times more likely to be reported missing than any other group in the state aje.io/9pdzf
In Crow Nation - disappearances have become so commonplace that nearly every member of the Crow tribe has a close friend or blood relative who has gone missing aje.io/r7wms
Bureaucracy, a weak police force, and centuries of discrimination - mean many Native Americans who go missing are never found, and families of those murdered struggle to see justice aje.io/r7wms
Hanna "Bear" Harris was raped and beaten to death in July of 2013.
Hanna's mother tracked down the couple who killed her and compiled the evidence to present to the police - who repeatedly brushed off her attempts to report Hanna missing aje.io/r7wms
Hanna's mother tracked down the couple who killed her and compiled the evidence to present to the police - who repeatedly brushed off her attempts to report Hanna missing aje.io/r7wms
Roylynn Rides Horse was beaten, strangled and set on fire in Crow in April of 2016.
She lay in a field for 14 hours before being found - and died two months later.
Three people were convicted but they offered no explanation of why they attacked Roylynn aje.io/r7wms
She lay in a field for 14 hours before being found - and died two months later.
Three people were convicted but they offered no explanation of why they attacked Roylynn aje.io/r7wms
Pease, the alderwoman in Lodge Grass - organised a series of protest marches & community-building initiatives to raise awareness about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) movement.
Protesters shared similar stories of others who vanished aje.io/r7wms
Protesters shared similar stories of others who vanished aje.io/r7wms
Neither Hanna's name, nor that of Roylynn, nor others are in an official national database for missing indigenous people.
That is because no such database exists aje.io/r7wms
That is because no such database exists aje.io/r7wms
In 2019, Montana Governor Steve Bullock signed Hanna's Act.
The law requires the Department of Justice to investigate missing & murdered indigenous people, oversee data collection, liaise with families & work with other state & federal agencies aje.io/cka3a
The law requires the Department of Justice to investigate missing & murdered indigenous people, oversee data collection, liaise with families & work with other state & federal agencies aje.io/cka3a
Despite Hanna's Act and the designation of a National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls - legislation will not help those already missing aje.io/r7wms
Tribes are also frequently hamstrung by a series of historical, federal and non-tribal local laws - that usually disempower their members & exploit their resources to the benefit of non-tribal gov'ts aje.io/r7wms
"We need hope ... I'm not depending on the government to save us, but just like the tribe, we need each other to save each other."
Members of the Crow are patient and want outsiders to be a partner in finding solutions to combat the epidemic aje.io/r7wms
Members of the Crow are patient and want outsiders to be a partner in finding solutions to combat the epidemic aje.io/r7wms
