Overview: Missing And Murdered Indigenous Peoples’ Initiative
Across the country, Indigenous people –particularly women and girls – go missing and are murdered and trafficked at rates that far exceed national averages. An extensive and growing body of research links spikes in violence to fossil fuel “man camps,” boom and bust communities that draw itinerant workers from around the country with no connection to tribal communities, and where drug and alcohol abuse are widespread. Nationwide, the city with the highest rates of violence against women and girls is just north of us in Seattle. But much research is needed to understand the scope of the problem in Vancouver and Southwest Washington more broadly.
Julian Ankney, Courtesy WSU
The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Initiative was launched at WSU Vancouver in the wake of the passage of two key pieces of Washington State legislation to address the crisis – HB 2951 in 2018 and HB 1713 in 2019. The project was initiated by and is being helmed by Julian Ankney, the Director of Native American Programs at WSU Vancouver.
A member of the Nez Perce/Nimiipuu Tribal Nation, Julian’s work, and her struggle to locate her brother Michael Murphy, have been highlighted in The Columbian.
Under Ankney’s leadership, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Initiative is working to integrate attention to MMIPs across the curriculum at WSU Vancouver, and in faculty, graduate and undergraduate research; and also to develop digital and theater-based intergenerational storytelling bodies with students in the Pacific Northwest to explore the impact of missing and murdered Indigenous people in their own lives. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Initiative is working to develop a campus rapid response network to help support family members of the missing in their search.
PHOTO: A participant at a “Greater than Fear” march in Minnesota raises awareness of violence against Native American women. (Lorie Straull/Flickr)
Image from 2019 Women’s March on Washington (slowking4/Wikicommons)
For more information, email julian.ankney@wsu.edu and julian.ybarra@wsu.edu