National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit People
May 5th was the day,
A blog post at Sicangu Community Development Corporation explains the purpose:
Maybe you’ve seen the hashtag #MMIW on social media, or its counterpart, #MMIWG2. Both stand for Missing and Murdered Indigenous women, the latter adding on G2 for Girls and Two-Spirits. The hashtag was created to spread awareness for a generations-long silent epidemic that has stolen the lives of Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirits across Turtle Island (North America).
The National Indigenous Women's Resource Center has more important information. I was very moved by Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada has unveiling The Red Amautiit Project.
I suspect for a lot of White people, I'm "too woke." But most of the time I'm rather chagrined by how unaware I am, and in particular how I turn away from difficult realities. On May 5th, I couldn't think of any useful way to raise awareness of the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women.
Today, E. Jean Carroll won a judgment against Donald Trump. Carroll throughout the whole process has stated the the me too movement inspired her to come forward. That’s made me think again about “awareness.”
Back when the hashtag #MeToo was being posted everywhere, I noticed a male friend had posted #MeToo. I thought at the time something like: It's not for you. There are many particulars about sexual violence that are very important. But in in a general sense facing the reality of sexual violence is the critical thing for everybody. And by facing it to become open to healing action.
