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Raising Awareness for Abducted Women
To learn more about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and the REDress Project, read a recent blog here.
The picture of a Native woman with a red hand imprinted on her back accompanying this description is meant to shock. The red hand is an often used symbol to represent the silent tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW}. Thus the title of the art work by Paige McNatt is "The Unheard Woman." Born out of the violence of colonization, forced relocations, and eroded sovereignty, the murder, rape and trafficking of Indigenous women and youth is a critical crisis that can no longer be ignored.
More than 1.5 million American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime. Indigenous women are more likely to be murdered with a rate up to 10 times the national average. The maze of jurisdictional authorities that must be negotiated to bring changes and the the shame associated with thee crimes results in reported numbers which are often under representative of the true situation.
Upper New York Committee on Native American Ministries ha begun to address the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and their families as part of our education and advocacy work. As we seek to honor, advocate for, and remember our Native Sisters, we ask the support of all United Methodists. This is an opportunity to make a difference. For Action steps you can take: visit the Northeastern jurisdiction Native American Ministries Committee (https://www.nejnamc.org/) MMIWG page and to know more about this important issue isit the Education page. to find liturgies you can use to bring awareness to your congregation visit the Worship page.
Justice for our children, Healing for our communities
The artist, Paige McNatt, explains the image on front: “The school is in the background with the children’s moccasins and shorn braids being buried with the truth in the foreground. I wanted to have dark, looming clouds in the sky behind the school to convey the darkness and pain that it represents. I chose to have "justice for our children" behind a yellow, more hopeful part of the sky. On the grass, there are brown spots to show that there are many other holes just like the one in the foreground of the drawing.”
Justice for Our Children; Healing for Our Communities
Stop burying the truth of the horrific acts of cruelty and deaths of Native children at boarding schools
Return our children to their family homelands from mass and individual graves wherever they are
Speak the trauma that has been passed down from generation to generation in our communities
Persevere in holding governmental, church and private institutions accountable for restitution Our children’s names were unknown to the strangers who stole them, but we continue to sing out our children’s names. October 6, 2021: Day of Remembrance and Action
This date remembers the forcible taking of Native children to the first off-reservation boarding school at Carlisle, PA by Captain Pratt in 1879, though compulsory “mission schools” existed long before
Learn more at: https://boardingschoolhealing.org/
Wear the color orange in solidarity with others standing for truth and standing against violence
Hold prayer circles and sacred gatherings to remember our children, inviting others to join
Advocate for federal, state and local government and church leadership to search out and make known the truth of the slaughter of our children, people and culture
UNY CONAM endorses NEJNAMC on Statement of Full Inclusion (2.22.21.)
The United Methodist Church Northeastern Jurisdiction Native American Ministries Committee announces official position on full inclusion of LGBTQIAS2+ persons. Read story here.