Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight’s Statement on Indigenous Peoples’ Day
October 14, 2024
On October 12th, 1492, the future of the indigenous peoples of this continent would change drastically when a European explorer reached the beaches of present-day Bahamas. Five hundred and thirty-two years later, on October 14, 2024, the United States celebrated its fourth Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The Proclamation of this holiday served as a reminder to all Americans to “never forget the centuries-long campaign of violence […] wrought upon Native communities” and “recognize [Native peoples’] many ongoing contributions to our Nation.”1
Native Americans, Native Alaskans, and Native Hawaiians are the original stewards of the continent and islands on which they built complex societies and fostered diverse cultures. Native peoples are the investors of rich and sustainable agricultural systems that introduced food staples including corn, legumes, and rubber to the world. They are pioneers of the modern conservation movement and advocates for civil and tribal rights. Native peoples are doctors and researchers of medicine and medical devices, as well as engineers and astronauts contributing to a wide array of fields from aeronautical to nuclear sciences. And Native Americans continue a long tradition of service as leaders in their Tribal governments, as elected and appointed officials at the Federal and State level, and as members of United States military.2 Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight would like to take this opportunity to celebrate these many contributions.
We must also take a moment to further support indigenous organizations as they work to combat the ongoing violence perpetuated against their communities, particularly with respect to the increasing instances of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG). (Importantly, an additional MMIWG Awareness Day is observed on May 5th.)
According to Native Hope, the rising rates of MMIWG began in 1956 with the Indian Relocation Act.2 This legislation stripped away federal recognition of – and with it, public funding and assistance to – hundreds of Indian tribes to “incentivize” indigenous people to relocate to urban areas. While some indigenous communities have been able to thrive in their new urban environments, this migration has had fatal results for women.3 As of 2016, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI), the third most common cause of death for indigenous woman is murder.4 Of those recorded, 88% of the identified perpetrators are non-Indigenous, creating deadly jurisdictional issues for victims and their families.5 All of this is in addition to the murders and disappearances on Indian reservations themselves.
The UIHI conducted a groundbreaking study in 2018 to understand the extent of underreporting of MMIWG by federal and local enforcement. They found that among federal agencies, of the 5,017 reports of MMIWG by the National Crime Information Center, only 116 were cross-reported on the Department of Justice’s federal missing persons database. The researchers’ own FOIA requests revealed that, out of 71 cities in the United States, only 506 MMIWG cases could be identified with states like New Mexico, Washington, and Arizona reporting some of the highest numbers of incidents reported. The researchers also encountered numerous obstacles in obtaining accurate crime statistics. In some instances, local law enforcement, “[…] provided what they could recall from memory, or gave partial data.”6
Most recently, the Department of Justice (DOJ), cooperating with the Department of the Interior, has continued to make progress towards implementing guidelines set forth by Savannah’s Act, a 2020 law passed to increase the effectiveness and coordination of Federal, State, and Tribal law enforcement’s response to instances of MMIWG. An additional law passed in the same year, the Not Invisible Act, further created a commission comprising law enforcement representatives, Tribal leaders, federal officials, service providers, MMIWG survivors, their families, and family members of victims. This commission releases recommendations that the DOJ and DOI are responsible for implementing to further address this crisis. Through these Acts, the DOJ has also provided specialized MMIWG training to any law enforcement agency willing to volunteer.7 However, while the DOJ has published a “Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons” webpage, its data and usefulness is still limited by the availability and accuracy of current data.8 The documenting and reporting of MMIWG continues to rely on the varied cooperation of local law enforcement.9
The awareness around the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous woman and girls must increase, and the role that the legal community can play is as varied as it is difficult. For some, activism can take the form of untangling overlapping tribal and non-tribal laws that govern the investigations and prosecutions of these crimes.10 What’s more, in Canada, since the beginning of its own reckoning with cases of MMWIG, a number of families of victims have filed civil actions against federal and provincial authorities. However, attorneys bringing these actions have encountered resistance in the courts. In one particular case, a judge denied a motion for class certification and dismissed the case with prejudice for jurisdictional and evidentiary reasons.11 These issues are inextricably caused by grossly inaccurate data.
Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight is committed to further supporting indigenous persons and their communities’ work to preserve their history and culture.
Indigenous Peoples’ Day is an opportunity to remember that the indigenous people of this continent remain a “vigorous and by no means dying race of people.”12
[3] https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/10/native-americans-minneapolis/503441/
[4] https://www.nativehope.org/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-mmiw
[6] https://www.uihi.org/resources/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-girls/
[8] https://www.justice.gov/tribal/mmip
[10] https://www.uihi.org/resources/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-girls/
[12] https://alumnae.mtholyoke.edu/blog/ruth-muskrats-speech-to-president-coolidge-december-13th-1923/