I was not aware of the epidemic of violence against, and the disappearance and/or murder of Indigenous women prior to getting to know some Indigenous people. I first became aware when I rode in a van, organized by Ed Fallon, to Minneapolis February 3, 2018, the day before the Super Bowl was played there. Minneapolis is the US Bank headquarters, and the Super Bowl was played in the US Bank stadium. US Bank has been involved in funding many fossil fuel projects. We gathered outside the bank offices with signs to call attention to that.
I was surprised when the speakers all talked about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), sometimes expressed as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR). I was just learning much of this violence came from the man camps, the living quarters for those work on the construction of fossil fuel pipelines.
Those who spoke, Sikowis Nobiss, Donnielle Wanatee, Kathy Byrnes and Ed Fallon, would become friends of mine. In these photos you can see the Missing and Murdered Women artwork held by several of the speakers.
Sikowis Nobiss 
Sikowis Nobiss 
Ed Fallon 
Kathy Byrnes 
Donnielle Wanatee 
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
That fall (2018) I participated on the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March. My friend Foxy Onefeather carried the MMIW sign during our eight-day, ninety-four mile walk along the path of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Many stories, photos and videos of that march can be found here: https://firstnationfarmer.com/
One goal of the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March was to create friendships and the beginning of trust among the marchers, so we could work together on things of common concern. One of the first things several of us did together was meet with Senator Chuck Grassley’s staff in Des Moines.
There were two pieces of legislation in Congress related to Native Affairs. One was the SURVIVE Act which is intended to get more funds from the Victims of Crime Act to Native communities. The second is Savanna’s Act, which allows tribal police forces to have jurisdiction over non-Native people on Native land, access to criminal databases and expanded collection of crime statistics. Senator Grassley was involved in the passage of the Victims of Crime Act.
This Monday a report was released saying the federal response to missing and murdered Indigenous women needs improvement.
The Missing or Murdered Indigenous Women; New Efforts Are Underway but Opportunities Exist to Improve the Federal Response GAO report concluded the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) have missed numerous deadlines set by the Not Invisible Act and Savanna’s Act, and it recommended that the departments develop an action plan to ensure they’re doing all they can to combat the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), a member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, called on the Biden administration to do more to address the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) after the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report finding that the government has not done enough to respond to the crisis.
Sen. Cortez Masto has led efforts in the Senate to protect Indigenous women and girls, and she asked that the GAO put together this report to investigate the federal response to violence facing Native women across the country.
NOT ENOUGH IS BEING DONE FOR MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN GAO Report Says of Federal Government by Native News Online, November 3, 2021
#MMIW
LANDBACK Friends 
Reblogged this on Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News and commented:
I was surprised when the speakers all talked about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), sometimes expressed as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR). I was just learning much of this violence came from the man camps, the living quarters for those work on the construction of fossil fuel pipelines.
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