Missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit: a crisis of tribal sovereignty

Native women face murder rates more than 10 times the national average. According to the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, homicide is the third leading cause of death among Native girls and women aged 10 to 24 and the fifth leading cause of death for Native women aged 25 to 34. The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit People (MMIWG2S) crisis is not a new phenomenon despite the fact it's making national headlines recently. The violence that indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people (those that are genderqueer or with multiple gender identities) face has roots in colonization, genocide, and the erosion of tribal sovereignty carried out by the legal system and federal discriminatory policies. Self-determination and restoration of sovereignty is one solution to the MMIWG2S crisis.

When indigenous communities are asked what they want, they often respond with tribal sovereignty or self-determination. Understanding the history of Indigenous people's fight for self-determination is crucial to understanding why the MMIWG2S crisis is occurring in the first place. According to Rudolph Ryser's Between Indigenous Nations and the State: Self-Determination in the Balance paper: when defining self-determination it is the "right of all peoples to freely choose their social, economic, political and cultural future without external interference." Self-government means that the Indian Nation that makes and enforces its own decisions. 

The legal system has continuously deprived Indigenous peoples of their rights to self-determination, eroding their sovereignty and constructing U.S. legal rules in place of self-determination. The 1871 Indian Appropriations Act severed formal government relations between Indian Nations and the United States. After the landmark Crow Dog decision in 1883, which recognized treaty obligations between the United States. and the Sioux Tribe, Congress took back its power via the Major Crimes Act. This Act imposed U.S. authority inside Indian territory over eight crimes which including murder, manslaughter, rape, and assault. Through the use of the legal system, the United States has been able to carry out its settler-colonial policies. As American historian Roxane Dunbar-Ortiz argues, settler colonialism is the founding of a state based on white supremacy, African slavery, and land theft. An invasion of lands also creates an invasion of people's bodies. 

This jurisdictional and legal struggle has important implications for who has jurisdiction over violence against women on Indian land is treated. As Dartmouth professor Bruce Duthu states in his 2008 New York Times op-ed, remedies to sexual violence [against indigenous people] are often non-existent, He writes, "when non-Indian men commit acts of sexual violence against Indian women, federal or state prosecutors must fill the jurisdictional void."  Duthu goes on to explain that "more than 80 percent of Indian victims identify their attacker as non-Indian." He also advocates that tribal governments to have jurisdiction over reservation-based crimes "given their familiarity with the community, cultural norms and in many cases, understanding distinct tribal languages." 

Indigenous women are also uniquely positioned. Consequences of state-sanctioned violence are heightened when analyzing their positionality through the lens of geography, social and geographic isolation. Often, residing on reservations can also pose significant barriers to getting the justice they deserve. As U.C. Davis Law professor Lisa Pruitt writes in the Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender and Society in 2009, taking into consideration the rural-urban axis (when it comes to domestic violence) is very important when it comes to the presence, investigation, and judicial decision-making regarding crime. The same can be said of Native Nations who are not served on or off the reservation system. 

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to the tribal sovereignty and jurisdictional issue. However,  U.S. encroachment over Indian sovereign authority does not allow Indian nations to create safe communities. A large grassroots movement with advocates, family members, and the general community continues to call for accountability and public awareness in the wake of the MMIWG2S crisis. In fact, indigenous people have mobilized a community response through toolkits, calls to action, and working towards restorative justice and community healing. 

Indigenous advocates and allies caution giving power to police should come because the police themselves perpetuate gender-based violence against Indigenous women as discussed here. Native people are more likely to be killed by police officers than any other minority group in the country. Prosecutions might not deliver the justice the community wants either, but working towards sovereignty and self-determination gives agency and autonomy back to indigenous communities empowering them to both prevent and resolve this crisis. 

Justice for indigenous people is what they decide for themselves. It involves what indigenous people have called for: land back, a return to indigenous practices of care towards the land, education, and employment opportunities. Ultimately, resolving the crisis of MMIWG2S involves an intersectional approach that considers the history and root causes of this gendered violence, and which takes into consideration the current legal, political, economic, and social conditions that have fueled this crisis. Ultimately, our goal should be to end this violence and protect our communities.