Hundreds of red dresses were displayed for a week on San Jose State’s campus for “The REDress project” representing missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and the gender non-conforming two-spirit community.
The REDress Project was launched in 2010 by artist Jaime Black, an Indigenous Canadian artist. The installation has been exhibited across Canada and the U.S. since then, according to the artist’s website.
The National Crime Information Center reported in 2016 that 5,712 American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls were reported missing.
Murder is the third leading cause of death for Native women, according a 2016 report led by the Urban Indian Health Institute, a non-profit organization which gathers data about America Indian and Alaska Native communities.
The SJSU MOSAIC Cross Cultural Center organized a panel and discussion on Friday for the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls.
The two speakers present were Sonya Tetnowski, CEO of the Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley, and Sharon Rose Torres, Native American team lead for the family outreach and engagement program at the Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Service Department.
Soma de Bourbon, SJSU sociology assistant professor moderated the discussion which consisted of approximately 45 students, staff and community members in attendance.
“I'm very grateful,” De Bourbon said. “It's one thing to know about history, it's another thing to actually be able to hear someone's history and hear about how this has actually been.”
Tetnowski said she believes violence committed against Indigenous girls and women lacks media attention.
“This initial decimation of the Indigenous population was followed by centuries of oppression, which continues today,” Tetnowski said. “The issue has been effectively ignored.”
Torres presented two videos, one about her childhood experience and the other about the healing process she’s been through growing up. She said she has been placed in foster care, and has been a victim of multiple abuses by her foster families.
“We just need to create spaces of trust and restoration,” Torres said. “It’s the key in my work, because it allows me to do the things that I want to do, to help other people.”
Based on data gathered by the National Crime Information Center 2016 report, Tetnowski said Native Americans and Alaska Native people experience a higher rate of violence than any other ethnicity in the U.S.
“Over 80% of Indigenous people have experienced violence in their lifetime” Tetnowski said based on the statistics from the same 2016 report.
In 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Savanna’s Act, which is a bill that requires the Department of Justice to strengthen training, coordination and data collection related to cases of murdered or missing Native Americans, according to a September 28, 2020 NPR article.
Savanna’s Act was named after 22-year-old pregnant Native Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind who was found dead in 2017 in the Red River near the North Dakota-Minnesota border, according to the same NPR article. She was murdered by a neighbor.
President Joe Biden signed an executive order on November 15, 2021, to improve public safety and criminal justice for Native Americans, to address the issue of Indigenous people who have been reported missing or murdered, according to the U.S. Department of Justice website.
“This new executive order and Savanna’s act demonstrate an awareness of the crisis, and a willingness to make some changes on a national level,” Tetnowski said. “But unfortunately, they both ignore the systemic issues of racism and sexism that are central to why there is a crisis at all.”
Tetnowski said in an interview after the panel that because American Indians represent less than 1% of the population, she believes the community is considered “statistically” insignificant and doesn’t receive a lot of awareness and media coverage.
“I share my story just to basically share the message that there's help out there and people are not alone,” Torres said.
De Bourbon said the REDress Project and the panel are events that “bring together the Native community, to share their grief and their survival.”
A few SJSU Native American students and alumni also shared their personal experiences of violence and mental health struggles at the end of the panel.
“I felt very relieved after this event, I haven't had a chance to attend a panel like this since December,” said SJSU Native alumni John Paul Amaral at the end of the discussion. “After knowing . . . that we have students who want to continue to do work, who inspire us, that we have allies in the community, I feel like there are changes to happen.”
