General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: One should not be upset/angry about Gabby Petito getting media attention. [View all]wnylib
(21,673 posts)lack of law enforcement action regarding violence against Native women is a big issue among indigenous people and has been for many years, long before this case with Gabby. There is a LOT of anger in Native communities over this. Very often when a Native woman is reported missing, LE does not do an investigation or search, at all. Sometimes they don't even bother to file a report. If a Native woman's body is found after being reported missing, it is usually because her family did their own search for her. Then LE does not investigate or search for the killer. The whole thing is ignored as if it never happened. There are over 700 cases like this.
Native communities do not have a group like BLM representing their interests in this. One reason is that each tribal nation has its own separate jurisdictional relationship with law enforcement agencies. Consequently, this issue is not well known outside of Native communities. When they express anger at the difference in the way that violence against Native women is handled, and then get told that this is an issue for all women, it is the same as telling BLM supporters that "All lives matter." It has the effect of dismissing this very serious and longstanding problem among Native people.
I know that this glossing over of Native anger is due to lack of awareness of indigenous issues in the greater public at large. As I said on my earlier post, I am white. But I am aware of this issue because I had a Native grandmother. I have relatives who live on Native land. I am not a tribal member because my grandmother's Native nation is matrilineal and she was my father's mother. The other side of my family is from northern European descent. (Even my grandmother had some European ancestry, which is not unusual among Native Americans.) This makes me more aware of the violence issue among Native woman than most non Native people are.
So when posters here express anger over the media coverage that Gabby's case is getting, they are not lashing out at her or her family. They are angry that there is no justice for Native women and their families.