Inspired Conversations: Race & Equity features Marisa Miakonda Cummings, president of the Minnesota Indian Women s Resource Center startribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from startribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Published May 10, 2021 at 9:20 AM CDT Listen • 48:27 Courtesy of Marybelle Armajo
At a rally in Des Moines on May 5, 2019, attendees wore red to honor the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Iowa.
The statistics are devastating. According to the National Institute of Justice, four out of five American Indian or Alaska Native women have been victims of violence, and over half of Native women have been victims of sexual violence. Some advocates against such violence believe these numbers may even underestimate the severity of the issue.
Trisha Etringer, a member of the Winnebago Tribe living in Sioux City, got involved in advocating for greater awareness of violence against Native and Indigenous women after she found out one of her own aunties had gone missing and was found dead in California.