Logline
This is the journey of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) - Missing and Murdered Ingenious People (MMIP), exposing the complex political relationship in which the epidemic of violence against Native women is rooted, and the tribal grassroots movement for the safety of Native women
Format
This documentary feature will be narrated. Award winning actress Frances Fisher has agreed to be the narrator.
The stories of violence against these woment are a crisis that cannot wait to be addressed.
The Journey of VAWA & MMIP begins in the United States, when violence against Native women has reached unprecedented levels on tribal lands throughout the country and in Alaskan Native villages.
The story of the 1980’s Blue Dress originally made for Tillie and worn by many Indigenous women honored on historic occasions in 30 years of the movement.
In 1990, Senator Joe Biden introduces the first version of the VAWA to the Senate.
2005
VAWA is reauthorized in a bipartisan manner by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 5th. 2006. It includes the first titled dedicated to safety for MMIP-lndian women.
Donna Anthony is the Justice Director for Chickaloon Tribal Police the Department and the Chickaloon Tribal Court in Alaska. The 2005 version of the VAWA granted tribal law enforcement access federal criminal databases to respond to tribal victim's occurrences and domestic violence, not MMIP.
The UN General Assembly adopts the UN declaration on the rights of Indigenous people with four countries opposing the declaration including the United States.
In 1999 Indian organizations, native women organizations, tribes, and others working to end violence against native women file an amicus brief with the Inter-American commission on human rights in support of the plaintiff in Jessica Lenahan (Gonzales) vs. United States, the first individual case brought by a victim of domestic violence against the United States for international human rights violations.
In 2011 the commission found the United States violated its obligation under in United States human rights laws by failing to protect Ms. Lenahan and her daughters from violence by her estranged husband.
Play Video
Oct 24, 2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvPtMCrl4J4
As an invited international Indigenous expert, Terri Henry, tribal Councilwoman for eastern band of Cherokee Indians and Co-chair of the NCAI task force on violence against native women, discusses the epidemic of violence against native women in the US and how the United States is failing to meet its human rights obligations.
Terri thanks Senator Akaya for introducing the SAVE Native Women Act which was incorporated into the VAWA 2013 to become the historic amendment restoring criminal jurisdiction to Indian tribes over non-Indians committing domestic violence.
Suquamish Tribe; home to Helen Martinez and her children, members of the Alaska Native Village of Savoonga. S. 1925 would confirm the intent of Congress in enacting the Violence Against Women Act of 2000 by clarifying that every tribe has full civil jurisdiction to issue and enforce certain protection orders involving any persons, Indian or non-Indian. This would effectively reverse Martinez v. Martinez, 2008 WL 5262793, No. C08-55-3 FDB (W.D. Wash. Dec 16, 2008), which held that an Indian tribe lacked authority to enter a protection order for a nonmember Indian against a non-Indian residing on non-Indian fee land within the reservation.
The only full-time sexual assault nurse at the Maniilaq Health Center in Kotzebue, Alaska, a small hub city of about 3,000 people. She sees both pediatric and adult cases. If there's been an allegation of an assault, whether the patient themselves said it, or someone else like a teacher reported it, they will come to the clinic. For the children, there’s a specialized team that does forensic interviews that are neutral.
President Obama signed into law the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, on March 7th, 2013, restoring limited criminal jurisdiction of Indian tribes over non-Indians in cases of domestic violence and other important tribal amendments.
On an “herstorical” day in the United States Tillie Black Bear said it is only right that President Obama signed the passage of the 2013 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). This VAWA legislation will give Indian tribes the necessary tools to provide safety and justice to tribal women from non-tribal men who commit physical and sexual violence on federally recognized.
Play Video
Oct 24, 2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMX3j6VX_rY
Melissa discovered roller derby and was brought back to life. Melissa continues skating while bringing awareness to MMIP, health and healing.
They opposed the bipartisan House-passed bill, due to its new protections for LGBTQ, Indigenous victims of abuse, and a new gun safety provision that prohibited people who have been convicted of abusing their partners from owning firearms, closing the so-called boyfriend loophole.
An expanded recognition of Tribal sovereignty was enacted by the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization Act of 2022 (VAWA 2022), signed into law by President Biden on March 15, 2022. VAWA 2022 also specifically refers to participating Tribes as including those in the state of Maine and establishes a pilot program under which the Attorney General is to designate up to five Alaska Tribes per calendar year as participating Tribes to exercise Special Tribal Criminal Jurisdiction (STCJ) over all persons present in the Tribal Village.
Play Video
Oct 24, 2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD0mFsdf0mo
