We desperately need more Native American and First Nations women elected to office

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An 18-year-old female goes missing in the US. Her body is never found – and neither is the person responsible for her disappearance – but her story won’t make it on to any newsstands.

But when a recent high school graduate with blonde hair and blue eyes went missing in Aruba in 2005, the world erupted. People became so obsessed with Natalee Holloway’s disappearance that her story was made into a movie. Just last week, her case made headlines once again when a man accused of having a role in Holloway’s disappearance, John Ludwick, was found dead.

So, what’s the difference?

The first victim didn’t have Natalee’s “girl next door” look, but she is instead part of a community that values their neighbours above all else. She’s a Native American. Although she too experienced a tragedy, her story is easily forgotten. She doesn’t have a name, because she represents one of hundreds, if not thousands, of Native American and First Nations women who have gone missing in the US and Canada in recent decades.

This story isn’t new. For generations, Native Americans have been dispensable to Americans.

In the early 1800s, we selfishly forced them to uproot their families and trek across the country to live in the west. This journey killed thousands of them, all in the name of better real estate.

To this day, we still don’t treat them with the respect that they deserve. Just last November; our own President mocked a US Senator for proudly acknowledging her own Native American ancestry. At an event meant to honour Native American veterans, President Trump taunted Senator Elizabeth Warren, calling her “Pocahontas”.

Pocahontas, the popular animated Disney film, has grossly mistold the story of the real-life Pocahontas, a Native American woman living in North America in the early 1600s. Instead of revealing how she was kidnapped and taken prisoner by the English, the movie portrays Pocahontas as a princess that falls in love with a European settler.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is not a Disney princess. After attending law school, she established herself as a financial expert and taught for more than 20 years at Harvard Law School. There are rumours that she might run for President in 2020.

Trump’s childish name-calling hasn’t set Warren back, but his outburst highlights the truth; Americans don’t show Native Americans the same respect we demand for ourselves. As a result, we have overlooked our very own neighbours – and the consequences are chilling.

Research shows that Native American women are murdered at 10 times the national average and 84 per cent of Native American women have experienced violence in their lifetime. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, you’d think that the horror stories of Native American women would become a topic of conversation – but that’s not the case.

The underwhelming response to this data released in 2016 inspired North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp to start the social media campaign #NotInvisible in 2017. She even introduced a piece of legislation to help combat the enormous amount of murdered and missing Native American women in the US.

But since being introduced, the legislation has remained stagnant in the Senate and America has no way of monitoring the number of Native American women that go missing every single day.

Both the US and Canada share this problem and although Canada is doing something about it, many don’t feel it is enough.

In September 2016, Canada created a national inquiry to investigate the deaths and disappearances of more than 1,000 indigenous Canadian women. It will run until the end of 2018 – although the heads of the inquiry have asked for two more years to do their work – and will cost nearly £38m. Many Canadians have voiced frustrations with the inquiry, claiming the families of the victims have not been heard.

In my opinion, this isn’t surprising. The inquiry is a temporary solution, acting as a sticking plaster for an infection that has gone untreated for far too long. Now, the only way to recover is with fresh blood.

In other words, we need to elect more politicians that will address the mistreatment of Native American and First Nations women. And Deb Haaland of New Mexico and Sharice Davids of Kansas are trying to do just that.

Although Senators Elizabeth Warren and Heidi Heitkamp have done a great job of starting the conversation, Haaland and Davids might be able to move it forward, as they are Native American women themselves.

They are both running for Congress this year and if elected, they’ll become the first Native American women to ever hold a seat in the chamber. Both Democratic candidates are passionate about bringing different perspectives to the good old boys’ club. They are advocates of Native American women’s rights, but they are also passionate about gun control and climate change.

Women’s movements have long been criticised for not being intersectional, but Native American women have more barriers to break down. After all, there are a lot of differences between the #MeToo campaign and the one for Native American women’s rights. This latter movement isn’t being led by famous actresses with blonde hair and blue eyes, but by Native American women that are overqualified for the job.

This fight isn’t for Hollywood, a place where stories come alive – but for Indian Country, a place where tens of thousands of women’s stories are simply not being told.

The truth is, Native American women have been screaming #MeToo for a long time, but we haven’t been listening.