A very popular story that has been circulating the news and social media is the story of Gabby Petito. She is a young white woman who went missing after going on a road trip with her fiancé. Her story went viral. There are a plethora of things on TikTok and Instagram about the story, and people obsessing over the details of the story and when police will find Gabby.
This made me wonder why her story went so viral. What about the thousands of indigenous women missing around the United States? Why did their story not go viral? According to NBC, around “2,306 Native American women and girls in the U.S., about 1,800 of whom were killed or vanished within the past 40 years” (NBC 1). However, the stories of these women did not go viral, and still have not received national attention like Gabby Petito’s story. The systematic injustice here represents racism towards indigenous citizens, which is putting them in danger.
The system favors white individuals like Gabby and pushes their story to the news faster. This occurs not because one story is more important than another, but because of unconscious racial bias in our news sources and social media. Whether or not people are conscious of it, they are only promoting the story of Gabby, and therefore pushing the story of the thousands of missing Native American women under the rug. Recent artists and activists have tried to raise awareness for these missing women by using artwork and red paint. The red paint symbolizes blood and violence. The women in these images, attached in the link below, stand proud and bold. This emphasizes that this situation of violence does come from weak women. The women are not at fault, instead the system of injustice is. This system enables men to violently kidnap and hurt indigenous women. The system also enables their absences to slip into silence.
Obviously, no one should ever go missing. However, when Gabby’s story went viral, it would have been beneficial if news and social media also talked about how common this is for minorities. This could have raised awareness for missing indigenous women, and allowed their families to speak their stories. The system has failed missing Native American women, and continuously silents their injustices.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lack-awareness-data-hinders-cases-missing-murdered-native-american-women-n1235233
Alberta artist’s paintings of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women help families heal
I think that this is a super important thing to write about! This is definitely not talked about enough. Large scale searches like the one for Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie are very rarely launched for minorities. Everybody needs to open their eyes and treat every case the same, no matter who the victim is. Great job!
Hi!
I really like the topic you chose for your showcase. This is personally a topic I would like to be more informed on, and I think that your post helped in this! I specifically like the media you chose to include, I think it helped to emphasize the information in your post and was very relevant. Overall, really good job conquering this topic!