Podcast On Gabby Petito and Missing Native American People by Adriana Giordano and Ryan Benson
A: Hi, this is Adriana and Ryan and we are talking on our podcast about Gabby Petito’s missing persons case and how the system of racism does not benefit indigenous people who are also missing. So just a quick recap: Gabby Petito is a young female who went on a road trip with her fiance and her family reported her missing. The case went extremely viral all over social media. It was all over Tick Tock and Instagram and Twitter, and people were coming up with their own hypothesis about what they think happened with her and why she’s missing, and the quick spread of the story was what allowed her body to be found so quickly because authorities were kind of pushed to take action faster, since it was all over social media. And this got both Ryan and I think, about the missing indigenous people and why their story hasn’t been as loudly pushed on social media and why Gabby Petito’s was so important to everyone on Tik Tok and Instagram. So we’re going to touch on basically all of that today. And what we think allows this certain situation to happen within the system of racism.
R: Yeah, so the way that I saw that, like, when I heard about the story I just started thinking about all the minorities and the stories that we don’t hear about. So, it got, I looked into the Native Americans because that seems to be the most prevalent issue out there. And what I found on the Urban Indian Health Institute is that in 2016, there were 5,712, Native American women that were missing or murdered. And I just, it blew me away because we never hear about that. It’s always the somewhat famous white people that go missing that you hear about. So it just, it really piqued my interest there and I kept looking into it. And apparently, let’s see here. They did a study across 71 cities. And it turns out that there were 506 cases of missing native people. It just, I can’t get over the fact that we never hear about any of that.
A: Right. And it’s, it’s honestly quite scary because like these are people’s families and their loved ones and when I was looking into it I saw that Native American women are 10 times more likely than the rest of the population to be more murdered according to the Department of Justice. So, that is literally our government coming out with that information and the same as your facts about how dangerous this is for these people and how they’re just missing and we never hear about it. And I think it almost, and I don’t think this isn’t to say like we shouldn’t have heard about Gabby Petito, like I think it’s a great thing that we were able to find her and her story was solved for her family, I don’t think anyone should ever like go missing and their story should just be silent. But it’s just very interesting that, like you’re saying, there’s so many people missing in this community and we just barely hear about it. And when I was researching it even some of the articles that I found were from 2016. So, obviously, activists have been trying to get traction on this for a long time.
R: Yeah, like people have been raising their hands and yelling their voices about this for years, apparently, and we just never hear it because it never gets picked up in the news.
A: Right
R: It never really trends anywhere. It’s just a thing that seems to happen, right, people have accepted it, you can’t do that with missing people.
A: Right. And when I was looking into it I think you probably saw some of the similar things a lot of the activists use like red hands and black hands like paint on their face, all over their mouth to show like them being silenced. And to me that’s kind of like a scary image, but just to see like that they’re trying so hard even with visuals and like trying an artwork to get help.
R: They’re trying for striking imagery.
A: Right. Exactly. And I think, in some cases like a Gabby Petito’s case, it did allow for a little bit more of people to start talking about indigenous people, but this system of like racism in the United States just silence these stories instead and prefers the young white girl who missing with her fiancé which unfortunately is the sad truth.
R: Yeah, and it definitely had help because she was a growing, like, what is it social media star. That helped the case but the fact that, why was she the one that got picked up in the news, over thousands of other people. It’s just, yeah I don’t get that part of it but I was looking at a website here actually. And it looks like the majority of the missing native people are children and teens. They have, what does this say 10,000 people that they are missing.Oh yeah, that’s just from 2020 there’s 10,000 people missing and, like, 70% of them are kids.
A: Wow. That’s sad. When I was looking into it further with more about like the artwork of it I think the older community is the one probably trying to get the story across more because their families and their younger families are the ones who are going missing.
R: They’re the ones that are seeing the effects of it.
A: Right. And I think it’s important to recognize like in these artworks in these protests, they’re not making the people missing seem weak at all, which I think is really important because they’re not in the images and in the artwork they’re not standing with a weak pose, they’re all very proud and strong. And I think that emphasizes, kind of a counter argument somebody could say is, “Oh they’re children, they were weak, they just were taken, you can’t really help them”. They’re saying, “no that is not why this is happening, we are just like everyone else in the population and like we are strong and our children are strong we’re proud of our children, they’re just, there’s a lot of violence and racism against us and not as why all of this is happening”
R: Yeah, by drawing them that way and depicting them that way it’s making it just be like, “Hey, we’re like y’all, we are like anybody else and we deserve to be treated that way.”
A: Exactly.
R: They just keep talking about, oh yeah, they keep talking about how even with COVID-19, it was easier, for like there were more people missing then, because it was easier to say, “oh they died of COVID-19”, when really they got kidnapped or trafficked. That’s interesting.
A: I think part of the issue, the reason why, I don’t know if you agree, but the reason why I feel like there might be separation on that this issue is because a lot of people think since a lot of Native Americans live on tribal lands or reservations, that we are not connected to them. But that’s not necessarily true because only 22% of Native Americans live, according to Native Hope, which is like their website I’ve been doing research on, only 22% live on tribal lands and reservations. So that’s saying, all these people who are missing, is part of the law enforcement that we all also rely on. It’s not the tribal law enforcement job to find them if they’re not on the tribal lands or reservations.
R: Yeah, that is an interesting point because from a legal sense, the tribal lands cannot be, like the police in the area around them cannot go on that land, but if only 22% of natives live in the reserves, then, this is, this is an issue that we all have because they’re legally they’re just like us.
A: Right. And I think, too, It’s, it’s a counter argument for anyone who were to say like, “Oh well, they’re like, they’re living like it on the reservation like they’re their own population like we don’t know what’s going on there” like, no, that is our fault, as people of privilege or people who are in a connected community with these Native American people because we’re not listening. It’s not it’s not their fault because they’re not connected with us. They are, we’re living on the same lands they’re just, we’re not listening loud enough to what they need and how to help basically.
R: Yeah, it’s definitely a reasoning there’s like. Just the fact, I didn’t know that only 22% of natives live on their reserves, that honestly just blown me away right now.
A: Yeah, I didn’t either until I was like doing research about it because I was like, “okay maybe it’s just like a reserve thing. I don’t really know how a Native American reserves works very well, before I started reading into it” but I think it said, yeah it says, “78% of America’s native population lives off of reservation, with 60% of those residing in an urban area” So, it also says “cities offer few ties to native cultures communities and tribal law enforcement” (Native Hope). I think part of it also falls within the city’s fault for not having, like an extra part in their government and extra and their police of understanding how to help these missing indigenous people and like where they can step in it, where they can work with each other to try to solve this issue.
R: Yeah, this is definitely a growing issue and it seems like it’s not going to be changing anytime soon. So, I think all we can really do right now is just keep raising awareness of it and give, if you got it and you’re able to, give money to these causes, because that’s the only way that anything’s going to really change.
A: Right, I agree and I think we saw with Gabby Petito’s case, like the solution of her missing was through, like, social media and it was through it becoming talked about, so I completely agree.
R: Yeah, just getting it in people’s minds that this person’s missing and then it’s going to, everyone’s going to be on the lookout then.
A: Right, yeah I completely agree. I think we just need to talk about it more and we need to be more open, listening to these conversations because I mean I have seen some stuff on social media about Native Americans missing because I’ve seen a lot of Tik Toks about like the red paint with like the indigenous music in the background, and then like all the comments kind of talking about it, but it was not nearly the same magnitude of Gabby Petito’s.
R: Oh sure, sure.
A: I think you’re completely right that the way we can help and be an activist is to use our voice and spread what we know about it.
R: Yeah.
Works Cited
Hayine, Devon. “How States Are Addressing the Missing Indigenous Women …” How States Are Addressing Violence Against Indigenous Women, https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2021-11-01/how-states-are-addressing-the-missing-indigenous-women-crisis.
“Native Hope.” Native Hope, https://www.nativehope.org/.
Schilling, Vincent. “A ‘Call for Justice’: Mmiwg Awareness Day.” Indian Country Today, Indian Country Today, 4 May 2021, https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/a-call-for-justice-mmiwg-awareness-day.