Tribal Community Urges ABC’s ‘Big Sky’ to Include Representation of Missing Native and Indigenous Women
As a show that focuses on abductions, many indigenous people believe that Big Sky should shed light on the crisis of Indigenous women who go missing every year.
The show Big Sky takes place in Montana, where most of the missing and murdered women are Indigenous. By not addressing this active issue, it neglects a whole group of people. Especially with a show that deals with a sensitive topic like the abduction of women, it’s important to acquire factually sound evidence that backs everything up so people are represented properly.
pissed that the new tv show Big Sky is about kidnapping of young women, but these young women are white girls and not indigenous women WHICH IS A HUGE ACTUAL ISSUE IN INDIGENOUS AND SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES! Missing and murdered indigenous women cannot be ignored and overlooked!!!
— Siri (@SiriDevlin) November 18, 2020
Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council Executive Director William F. Snell, Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana Chairman David Sickey, and Global Indigenous Council President Tom Rodgers took it upon themselves to speak up for those Indigenous women and voice their concern via a letter that was sent to ABC.
The letter stated, “To ignore this fact [that most missing women are Indigenous in Montana], and to portray this devastation with a white female face, is the height of cultural insensitivity, made even more egregious given the national awakening to the need for racial justice.”
“At their Nov. 2 meeting, the Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force reported there were 173 active missing people in Montana, and, of those, 51, or 29%, identified as Indigenous, as of Oct. 28. Native Americans account for 6.7% of Montana’s population.” –https://t.co/rbOkeRZEaw
— JoJo (@JoJoSalle) November 18, 2020
These three men were also the proud producers of the documentary, Somebody’s Daughter, which will be releasing soon. This film tackles the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women head-on. They hope to use their documentary as an educational resource about what seems to be continuously brushed off.
The time is now to demand truth behind these stories, which includes representing the stories of women in real life.
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