Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit have faced unfathomable violence since the arrival of settler colonialism. Dr. Blythe George, a Member of the Yurok Tribe, is here to unpack the ongoing epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and talk about its causes while centering survivorship, resilience, and healing.

Professor Blythe K. George is from McKinleyville, CA, and is a member of the Yurok Tribe. She previously served as a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow in Sociology at UC Berkeley after completing her Ph.D. in Sociology & Social Policy from Harvard University. Her research focuses on processes of adversity and resilience in tribal communities, with an emphasis on qualitative methodologies and database creation and management. Prof. George also serves as the research partner for the To'Kee Skuy'Soo Ney-Wo-Chek'—I Will See You Again in a Good Way project, in collaboration with the Yurok Tribe and the Sovereign Bodies Institute. This project, which was funded by the US Department of Justice’s Coordinated Tribal Assisted Solicitation (CTAS Grant) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Justice Support, generates an understanding of the scope and severity of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit peoples in Northern California, with an emphasis on intervening in these cycles of violence by designing and implementing “best practices and protocols” for tribes in addressing MMIWG2.

Resources:

• Sovereign Bodies Institute: https://www.sovereign-bodies.org/
• NamUs Database: https://www.namus.gov/
• National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center: MMIW Toolkit for Families and Communities

Reads:

• Yurok Tribe, Sovereign Bodies Institute: To’ kee skuy’ soo ney-wo-chek’ - I Will See You Again In a Good Way Year 1 and Year 2 Progress Reports, Yurok Tribe Press Release
• Urban Indian Health Institute: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Report, 2018

Support the fight to bring back our stolen Sisters by donating to:

• Sovereign Bodies Institute: https://www.sovereign-bodies.org/donate
• National Indigenous Women’s Resources Center: https://www.niwrc.org/donate