Blame the System, not the Victim: Understanding the Lack of Advocacy for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Abstract

More than 5,000 Native American and Alaska Native women and girls go missing annually in the United States, and murder is the third leading cause of death for those aged 10 to 24. The current studies assess why, despite such statistics, individuals who are not Native American fail to advocate for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). The Pilot Study ( N = 205) and Study 1 ( N = 3,992) revealed that greater cognitive invisibility of contemporary Native Peoples (i.e., the absence of cognitive representations) was related to greater minimization of Native Peoples’ experiences with racism. Racism minimization was associated with greater blaming of MMIWG victims and less blaming of societal contributors to the epidemic. These factors predicted greater apathy toward MMIWG and less MMIWG advocacy. The results suggest that the cognitive invisibility of Native Peoples affords attitudes and beliefs that allow non-Native individuals to deny, justify, and distance themselves from the MMIWG epidemic.