“Red Dress Day” calls attention to missing & murdered Indigenous women
By Jeremy Lee
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HILO, Hawaii (KITV) — Advocates and survivors lined Kanoelehua Avenue in Hilo to break the silence.
“Red Dress Day” was promoted across the islands in May to call attention to missing and murdered indigenous women.
As a survivor of abuse, Moani Ke’ala Muna told Island News that advocacy and support groups are key.
“I didn’t have a community that could handle the weight of my world. Nobody believed me as a four-year-old when I had my sex assault exam. Nobody believed me. So my whole view is I will believe survivors. And once we start making that shift, I think it will also shift how we treat people when they disclose,” said Muna.
On the Big Island, Native Hawaiian children between the ages of 15 and 17 make up the highest number of missing children cases. The most cases on Hawaii Island are in the Hilo zip code.
“There were lots of waving and honking of horns which felt really supportive. The message I want to get out is we need to start looking at our communities as belonging to us and take personal responsibility for the welfare of our children,” said Muna of the Hilo sign wave.
Per the most recent OHA.org report, more than a quarter of the missing girls in our state are Native Hawaiian. The May 5th sign wave was sponsored by the Hawaii Committee on the Status of Women and other advocates who want the DHS and government to reinstate the Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Women and Girls Task Force.
The Hawaii Police Department also showed support.
“And so I think there’s really a push to have a lot more education in our school systems amongst our teachers, amongst the administration, and then to be able to really tie in collaborations with our police department and other enforcement agencies,” said community advocate Laura Acasio.
Governor Josh Green earlier this month declared Hawaii a trauma-informed state, indicating a focus on services that address the root causes of abuse.
“After Ariel died and then Gianna Bradley died, they wanted to do something to try to make changes. And the changes will come from the people from within saying, we’re not going to do this anymore, we’re not going to tolerate the abuse of our children, we’re going to start believing our children when they report that they’re being harmed,” said Muna.
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