Stand in Mourning for the Missing, Murdered, and Trafficked

AF3IRM NYC #MissingMurderedTraffickedJOIN US!

WHAT:
Rally to commemorate and let the world know we are vehemently, institutionally against the murder and trafficking caused by gender violence. Join us at AF3IRM NYC for an afternoon of stories and sisterly empowerement. Send us your story if you’d like to share it with the public as a tool for awareness, in this case violence against women. This is a coordinated effort as part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.

WHEN:
SATURDAY, December 5, 2015, 1-4 PM

WHERE:
Union Square Park (Near 17th Street and Broadway)

Can’t make it out this Saturday, 12/5/15 but want to participate in the 16 Days of Women’s Activism?  Join us online! If you have someone who’s missing, who’s been murdered, who has been trafficked, please add her name. Use the hashtag, email us at [email protected] or make sure to message us on Twitter or Facebook so that we may include her name and story.

FB Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/144929552535639/
Video: http://tinyurl.com/zl5erc4

#AF3IRMNYC16DAYS
#MMTW


For Immediate Release
Contact: [email protected]
December 2, 2015

STAND IN MOURNING FOR THE MISSING, MURDERED AND TRAFFICKED

NEW YORK– As we have fought this entire year for attention to be paid to the women murdered by police brutality, in these 16 Days, we call attention to the Missing, Murdered and Trafficked Women – a dismal fate to which tens of thousands have been consigned by the unholy connivance of state indifference, predators and race/gender exploiters.

Some 60,000 black women are missing in the US – a number which leaves both federal and state agencies unperturbed, on the assumption that the women and girls have run away, despite persistent reports of their being trafficked into the sex trade.

For the Hispanic community, homicide is the fourth leading cause of death among females of the age groups 1-9 and 15-24, while suicide tops homicide in the age group 10-14.

Suicide substitutes for homicide among Asian-American and Pacific Islander women.  It is the second leading cause of death among AAPI women age 15-34 and the third leading cause of death among girls age 10-14.

The intensity of gender oppression that breeds such a high rate of suicide may be gleaned from the fact that the Asia and Pacific regions are the source for a large percentage of persons trafficked to the United States.  Almost half of the trafficked women are for the sex trade while 27% end in domestic servitude.

The Missing, Murdered and Trafficked also affects indigenous women grievously.  Native American and Native Alaskan women are prone to experience violence at 2.5 times the rate for women of other races.  34% will be raped in their lifetime.  In some reservations, women were murdered at ten times the national average rate.  This culture of violence is inflicted upon native and aboriginal women trans-border, into Canada, where 1500 First Nations and aboriginal women have disappeared along a road conferred the title of a “highway of tears.”

From the foregoing data, it is clear that our current social order has failed and continues to fail women of color, native and aboriginal women.  AF3IRM therefore asks everyone to keep in mind the following:

  • When you speak of poverty, remember that the poorest of the poor in every community is a woman.
  • When you speak of exploitation, remember that the lowest paid is a woman.
  • When you speak of violence, remember that violence against women is pandemic.
  • When you speak of liberation, remember that the one with the greatest need and use for it is a woman.