ALASKA DAILY

ALASKA DAILY

By CarolAnn Peterson, PhD

?I’ve built my career being an advocate, consultant, trainer, expert witness, and author on domestic violence.?Being a TV critic is not one of them – until now.?I watched the first episode (pilot) of Alaska Daily with Hilary Swank (ABC Television).?I watched because the promos grabbed my attention and I have been a fan of Hilary Swank for many years.?She is an amazing actress and her roles have been of strong women.?In this particular role she is a national reporter who walks out on her job due to her “bullying” of women – which she finds appalling since she’s fought against this.?Four months later still being unemployed receives a call from a friend and colleague who is the editor at the Daily Alaskan newspaper.?Her first assignment is to look into a missing Indigenous woman.?She quickly learns that no police reports have been released, the coroner has not provided a report and that there are hundreds if not thousand missing and murdered Indigenous women.

?In less than 24 hours on the job, she quickly learns that the way of life in Alaska is totally different than the lower 48 contiguous states.?She even creates a riff between law enforcement and the newspaper by calling in a favor and pressuring the police to release their report on the case.?She also learns that due its location, Alaska time is also different.?In following up on the case, she calls a friend of the missing woman’s mother and is shocked to realize it’s 10:30 at night…but the sun is still shining.?All in all, in 24 hours she also garners a death threat.

?The first episode certainly grabbed my attention.?After a little investigation of mine own, I have learned that this is a new TV series – not a limited series.?The next two episodes also involve the investigation into missing and murdered Indigenous women.

?I was impressed that at the end of the episode the statistic that “in some areas of the United States, Native American women are murdered at rates more than 10 times the national average (Violence Against Women Act, 2022)”.?And the ending phrase – “The Injustice of Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women MUST END”.?Also, in the credits was this – “Inspired by the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica Series LAWLESS: SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN ALASKA and additional, related reporting by Kyle Hopkins”; who listed in the credits as one of the Executive Producers along with Hilary Swank.

?True to Ms. Swank’s character, as in her other roles, she’s a force of nature.?

?Variety has given the show a positive review and ABC News likes the show but indicates they believe it has the makings of a medium-level hit.?Both report that Ms. Swank’s character is tough and no non-sense.

?For me it is truly gratifying to see a show and character shine the spotlight on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women who so often overlooked and forgotten.?As stated by one of her reporter colleagues who is Alaskan Native of the missing woman is – suicide is used to as an excuse to not investigate crimes against Native women…and if she were white and blonde, her face would be plastered all over CNN.?It’s also gratifying that the show does not back down on women being tough and strong – however, as is typical of shows portraying strong and tough women, Eileen Fitzgerald (Swank’s character) is also a workaholic and drinks too much – do we say that about men?

?However, I digress.?In this world of stories about rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and murder of women, the Native population is egregiously overlooked and dismissed. This is an issue near and dear to my heart as being 1/8 Native American, I have always cherished my heritage.?I believe that every living entity has a soul, that we give thanks for the food we eat because the animals that give their lives for our sustenance, to cleanse a new home and bless it before moving into it, and to honor our ancestors.?Missing and murdered Indigenous women are part of my heritage, I would be remiss and dishonor my great grandmother who was Blackfeet if I don’t continue to shine the spotlight on this issue.

?Any violence against any woman – no matter her heritage and ethnicity cannot go unreported.?It is important to remember that for missing and murdered Indigenous women, most are not placed in a data base, many are “lost” due to jurisdictional issues, and in spite of two federal pieces of legislation to create commissions to establish protocol on reporting – these women continue to be pushed into the background as if they don’t matter.

?There are many organizations who work on this issue – the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, Native Hope (Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women), Native Women’s Association of Canada, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA, to name a few.

?Until every missing and murdered woman is accounted for and placed in a data base and their cases can bring closure to their families – all of us have a lot of work to do in ending violence against women and in particular, missing & murdered Indigenous women.We cannot leave one woman behind.

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