As children, many of us were taught that the Native Americans were wiped out by disease and warfare upon the arrival of Columbus and the Europeans. Fortunately, this is not the case. There are actually about 3 million Native Americans living in America today. One fifth of these Native Americans still live on reservations. A number of issues are affecting the American Indian communities, one of the most jarring being the police brutality that afflicts many Native American families. According to the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice American Indians are more likely than any other race to be killed by the police. This statistic speaks major volumes given that they make up such a small fraction of our countries population.

One of the most recent police killings occurred on October 21st. Renee Davis was a 23-year-old woman who was five months pregnant. Police headed to Davis' home for a "Wellness Check" after being informed that Renee was suicidal. Deputies arrived on the scene and found Davis with a handgun and opened fire. Davis had 2 children and no history of being violent. Incidents like these have helped to spark the hashtag #NativeLivesMatter on social media. However, unlike the ever growing #Blacklivesmatter movement, #NativeLivesMatter has not been getting much attention from news outlets.

Many Americans are unaware that such a thing even exists. This in part could be a result of the low numbers of Native Americans in this country compared to other communities, as well as the fact that most people believe they were wiped out long ago. It may even seem as though many American Indians do not have a voice in exposing the wrong that occurs on the reservations. However, with the success of the Black lives matter movement exposing police violence, and the large platform of social media, all of that could change.