A Canadian jewelry designer received the surprise of a lifetime when she turned on her television and saw Whoopi Goldberg wearing a necklace she made to highlight a vital issue.

The Winnipeg Sun reports Mish Daniels of Manitoba, Canada, started beading as a hobby when she was 13 years old. Her hobby turned into a way for her to bring awareness to the plight of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW). As a member of Sagkeeng First Nation, the issue is a personal one for Daniels.

Goldberg ended up with the necklace after MMIW activist Connie Greyeyes, who bought it from Daniels, gave it to her. Greyeyes explained her work and the MMIW movement to the “Color Purple” star, who vowed to wear it.

“I put it around her neck and she tucked it in her shirt and said, ‘I’ll always wear this and I’ll keep it close to me,’” Greyeyes recalled.

Goldberg wore the necklace during Tuesday’s taping of The View and talked about MMIW.

"People have been asking me about the necklace I'm wearing. It represents all Indigenous women who went missing on the Highway of Tears. All the women who've gone missing in this country as well," Goldberg said. "One of the things we always talk about is we say, 'Well, the press doesn't really pay attention when little Black girls go missing or when, you know, little brown girls go missing.' Well if you think they don't pay attention then, be Native American."

“Women need to come together and say none of us should be (going) missing,” Goldberg said. “This is my plea: Find out more about this. Because if they can take one of us, they can take any of us.”

Daniels didn’t know Goldberg had the necklace until her friend texted her and told her to watch The View. She was at home with her sick niece and nephew at the time. The kids were alarmed after their aunt started to scream and cry.

“I kind of scared the kids, so I had to tell them, ‘No, no, auntie’s crying good tears,’” Daniels told The Winnipeg Sun.

“I was shaking for about an hour after that. Even today, every time I see it, I get verklempt.”

Greyeyes was shocked and thankful Goldberg kept her word.

“Never in a million years did I think that offering somebody a gift like that would cause millions of people to hear about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada and the United States,” Greyeyes said.

“It’s those chance encounters and just once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that happened. I feel so blessed about it all.”

Indigenous women experience violence at a higher race compared to women of other races. Eighty-four percent of Indigenous women have experienced violence in their lives, according to a 2010 report by the National Institute of Justice. Indigenous women only make up 0.4% of the population but 0.7% of missing persons cases, per The Associated Press. Black women are the only other demographic who are overrepresented in missing persons cases.

A staggering 97% of domestic violence and sexual violence assaults are committed by non-Native men, according to the NCJRS report. Women of other races are typically targeted by men of the same race. The violence committed by non-Native men can be attributed to the limits placed on tribal courts’ ability to persecute non-Natives.

“I think the reason that Native women may go missing at higher rates than other groups of people is very similar to the reason that they are at higher risk for domestic violence and sexual assault,” University of Kansas professor and Muscogee (Creek) Nation member Sarah Deer told AP. “The legal system is simply not functioning properly (to prevent) these types of things from happening.”

According to The Appeal, the Violence Against Women Act was amended in 2013 to allow the tribal courts to try nonmembers for intimate partner violence. Still, those amendments only pertain to non-Natives who live on Native land, work there and/or those who have dated Indigenous women.

Goldberg’s small gesture put a spotlight on this important issue. Additionally, Daniels has seen an uptick in orders following The View co-host's gesture.

“I’m getting so many requests from people all over North America who currently have missing and murdered loved ones, and they want me to do one in memory and honour of them,” she said.

“[Those are] the ones that hit my heart.”

Daniels plans to quit her day job to focus on her jewelry business.

Mish-Daniels

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