Associated Press runs series on 'Missing in Indian Country'

Wednesday, September 5, 2018  

The Associated Press has published a series of stories on missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

Missing in Indian Country focuses on cases like those of Ashley HeavyRunner Loring. The 20-year-old citizen of the Blackfeet Nation went missing in Montana in June 2017. Family members are still looking for her.

"I don't want to search until I'm 80. But if I have to, I will," older sister Kimberly tells the AP.

Similar stories have been collected throughout Indian Country, the AP notes, with indigenous women and girls of all ages and from all types of backgrounds affected. Tribal advocates complain there is little attention paid to what many have described as an epidemic.

"Our people go missing at an alarming rate, and we would not hear about many of these cases without Facebook," Sadie Young Bird, the executive director of victim services for the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, says in a tribal consultation report compiled by the Department of Justice.

The AP notes that Congress has taken action to address high rates of crime in Indian Country and high rates of victimization of Native women, data for which goes back nearly two decades and has been repeatedly confirmed. The Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, for example, authorizes tribes to impose stronger sentences on offenders. The reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013 includes landmark provisions that recognize tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians who abuse their partners.

But only recently have the federal government and states begun to look at missing and murdered indigenous women and girls, the AP points out. Trafficking in Indian Country is also a newer focus.

"Violence against Native American women has not been prosecuted," Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota), the sponsor of a bill named after Savanna Marie Greywind, a citizen of the Spirit Lake Nation who went missing and murdered in North Dakota, tells the AP.

"We have not really seen the urgency in closing cold cases. We haven't seen the urgency when someone goes missing," Heitkamp says. "We don't have the clear lines of authority that need to be established to prevent these tragedies."

#NotInvisible: Why are Native American women vanishing? (The Associated Press September 5, 2018)
Haunting stories behind missing posters of Native women (The Associated Press September 5, 2018)
Despite past reforms, Native women face high rates of crime (The Associated Press September 5, 2018)
Feds, state lawmakers propose new ways to help Native women (The Associated Press September 5, 2018)

The missing and murdered: 'We as Native women are hunted' (August 27, 2018)
Celeste Liddle: Comedian makes fun of Indigenous women and gets away with it (August 10, 2018)
'Nine months of looking': Olivia Lone Bear's body recovered on reservation (August 6, 2018)
'Native women can't wait': Bill expands tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians (July 26, 2018)
White Mountain Apache man sentenced for death of 16-year-old girl (July 11, 2018)
'No more stolen sisters!': Events raise awareness of the missing and murdered (May 9, 2018)
Mary Annette Pember: Little data on missing and murdered Native women and girls (May 8, 2018)
Jacqueline Keeler: The search continues for Olivia Lone Bear in North Dakota (May 8, 2018)
Graham Lee Brewer: Change comes too slow for missing and murdered sisters (May 7, 2018)
Mary Annette Pember: New tool tracks missing and murdered indigenous women (May 1, 2018)
Senate declares May 5 as day of awareness for missing and murdered sisters (April 26, 2018)
Mary Annette Pember: Efforts grow for missing and murdered sisters (April 2, 2018)
Mary Annette Pember: Tribes take action to fight human trafficking (March 15, 2018)
Mary Annette Pember: Falling short on protecting Native women (March 12, 2018)
Leader of National Congress of American Indians slams 'fugitives' bill (February 16, 2018)
Tribal leaders cheer surprise speaker as meeting in D.C. winds down (February 14, 2018)
Defendant sentenced for kidnapping and murder of Spirit Lake Nation woman (February 2, 2018)
Sacred run raises awareness of missing and murdered Native women (January 31, 2018)
Report faults Department of Justice for public safety issues in Indian Country (December 18, 2017)
Federal jury returns guilty verdict for brutal murder of woman on Crow Reservation (December 8, 2017)
Indian Country public safety bills advance amid silence from Trump administration (December 5, 2017)
Jacqueline Keeler: Pocahontas is a reminder of our missing and murdered sisters (December 4, 2017)
Tribal safety measures encounter little resistance from Department of Justice (October 26, 2017)
Sen. Heitkamp introduces bill to address 'epidemic' of missing and murdered Native women (October 5, 2017)
Department of Justice won't collect data on Native human trafficking victims (September 27, 2017)
More data needed to address human trafficking in Indian Country (April 19, 2017)