April 04, 2019

Warren Joins Daines and Senate Colleagues in Reintroducing Resolution Designating May 5th as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls

Indigenous women face murder rates that are more than 10 times the national average murder rate

 
Washington, DC – United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) today joined Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.) along with Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and James Lankford (R-Okla.) in reintroducing a Senate resolution marking May 5, 2019 as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls. The resolution would further bring awareness to the tragedies Native women face.
 
“Native women go missing or are murdered at ten times the national average in some communities. They are not invisible. They must be remembered, and their tragedies must move us to action,” Senator Warren said. “By marking May 5, 2019 as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls, we are creating a day of remembrance while spreading awareness of an ongoing horror that our nation desperately needs to address.”
 
Little data exist on the number of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women in the United States. However, the resolution still brings attention to the following:
 
  • According to a study commissioned by the Department of Justice, in some tribal communities, American Indian women face murder rates that are more than 10 times the national average murder rate; and
  • According to the most recently available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2017, homicide was the sixth leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaska Native females between 1 and 44 years of age.
 
Senator Warren continues to work with her colleagues, tribal leaders, and advocates to address violence against Native women. In 2018, she cosponsored a similar resolution that would mark May 5, 2018 as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls. In November 2018, the senator called for better data and reporting to help address the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women in urban Native areas, recognizing that the lack of tribal access to data is an ongoing issue in Indian Country and creates barriers for tribal nations to better serve their communities.
 

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