Join me in honoring Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Day of Awareness

Today is Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Day of Awareness — a day to call attention to the epidemic of violence against Native women and re-commit ourselves to ending it.

The statistics are staggering. Eighty-four percent of Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime. There are more than 5,000 known cases of missing Native women — including at least 78 in New Mexico — and many more cases go unreported. And in some areas of Indian Country, Native women are murdered at a rate ten times the national average.

These aren’t just numbers. These are real people. And this is a real crisis.

Last December at a Senate Indian Affairs Committee Hearing I convened, I heard from Kimberly Loring-Heavy Runner. Her sister Ashley went missing on the Blackfeet Reservation in 2017, devastating her family and shocking her community. Kimberly implored us to take action. She said, “I am asking you to recognize that Indigenous women matter, and the way our missing and murdered women cases are handled needs to be corrected.”

We cannot accept this as the status quo. We must do more to make sure Tribes have the tools they need to keep their communities safe. Here in Congress, I’m working hard to enact measures to do just that.

One of the best tools we have to do that is the Violence Against Women Act. In 2013, I was proud to lead the charge to make sure that Native women were included in VAWA. Now, it’s time to re-authorize this landmark law — and make sure it includes stronger tribal provisions like those I put forward in the Native Youth and Tribal Officer Protection Act and the Justice for Native Survivors of Sexual Assault Act. These bills will close important loopholes that let known violent offenders slip through cracks of the justice system and stay on the streets in Tribal communities. That’s how we’re going to make headway in the fight against this crisis.

Every single person deserves to be safe in their own home, which is why I am committed to restoring Tribes’ authority to enforce public safety in their communities. I’m determined to keep fighting alongside Native women and Tribal communities. Because this tragic epidemic has claimed the lives of too many women.

There are so many ways you can join in on this Day of Awareness. Wearing red — the color of the movement — and sharing your solidarity on social media are two important ways to add your support to the cause and raise awareness.

We need to keep working together to make this nation a better, safer place for Native women and families.

Together, we can put an end to the MMIW crisis and demand justice for Native women.

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