For far too long, dangerous predators have disproportionately targeted indigenous women and girls, and violence against Native Americans and Alaska Natives far exceeds national averages. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Native women and girls experience a murder rate 10 times higher than the national average. The impact of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls has on tribal communities is certainly vast, as many have sadly lost mothers, daughters, nieces, aunts, siblings and friends. Throughout May, during Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Awareness Month, we are somberly reminded of the urgent need to end this terrible crisis.
According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Systems (NamUs), Oklahoma is listed as the second state of most missing Native Americans at 86. This database also reports that 53 percent of all missing women and girls are from tribal land, and the average age of those missing is 19. In addition, according to a recent report from the National Institute of Justice, 40 percent of victims of sex trafficking are identified as indigenous women and more than four out of five indigenous women have experienced violence in their lifetime. While these statistics are alarming, data collection is unfortunately still lacking, and it will require sufficient awareness and resources to solve this crisis once and for all.
Poor data collection, record-keeping and access to other resources ties the hands of law enforcement when investigating these cases. To strengthen data collection, I am proud to co-lead the Bridging Agency Data Gaps and Ensuring Safety (BADGES) for Native Communities Act. This bill, which was reintroduced by Congressman Ruben Gallego of Arizona in March of this year, appoints tribal facilitators at NamUs to coordinate reporting of information, directly work with tribes and conduct a report on their findings on percentage of missing persons cases. This will help in reporting up-to-date data on cases and allow for more interagency cooperation.
