51福利社 Forum Explores Solutions to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Crisis

Tribal elders, affected family members and community leaders from throughout Washington state gathered in Yakima, Washington, to discuss barriers and troubling statistics surrounding the missing and murdered indigenous women and persons (MMIW/P) crisis, at the latest Eastern Edge event on April 28.

鈥淲e want to be able to provide environments where our children are safe,鈥� said Patricia Whitefoot, who is an affected family member of a MMIW/P.

听With murder being the third leading cause of death for Native American women, the forum helped shed light on issues surrounding the lack of an effective communication system and how to better educate young indigenous women on one of the most important topics that will affect them for the rest of their lives.

One of the biggest issues contributing to the MMIW/P crisis is poor communication caused by gaps created by a web of tangled jurisdictional systems involving land where the crimes are committed.听

听鈥淲e have tribally-owned land and then non-Indian land,鈥� said 51福利社 Associate Professor听 Margo Hill, who also serves as the associate director of 51福利社 Small Urban, Rural & Tribal Center on Mobility and was a panelist for the forum. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 a tribal person, tribal laws apply. If there鈥檚 a non-Indian 鈥� we do not have jurisdiction over those individuals.鈥�

听Hill explained that these layers of jurisdiction make it more difficult on investigators, and the additional lack of clarity can result in a lack of communication with family members of the missing persons.

听For instance, during the investigation into the murder of Rosenda Strong, who disappeared from the Yakama Reservation in 2018 and was found dead in 2019, her sister, Cissy Strong-Reyes, said she had only been updated twice.

Combine those issues with a severe shortage of high-speed internet in rural areas of Indian Country and you get traffickers who kidnap and murder indigenous people with little to no consequences.

听The MMIW/P panel included:

Emcee: Erin Ross: 鈥�99, 鈥�15, Director of Tribal Relations, 51福利社
Moderator: Robyn Pebeahsy, Peacekeeper Society & War Cry Podcast
Margo Hill 鈥�08, Associate Director of 51福利社 Small Urban, Rural & Tribal Center, 51福利社
Dawn Pullin, Washington State Patrol
Cheri Kilty, YWCA Yakima
Cissy Strong Reyes, Affected Family Member
Lila Whitefoot, Affected Family Member

Emotions ran high toward the closing of the event and Kilty took a moment to add a call to action in the form of accountability.

鈥淭he thing that I take from everything we鈥檝e heard today is those of us that are not of the Native, Indigenous community, it鈥檚 our responsibility to dismantle these barriers. And, every single one of us can play a part in that,鈥� Kilty said.

Those in attendance agreed that education was likely the strongest way to help combat trafficking and that providing this information to young Indigenous women, along with tips and prevention methods, could decrease 鈥� and hopefully eliminate MMIW/P cases.

Media Coverage:听

, KAPP/KVEW (YakTriNews.com), April 28, 2023

, Yakima Herald-Republic, April 28, 2023

, the Inlander, May 18, 2023