READ: Bills Seek to Save the Lives Of Native Women

Savanna’s Act, the End Trafficking of Native Americans Act and the #NotInvisible campaign hope to strengthen the federal response for Indigenous women who are kidnapped and murdered.

Nearly a year later, the bill still sits with the Committee on Indian Affairs and the number of missing women continues to grow. The crisis prompted Heitkamp to create the social media campaign #NotInvisible to bring more attention to the problem. Journalist Sharon Cohen’s September 6 The Associated Press story “#NotInvisible: Why are Native American Women Vanishing?” explores what’s at stake.


snip

The article also details the disproportionately high rates of crimes that occur against Native women. “A 2016 study found more than 80 percent of Native women experience violence in their lifetimes,” it says, adding that they are murdered at a rate of more than 10 times the national average. Native women are also more than 0.7 percent of the missing person cases in the country, though they represent about 0.4 percent of the U.S. population.

snip

In addition to Savanna’s Act, Senators Heitkamp, Lisa Murkowski (R-Ala.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) introduced another bill in July. The End Trafficking of Native Americans Act would expand efforts to combat human trafficking of Native Americans and Alaska Natives, and create an advisory committee to better organize across federal agencies.

Read https://www.colorlines.com/articles/read-bills-seek-save-lives-native-women?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+racewireblog+%28Colorlines.com%29


I applaud Heitkamp and Masto. Murkowski not so much. How in the world could she support this and lean towards confirming Kavanaugh? She votes for him then her credibility is nil. You can't stand for women when you vote to confirm a man that has sworn to take womens rights away.