May 5, 2022: Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Day
The Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board is honored to recognize May 5 as a day to raise awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. To recognize and pay tribute to the lives and legacies of murdered and missing Indigenous women, the Board issued the following proclamation.
WHEREAS, the Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board (the Board) is an independent, legislatively created, seven-member Governor appointed Board housed in the Division of Victim Services of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that is charged with funding sexual assault and domestic violence services for victims and providing policy recommendations on the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault;
WHEREAS, countless under-reported, under-investigated, and unsolved cases of missing and murdered Indigenous Women and Girls continue to swell in the United States with little federal or state effort or financial resources dedicated to resolving the systemic failures surrounding the disproportionate violence against Indigenous Women and Girls
WHEREAS, investigation into cases of missing and murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is made difficult for tribal law enforcement agencies due to a lack of resources and the complex jurisdictional scheme that exists in Indian Country;
WHEREAS, four out of five American Indian and Alaskan Native Women have experienced violence in their life, and ninety percent of these Victims report being victimized by a non-Indian perpetrator, with Indigenous Women and Girls being murdered at a rate of ten times the national average;
WHEREAS, American Indian and Alaskan Native Women are two and a half times as likely as non-Hispanic white women to lack access to needed services;
WHEREAS, there is little data exist on the number of missing and murdered Women and Girls in the United States;
WHEREAS, the Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board remembers these Indigenous Relatives whose cases remain unsolved or inequitably handled and seeks to elevate their voices and promote healing throughout the Indigenous Nations and Communities;
WHEREAS, the Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board desires to raise awareness of this crisis with governments that have the power to partner with Tribal Governments, develop policies and procedures, and allocate proportional resources, to reduce, investigate, and justly adjudicate all incidents of violence perpetrated against Indigenous Women and Girls; and
WHEREAS, the Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board stands in solidarity with Native Nations, regional, state, and national governments and organizations in support of recognizing May 5 as a day to raise awareness of these missing and murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Michigan Domestic and Sexual Violence Prevention and Treatment Board supports May 5 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Day.
March to help raise awareness for missing and murdered indigenous people in Michigan and around the U.S. Hosted by the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi and the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians.