Native American community calls for justice for missing, murdered women

SEATTLE — The meeting opened with a prayer as members of the Native American community called for justice for its missing and murdered indigenous women.

“It's about time,” said Pamela Stearns.

Stearns is a spokesperson for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. She’s also the Washington delegate for the Tlingit and Haida tribes hosting a summit at the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood and knows personally some of the victims.

“It's very painful,” Stearns said. “It’s very painful and a lot of families here are still grieving this painful process.”

But the issue, which those in tribal communities have considered a silent epidemic for years, has gone ignored until now.

Washington State Patrol is now putting together a report on the number of missing Native American women in the state. In the last session, lawmakers passed HB 2951, which orders a study to determine how to increase reporting and investigation of missing Native American women.

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Captain Monica Alexander, of the Washington State Patrol, attended Friday’s meeting along with several others across the state as the State Patrol prepares its report for the state legislature.

“I definitely agree that something is happening. I talked with a historian this morning who said that this has been going on since 1492,” Alexander said.

Part of the problem is that, until recently, there has been no data.

One month ago, KIRO 7 shed light on a new report put together by the Seattle Indian Health Board, which was co-authored by Abigail Echo-Hawk. She found 71% of Native American women live in cities, so she surveyed  71 cities and found there were 506 missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Seattle topped the list of cities with the highest number of cases. Tacoma was seventh. When ranked by state, Washington came in second.

Among the local cases included in the data is the case of 21-year-old Nicole Westbrook, who was murdered in Pioneer Square in April 2012. Her killer hasn't been caught.

Echo-Hawk says these numbers just scratch the surface.

“We know that is a gross undercount as a result of racial misclassification, bad data systems inadequate training of officers and also those in administration,” Echo-Hawk explained. “The problem is much larger than they've ever imagined and this problem is something that cannot continue.”

The State Patrol said it still must independently gather data. Then, it will write a report which it will provide to the state Legislature in June. After that, it will be up to lawmakers to determine how to  move forward.

Cox Media Group