Legislation to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Signed into Law

“In August of 2017, a young pregnant woman named Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind was abducted and killed in Fargo, N.D. Savanna was one of over 5,646 American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls reported missing in 2017, according to the FBI’s National Crime Information Center.

“Native American women are murdered at 10 times the national average. According to the National Institute of Justice, 84 percent of Native women experience violence in their lifetimes and 56 percent experience sexual violence. An astounding 97 percent of these women are victimized by non-Native perpetrators.

“Late last month, Congress finally passed two laws—Savanna’s Act (named after Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind) and the Not Invisible Act—to address the epidemic of violence against Indigenous women in the United States.”

Read article by CARRIE N. BAKER and KATIE FLEISCHER from Ms. Magazine.