The Washington state Senate adopted a resolution Monday honoring the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Senate Resolution 8648 states that Indigenous women and girls in Washington and nationwide face disproportionate rates of violence, disappearance and homicide.
Washington ranks second highest for missing and murdered Indigenous women in the U.S., per the Pierce County government’s website. Tacoma comes in seventh.
State Sen. Claudia Kauffman, a Kent Democrat and the resolution’s prime sponsor, said on the Senate floor Monday that as someone who had a family member go missing, she understands the pain and uncertainty that people experience when their loved one disappears: “So many questions, and no answers.”
This is a crisis that demands urgency, Kauffman said.
“And Washington state must do everything in its power to address this issue so that … we have no more stolen sisters,” she said.
Kauffman, a member of the Nez Perce tribe, is the only American Indian serving in the upper chamber, according to her biography on the Senate Democrats’ website.
In 2021, Washington established the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force to better comprehend and address the root, systemic causes of such violence.
State Sen. Nikki Torres, a Pasco Republican, spoke in strong support of the resolution on Monday.
“There is a disproportionate number of missing, murdered Indigenous women and people, and the task force has been doing a wonderful job in helping address and make sure that no one is forgotten,” Torres said.
Sen. Manka Dhingra, a Redmond Democrat, said the work of the state’s task force has “truly been transformative.” The first step is to acknowledge the existence of the issue, she said, and the second is to gather relevant data to help solve it — something that can only happen when the depth and breadth of a problem is understood.
Collecting data is becoming more challenging “given what’s happening at the federal level,” Dhingra said. Although the state has made tremendous strides, it has a long way to go.
“But I know there’s so many of us here committed in making sure that in this Washington, we show everyone the support and get them the resources they need, so that we don’t have to have a crisis on missing and murdered Indigenous women,” she said.
May 5 is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
