The War Against Native American Women

by Newt Gingrich: As we come together this week to join with friends and family, we should all recognize that many in America – including those indigenous peoples with whom we shared the first Thanksgiving – have little to celebrate.

In addition to widespread poverty, insufficient health care, and a host of other challenges, Native American communities in America face persistent, egregious violence. In fact, Attorney General William Barr this week has done the country a badly needed service by pointing out that there is a virtual war against Native American women.

Before you think “war” is too strong a term, consider these facts.

According to The Associated Press, the Urban Indian Health Institute reported 5,712 indigenous women were murdered or went missing in 2016 alone. Of that staggering number, only 116 were listed in a U.S. Department of Justice database tracking such statistics. Further, the National Institute of Justice estimated that 1.5 million Native American women have experienced violence in their lives – and more than half experienced sexual violence.

No American can be comfortable with a level of violence which affects more than a million women. It should be completely unacceptable that of the 5,712 cases of missing and murdered Native American girls, only 2 percent – one out of every 50 cases – makes it to the Justice Department database.

According to Congressman Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who is himself a tribal member, 2016 DOJ National institute of Justice reports reveal even more grim figures – estimating that more than four out of five Native American women have experienced violence, with more than half experiencing sexual violence.

As Cole put it, “Native women are more than one and half times more likely than White women to have experienced violence in the past year. Even more chilling, Native women face murder rates more than 10 times the national average in some parts of the country.” Cole went on to point out that 96 percent of those who had been sexually assaulted were attacked by non-Native Americans.

Congressman Cole and others are taking steps to protect Native American girls and women.

As Cole wrote recently:
“I was proud to join with several of my House colleagues to introduce the Bridging Agency Data Gaps and Ensuring Safety (BADGES) for Native Communities Act. This bipartisan legislation addresses inefficiencies in federal criminal databases and increases tribal access to those databases. In response to the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women, the BADGES Act also rightly seeks to improve public data on those cases while promoting more efficient recruitment and retention of Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) law enforcement. Moreover, the legislation would provide tribes with resources to improve public safety coordination between their governments, states and federal agencies.”Take a minute this holiday season celebrating family and friends and let your Representative and your Senators know that you want action taken to protect these vulnerable girls and women.
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Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) is a former Georgia Congressman and Speaker of the U.S. House. He co-authored and was the chief architect of the "Contract with America" and a major leader in the Republican victory in the 1994 congressional elections. He is noted speaker and writer. This commentary was shared via Gingrich Productions.

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