According to supplemental reports from the FBI, 17 women were murdered in Nebraska in 2016. 11 white, five black, and one Native American. This Native American woman was Sherry Wounded Foot. She was found beaten to unconsciousness, discarded like a bag of trash behind an abandoned building in Whiteclay, Nebraska. Sherry succumbed to her injuries the next day and passed away. While Sherry is the only Native American woman on record to have died in Nebraska in 2016, experts say this number is far from accurate. Native American women of any age are 10 times more likely to be murdered than men of any race or women of any other race. The third leading cause of death for Native American women between ages 10 to 24 is homicide.  The only causes of death more common among this age group than homicide were accidental death and suicide. Sadly, it is estimated that murders of Native American women are grossly under-reported. This brings to mind even grimmer numbers than have already been discussed.

Native American women are crying out for help. April Marie Satchell, a Native American woman from the Rosebud reservation, went to the Nebraska State Legislature asking for help. She said, “Right now, our lives don’t matter. A non-Native man can rape us, murder us, and as long as we don’t know who that person is, the law right now does not protect us.” She is not wrong. The tribes cannot prosecute a non-native person and the state in which the murder takes place is often unable to investigate the crime due to conflicts with laws regarding tribal rights. Unfortunately, this has created a strange area often described as “no man’s land” where these crimes get lost in the shuffle and go unsolved and even uninvestigated. The law, which is there to protect Americans is leaving Native Americans vulnerable to harm and leaving them without justice when harm comes their way.

Thankfully, a bill has been proposed that will allow the Nebraska State Patrol and Commission on Indian Affairs to conduct an exhaustive study on how many Native American women are currently missing or have been murdered. The results of this study would be used to better understand what kinds of needs are out there and how those needs should be met. The study would be used to create legislature that would allow for more protection and justice for Native Americans. This bill, LB – 154, is well on its way to being enacted. However, there is still a problem.

Hardly anyone knows the plight of these women. Many tax-paying Nebraskans have no idea this issue is as severe as it is. While lawmakers are working on making a difference, there is no disputing the fact that the general public also has power and a role in changing legislature. The general public needs to be educated on this issue so they can make more informed decisions during elections. The media needs to bring this issue onto the front page more often. Instead of tossing them aside like a bag of trash, their stories need to be brought into the light.

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