MMIW

To acknowledge October as domestic violence awareness month, I’d like to address an issue that we are all familiar with and that many of us have been affected by. That is, the missing and murdered indigenous women, men, people and children. Sadly, it’s not just women who are missing and/or murdered, it’s all of our relatives who can be MMIW or MMIP. Many of us have relatives who were murdered by their romantic partner, husband, or boyfriend. Now, many of those men or women convicted of murder are serving long sentences in prison where they can’t hurt any other people. Our prayers go out to all the parents and other relatives who are still mourning these ladies and other people who were brutally murdered by their companions or others. 

 

According to the South Dakota missing persons websitehttps://missingpersons.sd.gov/ there are approximately 121people reported missing, in addition there also are between 60 to 80 missing juvenile cases at any given time. On September 30, 2025 in the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database, it was stated there were 62 active missing juveniles listed, also there were 26 active endangered missing persons in the NCIC, there were also 6 voluntary missing persons listed in the NCIC. There were also 4 active missing disabled persons in NCIC and there were 20 active other missing persons in NCIC. 

 

Consequently, on May 31, 2024 the U.S. Attorney’s Office issued a press release regarding the high rates of indigenous persons reported missing. The press release stated in part: “the U.S. Attorney’s Office renews its commitment to work with federal, tribal, state, and local law enforcement partners to respond to the crisis of violence and abuse in our tribal communities with the urgency these matters demand.”https://tinyurl.com/hu5yerk. However, not much is being done as our people are still disappearing. If you have information about any missing person please contact law enforcement.

 

Also “In 2006, the FBI began its “Cold Case Initiative” the Department and the FBI are working together to address “violations of criminal civil rights statutes . . . result[ing] in death” that “occurred not later than December 31, 1979.” Toward that end, each of the 56 FBI field offices searched their “cold case files” to identify incidents which might be ripe for investigation. Since February of 2007, the FBI and the Division have partnered with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and the National Urban League to identify additional cases for investigation and to solicit their help.” As of press time there are 138 open cases listed on the cold case website. https://www.justice.gov/crt/cold-case-initiative

 

In addition, some of our people travel to areas such as Rapid City, Pierre, Sioux Falls and Aberdeen to find jobs but sometimes they get in with the wrong people and some of them wind up on the South Dakota missing person site so I want to encourage all of our people who go to these larger areas in our state or other cities across the United States to please be careful. There’s a lot of dangerous people out there and we don’t want any of you to get hurt. Please be aware of your surroundings be aware of who you are hanging out with please be safe because your family loves you and none of us want anything bad to happen to you. Another thing I’d like to mention today are the indigenous people who have also going missing due to the actions of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or the immigration and custom enforcement (ICE) agents that are coming into many areas and cities and brutally take people to lock them up or deport them. Many of these people are people of color and some of them go missing after they are taken by ICE agents, such as the detainees recently reportedly unaccounted for in the so called “Alligator Alcatraz.”