Recognizing National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Day

The City of Madison will be recognizing National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Day for the first time on Wednesday May 5. The US Senate first recognized this day in 2018, to shine a light on the very high rate of homicides and gender based violence among Native American and Alaska Natives throughout the United States and Canada.

The Madison Municipal Building will be lit red the week of May 5 to bring awareness to this issue, and to honor the victims and their families throughout the country. There will be a candlelight vigil at the building at 7:00 p.m. prior to the lighting.

“This crisis impacts girls, women and two spirit people from across the country,” said Mayor Rhodes-Conway. “It’s difficult to track these crimes, both across the nation and here in Madison, but we know that indigenous women are disproportionally targets of gender based violence. This needs to be recognized and stopped. Hopefully National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Day will shine a spotlight on the issue.”

“In Wisconsin over the past year, the WI Attorney General Josh Kaul has created the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force. At the federal level Interior Secretary Debra Haaland started the Missing and Murdered Unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs, both to study the problems surrounding this issue, and to find policy solutions, as well as to create ways to work across jurisdictions to help stop this crisis,” said District 11 Alder and Ho-Chunk tribal member Arvina Martin. “In Madison we will be paying attention to this work so that we can learn, and implement best practices they find.”

The Madison Common Council passed a resolution recognizing the day at their May 4 meeting.