Donald Trump signs Savanna's Act, 'a critical first step' to address missing and murdered Native Americans
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Donald Trump signed a bill Saturday aimed at addressing missing and murdered Native Americans.
Savanna's Act will establish national law enforcement guidelines between the federal government and American Indian tribes to help track, solve and prevent crimes against Native Americans. The law is named after Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a pregnant 22-year-old Spirit Lake tribal member from North Dakota who was killed in 2017.
The bipartisan bill passed the House last month after unanimously passing the U.S. Senate in March. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski reintroduced the bill after former North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp proposed it in 2017.
"For far too long, the crisis of missing and murdered Native American women went unknown outside Indian Country," Heitkamp told USA TODAY in a statement on Sunday. "When I first introduced Savanna's Act in 2017, I wrote this bill to take a critical first step to help address this crisis and help raise awareness about it by bringing these women out of the shadows and making them not invisible."
She added, "Finally, this bill was signed into law. And it happened just before Indigenous Peoples' Day — a reminder that the U.S. government has so much more to do to repair the broken promises to Native communities."
Trump tweeted Saturday : "I was proud to sign Savanna’s Act & the Not Invisible Act. We have also provided $295 Million to support public safety & crime victims. Forgotten NO MORE!"
The bill requires federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement agencies to update and create protocols to address missing or murdered Native Americans . The U.S. Department of Justice must provide training to law enforcement agencies on data entry, educate the public on the database, help tribes and Indigenous communities enter information in the database, develop guidelines for response to missing or murdered Indigenous people, provide technical assistance to tribes and law enforcement agencies and report data on missing or murdered Native Americans.
Murder is the third-leading cause of death for American Indian/Alaska Native women, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute . In 2016, there were 5,712 cases reported of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, the UIHI's reports . But only 116 cases were logged in the DOJ database.
In 2018, Brooke Crews of North Dakota was sentenced to life in prison for killing Greywind and cutting her baby from her womb. The baby survived.
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Well Done Mr President!
I don’t believe this will be of any benefit. It looks to me to be a cultural problem. The best thing these people can do is get off these dangerous reservations and assimilate into the surrounding safer communities and adopt the culture of less violent people.
Dean - this isn't 1953 nor is it 1492 when all white/dominant society wanted was to "kill the Indian" so white/dominant society could have ALL the land and ALL the resources that, by international/Federal law, in reality, totally belong to the Native Americans.
It's a cultural thing???? You wanna discuss/explain that a bit more? Ohhhh - I get it. Yeah, it's a white/dominant society culture thing to want everything that belongs to everyone else regardless of what the laws, courts, cultures and social acceptance sez, right?
We've gone through this with Bruce, Perrie, Kavika and many others before, so I really can't believe you would make a statement like "The best thing these people can do is get off these dangerous reservations and assimilate into the surrounding safer communities and adopt the culture of less violent people."
That’s just my opinion based on my knowledge and personal experience. I believe my parents were faced with a similar situation in Detroit in the sixties. They found themselves in an environment where crime was rampant and financial opportunities were dwindling. Relocating and assimilating into a safer community was our solution to the problem. I think the same approach would be most beneficial to many people of all ethnic groups.
Actually, not a similar situation. You know our history - the treaties that have been broken, the congressional laws that no one else has to abide by, the "imminent domain" takings of millions of acres, having to get the BIA to review and approve our "Last Will and Testaments", etc..
Our "safer" communities are those who have a good control over their tribal governments - the governments which we are covered by. Remember, we are NOT covered by the Constitution nor by the "Bill of Rights" as you are - Congress had to develop their own "Bill of Rights" that would cover us - and those rights are NOT Constitutionally guaranteed such as yours are.
Tell me - did your family have to get Congress to pass a "Tribal Law and Order Act" or a "Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization"?? Of course not. Did/does your family have to go to their neighborhood leaders/community elders to get funding for your TLOA or VAWAR? Ours do and our funding is either a wish or a dream with unicorns. Our law enforcement funding has been reduced by over 52% since 2010 - when the TLOA was passed. Nope - Congress didn't provide funding for that Law Enforcement program - oops.
We are covered by different laws than your family is - so, no, we can't talk apples and apples.
It's nice to see both parties and the White House get together to try to do a positive thing for people.