By Nicole Jennings, September 21, 2020, My Northwest.

In Washington and throughout the United States, Indigenous women face a disproportionate risk of going missing or being murdered, their loved ones neither seeing the cases solved nor the killers brought to justice.

A 2019 Washington State Patrol report found that while Native Americans make up 2% of the state’s population, 7% of the state’s missing women are Indigenous women.

That’s a statistic that Savanna’s Act and the Not Invisible Act — which unanimously passed the House and Senate, and are now on their way to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law — aim to lower.

“Today’s passage of Savanna’s Act and the Not Invisible Act are important steps in helping the Yakama Nation and tribes across the United States protect our loved ones,” said Athena Sanchey-Yallup, secretary of the Yakama Nation Tribal Council, and Chair of the Yakama Nation Missing and Murdered Indian Women Committee, in a statement. “The establishment of databases on missing and murdered Indian people and ensuring tribal law enforcement agencies have access to those databases will provide valuable information.”

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