Political Quotes

“All right, I will. Look, this is an issue that is critically important to this country. I think when people hear about it, they are astounded because this is a crisis we don't hear much about. According to the National Institute of Justice--listen to these statistics--more than 80 percent of Native women have experienced violence, almost half within the last year. On many reservations, Native American women face murder rates up to 10 times the national average. The majority of this violence is either sexual or domestic in nature, and too much of it goes unreported and unprosecuted. That is why I have taken a three-pronged approach to address this crisis. No. 1, we need to raise awareness; No. 2, we need to empower the Tribes around this country; and No. 3, this body needs to implement some solutions that will help those Tribes address this issue. But first we must acknowledge that there is an epidemic, an epidemic that-- if we acknowledge it--we can fix. We have made some progress on this front in the last few years. Since 2016, we have introduced resolutions declaring May 5 the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls. We introduced this resolution in honor of Hanna Harris, a Northern Cheyenne Tribal member who was murdered in July of 2013, and thousands of other voices that have been silenced. We introduced this resolution to underscore the urgency of addressing domestic violence and sexual assault in Indian Country.…”