The Chairman of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe wants the state to share data and prosecute those who commit violent acts against Native American women.
The call for action came during Rodney Bordeaux’s state of the Tribes address to the South Dakota legislature.
According to Native Womens Wilderness, the number of known missing and murdered Native American woman incidents in 2016 was 5,712.
Eighty four percent of native women experience violence in their lifetime.
Chairman Rodney Bordeaux is urging South Dakota’s newly elected governor, Kristi Noem, and the state legislature, to work with tribes to address the problem.
Bordeaux says he wants to draw the legislature’s attention to the issue.
“Just so that they know that this is happening, and if they can help us to stop this. A lot of these guys get away with it. Start prosecuting these people that they know have done it and maybe we can put a stop to this, because a lot of these women are young, some of them may be mothers and they leave kids behind or they leave family members behind that are missing them. We just want to bring light to that that it’s a big, huge problem… nationwide.”
During Bordeaux’s State of the Tribes address, he also addressed issues of suicide, meth, and expanding Medicaid coverage. South Dakota is one of a few states that has yet to expand Medicaid for the working poor.