{"id":56637,"date":"2022-04-12T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/news\/new-alert-system-aims-to-bring-home-missing-indigenous-people\/"},"modified":"2022-04-12T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T22:00:00","slug":"new-alert-system-aims-to-bring-home-missing-indigenous-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/news\/new-alert-system-aims-to-bring-home-missing-indigenous-people\/","title":{"rendered":"New alert system aims to bring home missing Indigenous people"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
LaVerne Jones brought a ribbon shirt with a photo of her son, Kyle, attached to the front to watch Gov. Jay Inslee sign legislation aimed at addressing the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Inslee inked House Bill 1725 alongside Indigenous leaders and state lawmakers March 31 at the Tulalip Resort Casino. The law creates a missing Indigenous persons alert system. When activated, an alert will broadcast information about a missing Indigenous person on highway message signs and distribute details to law enforcement agencies. It will be similar to “silver” alerts issued for missing vulnerable adults.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
This is among the first reforms to come from Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People task force. It “certainly will not be our last,” Ferguson said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“Getting the word out there early, where people might notice where that person is before something happens that’s really bad, is really important,” Tulalip Tribes Chairwoman Teri Gobin told The Daily Herald. “Just having all eyes out there and looking … to try to bring our people home alive and unharmed before they’re murdered or trafficked.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Jones said it’s a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The Urban Indian Health Insitiute in 2018 identified 506 missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls across 71 cities. Of those, 71 were in the state of Washington. Seattle had the highest number: 45.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
There are 114 active missing person cases involving Indigenous people in Washington, according to the latest Washington State Patrol list.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
On the Tulalip reservation, many people have known or know someone who has a missing or murdered family member.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“It brings me back to when I was young, when there were very suspicious deaths,” Gobin said.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Thanks to the work of advocates like Roxanne White of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People & Families, there’s more awareness now than ever, Jones said. But there’s not enough money or resources to begin to uncover the reasons why Indigenous people are murdered or disappear at disproportionate rates, or to begin bringing family members home.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
State Rep. Debra Lekanoff, D-Anacortes, the only Native American woman serving in the Legislature, sponsored the groundbreaking bill.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“What was really important,” Lekanoff said, “was to really bring an understanding that the crisis and the atrocities of what was happening with Native American women was not just an Indian issue.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
She said she ran on a platform that tribal, state and federal government officials need to work together on all issues — that collaboration is going to help pave the path forward.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“Our sisters, our aunties, our grandmothers are going missing every day,” Lekanoff said. “As my good mentor, my auntie Patsy Lightfoot, tells us, it’s been going on way too long.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Kyle’s story<\/strong> <\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Kyle Jones-Tran died in Marysville on April 3, 2018. He was 22. <\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “None of the agencies contacted family,” Jones said. “They contacted Tulalip tribal police. … To them, I feel like, he was just another Indian that died.” <\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Before Jones-Tran’s death, his mother, a domestic violence survivor, said she recognized signs of abuse in her son. <\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t After an argument that began March 31, 2018, Jones-Tran was kicked out of the apartment where he lived with his girlfriend of one year. He moved his stuff into his uncle’s home. <\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t A few days later, he went back to the apartment. His girlfriend told police he became upset and died by suicide, according to the report. <\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Jones-Tran, who had “family is forever” tattooed on his right forearm, did not leave a note. <\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t His family does not believe it was suicide. <\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t The Tulalip Tribes Board of Directors is looking at what they can do to ensure “the investigation was done properly and thoroughly,” Gobin said. <\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t “If they don’t do the proper investigation to make sure that it wasn’t foul play,” she said, “people get away with murder.” <\/ins><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t Mary’s story <\/strong><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t