Missing and Murdered Indigenous People summit spotlights ongoing crisis

‘Our loved ones are more than statistics’ say family members at Bellingham gathering It started with a song. Attendees gathered in PeaceHealth St. Luke’s Community Health Education Center on Thursday for the annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Summit as Lummi musician Antone George sang “Song of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.” Tribal members experience violence at much higher rates than other populations. Nationally, homicide is the sixth-leading cause of death for Indigenous women and girls and the third-leading cause of death for Indigenous men. A federal study reported that Native American women are murdered 10 times higher than the national average. Overlapping law enforcement jurisdictions, mistrust of law enforcement and federal policies have contributed to the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people. From 8:30 a.m.

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