During remarks the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen Brian Schatz (D-HI) spoke about Indigenous female victims of violence and the passage of the Violence Against Women Act.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Senator from Hawaii.
00:05Thank you, Mr. President.
00:06This week is Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Week.
00:17And it is a sobering reminder of both the breathtaking scale of this tragedy
00:23that has plagued native communities for generations and
00:27how far we still have to go to bring justice and healing
00:32to the victims and families affected by it.
00:35This crisis is likely out of view for most Americans.
00:41But it stares us in the face.
00:46Murder is the third leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaska
00:51Native women and girls, which is 10 times the national average.
00:5610 times the national average.
01:01American Indians and Alaska Natives are more than twice as likely
01:04to experience violent crimes, including rape and sexual assault,
01:09than any other group of people in the United States.
01:12And in Hawaii,
01:1364% of human trafficking survivors are Native Hawaiian.
01:21Even so, we still don't know the true extent of the crisis, because for so long,
01:25the federal government failed to take it seriously.
01:30It was more convenient to pretend as if it didn't exist than to dedicate federal
01:34resources to investigating the crimes and prosecuting those responsible.
01:40And as a result, in far too many instances, justice has not been served.
01:44And families have not been able to begin the process of healing.
01:48To experience the tragedy of a loved one gone or a neighbor suddenly found dead is horrific in and of itself.
01:59But worse, these communities often have to shoulder the burden of finding answers all by themselves while they're grieving.
02:07Were that to happen anywhere else or to anyone else, we would be rightly outraged.
02:15The fact that it's happening to Native Americans in cities like Anchorage and Albuquerque or remote reservations
02:21and on Hawaiian homelands should not change our outrage.
02:26After decades of underinvestment, Congress finally took steps to address this crisis
02:34when we reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act in 2022.
02:39As chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs at the time, I was proud to work with Native leaders and advocates,
02:45and especially my good friend, the vice chair at the time, Lisa Murkowski,
02:49to restore tribal jurisdiction for certain violent crimes
02:53and increase federal resources to keep Native families safe.
02:58And no one bill or action is going to remedy generations of neglect and injustice.
03:06But it was an important step forward, along with other laws, in turning the tide on this shameful and longstanding problem.
03:15There remains a lot of work to be done to ensure that Native people feel safe in their homes and their communities.
03:23And it's a priority that we continue to advance on the Indian Affairs Committee with the chairman, Lisa Murkowski, and many others.
03:30But today, we remember the many victims lost to this devastating epidemic of violence
03:39and recommit ourselves to helping to find justice and healing for all of those affected.
03:47I yield the floor.