Today’s Action: Take a stand for Native women, pass Savanna’s Act

It’s a non-negotiable, stark, and heartbreaking fact. Native women in the United States face astounding, disproportionate rates of violence. More than four in five are victims of violence in their lifetimes, and 56% face sexual violence.

Our current institutions fail these women. In 2016 alone, 5,712 cases of missing or murdered Native women were reported, but only 116 of these were logged in the Department of Justice database. Institutionalized racism and sexism has long kept the dangerous plight of Native women in the shadows…but Savanna’s Act aims to shed some light.

Call or email your Senators and ask them to cosponsor and approve Savanna’s Act. Remind them that last year’s Senate passed Savanna’s Act unanimously – and you expect them to do the same now.

Former Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) first introduced Savanna’s Act in 2017, a widely-supported bipartisan bill to increase communication between federal and local authorities, strengthen crime data collection, and hold accountable law enforcement agencies that don’t follow the law.

But in late December 2018, after passing the Senate unanimously, the bill was blocked in the House by the former House Judiciary Chair (who is no longer in office and whose party is no longer in control) because he didn’t like the sound of police being held accountable for actually doing their jobs (we do not miss him). Heitkamp did not win re-election, but Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has re-introduced the bill.

Native women urgently need our support. With a new Congress in session, both chambers must start from scratch to pass Savanna’s Act – so let’s push them forward as quickly as possible.

Contact your Senators and tell them to co-sponsored Savanna’s Act immediately. If they already have, thank them!