Early Tuesday morning, we shared a Minnesota story, After 28-year public safety career, Lower Sioux member Juliet Rudie will lead state's MMIR Office, noting at the close of the post that a similar position authorized here in South Dakota had yet to be funded.
Yesterday, we saw this tweet:
A Native American outreach center is funding a liaison to coordinate investigations of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
— SDPB News (@SDPBNews) February 16, 2022
The state-government position has been vacant since it was created July 1.https://t.co/OadcGa5Iig
At SDPB, Lee Strubinger reports in Native group funds liaison for cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people:
A Native American outreach center is funding a liaison to coordinate investigations of missing and murdered Indigenous people.
The state-government position has been vacant since it was created July 1.
The Native Hope outreach center in Chamberlain is issuing a grant to the Attorney General's Office to fund the liaison for three years. The grant is for $85,000 each year.
. . . Democratic Rep. Peri Pourier is Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge. She got the bill passed last session.
“You look across the news and you don’t ever see good news stories. Today, let this be a good news story that we work across sectors. We work across aisles,” Pourier says. “When there is an important issue that needs to be addressed, we work in partnership together.”
Supporters say grant dollars mean the position can get filled right away and won’t get stalled under the typical budgeting process.
At the Mitchell Republic, Christopher Vondracek reports in Nonprofit to fund SD's liaison for missing, murdered Indigenous people:
A year after the Legislature created and Gov. Kristi Noem signed a bill to fund a position in the Attorney General's Office to coordinate tackling the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous persons, the long-awaited funding for the position has arrived.
"When we learned the news there were difficulties in funding the office, we wanted to break down any barrier," said Jennifer Long, executive director of Native Hope, a nonprofit based on the St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain, South Dakota. "We want to impact this critical interest. No more missing sisters. No more missing endangered people."
At a Wednesday, Feb. 16, news conference, Long said that Native Hope will fund at $85,000 a year for three years the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons liaison position created by statute last year. The organization is an outreach of St. Joe's in Chamberlain that has advocated against human trafficking and domestic violence.
In January, Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg told a state tribal affairs committee he'd yet to hire an individual to assume the role, calling the position an "unfunded mandate."
On Wednesday, that underlying bill's prime sponsor, Rep. Peri Pourier, D-Pine Ridge, said she hopes to see the position eventually funded by the state.
"If you want to talk about resources, look to your federal government," said Pourier, who noted that tribal law enforcement for the Oglala Sioux Tribe was perennially underfunded.
Senate Minority Leader Troy Heinert, D-Mission, said he hopes the position will be filled soon now that the funding has come forward.
"We don't have to wait for the appropriations process," said Heinert.
Earlier this week, the remains of a woman and teenage girl were recovered on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, law enforcement announced. They are the fourth and fifth deaths this year alone on the sprawling reservation in southwestern South Dakota.
The organization provided more details in a press release,
. . . The Office of Liaison for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) will coordinate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Department of Justice and state and tribal law enforcement agencies to bridge gaps in coordination and training . . .
. . . Challenges arise because tribal police and the FBI handle missing persons and criminal cases on reservations. But they are managed by local and state agencies elsewhere. Cases might involve multiple jurisdictions, and communication and coordination between various agencies become crucial. . .
Like the Sacred Heart Center in Eagle Butte, S.D., Native Hope is an outreach of St. Joseph’s Indian School. “Native Hope is doing the right thing for our students and families,” noted St. Joseph’s Indian School President Mike Tyrell. “Even one missing person is too many. Students at St. Joseph’s have lost loved ones and family members through this human tragedy.”
Some 40% of sex trafficking victims in South Dakota are Native women and children, disproportionate to the 8.57% of Native residents. Domestic violence is another contributing factor to MMIP.
Among Native Hope’s MMIP efforts are Red Sand Project and Never In Season events that target the multi-billion-dollar human trafficking industry; work with the Red Ribbon Skirt Society; a short film “Voices Unheard” to raise awareness; and a working relationship with Call to Freedom. In addition, Native Hope works with Counseling Services at St. Joseph’s on educational events and resources on the issue.
The Associated Press reported in Private grant funds SD AG’s missing Indigenous coordinator:
. . .“We want to impact this critical issue in our state,” said Jennifer Long, the director of Native Hope. “No more missing sisters; no more missing Indigenous people.”
The announcement comes after two women were found dead on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation last week.
“In Pine Ridge, the Oglala Sioux Tribe public safety is underfunded,” said Democratic Rep. Peri Pourier. “This is an outstanding opportunity to bridge those gaps of all people coming together and saying what can we do?”
Gov. Kristi Noem is also pushing for ongoing funds for the position.
A somewhat more critical view of the past history of funding the position is shared by Dakota Free Press' Cory Allan Heidelberger in Native Hope Gives Three-Year Grant to Fill MMIP Position That Ravnsborg Ignored:
Killer Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg has spent the past year ignoring a 2021 law requiring that he hire a specialist to focus on the problem of missing and murdered indigenous people. His excuse for flouting the law was that his office (which he expanded in 2018 by creating a chief of staff position that costs $118,140.12 a year without any asking for any additional budgetary authorization) hasn’t received any funding for the position.
The Chamberlain-based non-profit Native Hope has taken that excuse away. They are donating $85,000 a year for three years (28% less than the annual salary of Ravnsborg’s chief of staff) to help the Attorney General’s office meet its legal mandate to find missing and murdered indigenous people. . . .
Funding public services with private dollars is problematic. Waiting for Native Hope or St. Joseph’s Indian School to fund enforcement of a law to protect indigenous people is like making rape victims pay for the police and prosecutors who handle their case, or like making victims of arson cover the full cost of rolling the fire trucks to their flaming businesses. Jason Ravnsborg didn’t have to spend a year begging for private donors to fund his new chief of staff; why should we have to rely on private donors to do actual work required by actual law? We’ve passed a law, we should fund the execution of that law.
Representative St. John and Senator Red Dawn Foster are working on that: their House Bill 1194 would immediately provide $70,000 to cover the liaison position for one year. But despite the emergency clause on HB 1194, House Judiciary dilly-dallied and kicked the bill to House Appropriations, which in turn dithered and kicked it to Joint Appropriations. Native Hope helps us jump past that delay and guarantees a longer solution than our slowpoke legislators and inattentive A.G. have mustered. We should be grateful that Native Hope has stepped into the gap; we should be disgusted that they had to do so.
Let's hope the permanent funds are allocated to this position--and public safety is adequately funded for tribal nations.
Related posts:
- After 28-year public safety career, Lower Sioux member Juliet Rudie will lead [Minnesota's] MMIR Office
- South Dakota AG Ravnsborg unable to fund office for missing Indigenous persons
- Native News Online: State rep Heather Keeler aims to recognize Indigenous Peoples Day
- Not just a "bargaining chip" for Paul Gazelka, MMIR office finds place in public safety deal
- Via Star Tribune op-ed page: update on Minnesota's MMIR (MMIW) Office
- [VIDEO] Shakopee Town Hall discussion about state rep. Keeler's effort to establish MMIR office
- House Judiciary Finance & Civil Law Committee sends bill for MMIR office to Public Safety
- For National American Indian Heritage Month: Keeler to MnHouse; Kunesh-Podein to MnSenate
- Minnesota's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force releases report
Photo: Rep. Peri Pourier speaks during a press conference about Native Hope donating $85,000 for three years to fund the missing persons specialist. Behind her at left is Rep. Tamara St. John, R-Sisseton, an enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate. Tribal archivist, she has worked with young tribal members on the issue as well as authoring bills addressing the problem. Jennifer Long, executive director of Native Hope, is third from the left. Photo by Lee Strubinger/SDPB.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.
I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Comments