TO: Washington State Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task

Force1
FROM: Ava Finn, Nataly Barrios, Evian Nguyen
REG: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Washington State

Introduction / Background:
The epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) is particularly
severe in the state of Washington. Washington has the second highest rate of MMIW cases in
urban centers nationally; in 2019, Seattle had 45 cases, which was the highest in the country
(“Missing” [UIHI] 11). Statewide, Native women go missing four times as often compared to
white Washingtonians (Press). While these statistics make clear the relevance of this crisis in our
state, they misrepresent the true nature of MMIW case frequency. According to the Urban Indian
Health Institute, prior governmental attempts to record MMIW cases in Washington have been
insufficient and lacking proper precision, which results in significant undercounts (“New
Urban”). Without cautious, comprehensive documentation of Washington’s MMIW cases,
effective solution proposals and implementation are hindered.

Problem:
Too many cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Washington State are not
properly documented.

Problem Symptoms:
● Indigenous voices point to inaccuracies: When approaching an issue that is
specific to a marginalized community, it is of utmost importance to center and
amplify their voice and commit to learning directly from their experiences. In the
case of MMIW documentation in Washington State, Indigenous community
members and organizers have been explicit that the reporting efforts by
Washington State Patrol are lackluster and imprecise (“New Urban”). Abigail
Echo-Hawk, Director of the Urban Indian Health Institute, said of the Washington
State Patrol MMIW data: “My greatest fear is other states using Washington as a
model to address MMIWG” (“New Urban”). In tandem with these critiques,
activists have sought to rectify reports through their own data collection, a
massive and taxing undertaking that further underscores the urgency of this
documentation problem.
● Delay and absence of case coverage: Victims’ experiences are not highlighted in
a timely manner, reflecting the inefficiency of case documentation. Since the
enactment of Washington’s Missing Indigenous Person Alert (MIPA) on July 1st,
2022 to September 8, 2022, there have only been 5 cases highlighted through this
platform. Strikingly, 126 remain active and unaddressed (Pietrorazio). The delays
and absences of case information through this mechanism illustrate the failures of

1
The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force (MMIWPTF) is comprised of local and
state policymakers as well as Tribes and Native organizations (“Washington State”). It is housed under the
Washington State Office of the Attorney General, and it began meeting in December 2021 (“Missing” [Washington
State Office of the Attorney General]). The Task Force is responsible for analyzing the systemic factors in the high
rate of MMIW cases statewide (“Washington State”).
 documentation procedures, as alerts are intended to be issued as cases are
discovered and develop. This issue is twofold, because it both hinders progress on
case resolution and reduces public attention to new cases, enabling a cycle of
ignorance about this crisis in Washington. A particularly glaring discrepancy of
MIPA was its failure to notify community of a Burien, WA MMIW case until a
week after its occurrence (Pietrorazio).
● Distress within the community: Protests and action by family members of victims
illustrate the profound devastation and frustration Indigenous communities feel.
The organization Next City, for example, points out the prominence of MMIW
grassroot search parties in Washington. In this manner, the onus falls on local
communities to spread awareness of MMIW cases and pursue their rescue
(Pietrorazio). The failures of State documentation of MMIW cases is displayed by
these events. Indigenous communities cannot rely on State Patrol to know of or
act on missing reports in an efficient fashion, so they conduct searches
themselves. Additionally, protests are often organized after the disappearance of
Indigenous women and girls. In November 2019, a march was planned in the
name of Rosenda Strong in Yakima County (Frohne and Hansen). These outcries
for justice and attention to MMIW victims speak to the pervasive frustration with
Indigenous erasure and neglect by State Patrol to document—and subsequently
act on—cases accurately.

Problem Causes:
● Racial misclassification and tribal recognition: A major cause of the data inaccuracies
in state reports is the historical marginalization of Indigenous identity, which motivated
misclassifications and erasure efforts. In Washington’s number one site of urban MMIW
cases, Seattle, the notation for Native people in homicide documentation was shared with
that of African Americans; an ‘N’ which served as shorthand for a racial slur (“Missing”
[UIHI] 16). This documentation standard was practiced until the 1980s, though
misclassifications did not end with the problematic notation. Federal tribe recognition is a
persistent source of misclassification errors. For example, the Duwamish, whose land is
where Seattle was settled, is not federally recognized, and thus MMIW cases are often
misrepresented as not Indigenous-specific (“Missing” [UIHI] 17). This source of data
inaccuracy is complicated further by misclassification. Women who are killed during
their tribe’s termination have been racially classified as white, thus suppressing the
severity of the MMIW crisis and increasing the amount of uncounted cases (“Missing”
[UIHI] 16).
● Poor relationships with government and police: Another significant cause of the
documentation issue is the legacy of government and police interventions in Indigenous
communities. Indigenous communities have suffered immense harm through historical
governance and militant action, including physical and cultural genocidal efforts. In May
2022, Governor Jay Inslee acknowledged in a statement that Washington State was
deserving of condemnation for its part in “tremendous loss and suffering to the Native
and Indigenous people throughout generations” (“Statement”). In the wake of sanctioned
terror inflicted upon Indigenous people in Washington State, full trust and cooperation
with State Patrol has not been earned. The strained character of these relationships
hinders accurate data collection as there is not a strong foundation for substantive
 partnership between the Patrol and the networks of MMIW. This effect is compounding,
as the poor documentation exacerbates feelings of neglect and distrust that complicates
the potential for collaboration.
● Lack of awareness and perpetuated marginalization: At a grand scale, Indigenous
people and their cultures are siloed from conceptions of society and community, coupling
underreporting of MMIW cases with public ignorance. This progresses the lack of
attention to documentation. As Native researcher Desi Rodriguez-Lonebear powerfully
stated, a core cause of MMIW documentation failures is that, “‘We’re still trying to get
people to acknowledge that we even exist’” (Secaira). Without appropriate public
attention and awareness of the MMIW crisis, there is not enough pressure or momentum
to establish more reliable and efficient documentation measures.

Stakeholders:
When it comes to the MMIW movement we have to think about who the stakeholders are
and why they care about this problem. There should be awareness and understanding of the
sexist and racist attitudes and beliefs that are at the root violence against Indigenous women. The
stakeholders involved include:
● The families of the victims and their communities: They are affected the most because
they have to live a life not knowing what happened to their loved one(s). Indigenous
communities are affected because it is their women who go missing and the authorities
are failing to find those missing women.
● Office of the Attorney General: The Attorney General is in charge of the Washington
State Patrol and the Task Force. Because of this, the Attorney General is accountable for
the documentation issues occurring with Washington State Patrol MMIW data. They are
also able to implement recommendations through consultation with the Task Force.
● The Washington State Patrol and Tribal Police: Jurisdictionally, these are the agencies
responsible for the record-keeping of MMIW cases and pursuit of victims’rescue. They
are invested in this issue because it is part of their caseload. Additionally, they are subject
to public scrutiny and can be compelled to make changes via direction of the Attorney
General.
● The House State Government and Tribal Relations Committee: This House
Committee’s specific focus on statewide government and tribal relations obliges their
investment in the crisis of MMIW and the accompanying documentation issues. They
hear bills related to Indigenous matters, particularly as they relate to government
functioning (“House State”). Also, this stakeholder has the power to advance MMIW
prevention and documentation systems through a legislative avenue.
● The Washington State Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task
Force: This group is made up of 25 members and includes family members of victims,
activists, grassroots advocates, survivors of violence within Indigenous communities, and
state government officials. This group’s collaborative focus is powerful because it
prioritizes Indigenous consultation and can inform the decision of the Attorney General,
who can affect change within the Washington State Patrol.

Client Connection: The Washington State Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People
Task Force
 The MMIWP Task Force is uniquely suited to address this policy problem due to its
explicit consideration and inclusion of Indigenous perspectives in addition to its organizational
place within the State government. The Task Force has important leverage to address the
documentation issues with MMIW cases in part because it is composed of a combination of State
legislators, Tribes, and Indigenous organizations. This aspect ensures that Indigenous voices are
thoroughly consulted in the development of policy solutions, combating historical and ongoing
marginalization of Indigenous people in government policy. Additionally, the Task Force is
housed within the Washington State Office of the Attorney General (OAG), which allows for its
findings to be influential in law enforcement data collection. For example, a previous OAG
Advisory Group assisted in establishing a transparency-forward system of data collection that
was approved by the OAG, resulting in the creation of the Law Enforcement Use of Force Data
Program (“Task Forces”). The MMIWP Task Force could leverage its position in a similar
manner to provide the Attorney General recommendations for data collection best practices that
the Washington State Patrol can be directed to employ.
 Works Referenced

Bejarano, Johanna. “Washington's MMIW/P Task Force Releases First Report.” Northwest
Public Broadcasting, NWPB, 3 Aug. 2022,
https://www.nwpb.org/2022/08/03/washingtons-mmiw-p-task-force-releases-first-re
port/.

Frohne, Lauren, and Hansen, Bettina. “Not Invisible: ‘We Cannot Be Invisible Any
Longer.’” Seattle Times, The Seattle Times Company, 11 Aug. 2019,
projects.seattletimes.com/2019/mmiw/.

“House State Government & Tribal Relations Committee.” State Government & Tribal
Relations, Washington State Legislature,
https://leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/SGOV/Pages/default.aspx.

“Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls.” Urban Indian Health Institute
(UIHI), Seattle Indian Health Board, 14 Nov. 2018,
www.uihi.org/resources/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-girls.

“Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force Issues First Report.”
Washington State Office of the Attorney General, 1 Aug. 2022,
www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-an
d-people-task-force-issues-first-report.

“New Urban Indian Health Institute Report Corrects "Severely Lacking" Study from
Washington State Patrol on Missing Native Women and Girls.” Urban Indian
Health Institute, Seattle Indian Health Board, 20 Sept. 2019,
www.uihi.org/new-urban-indian-health-institute-report-corrects-severely-lacking-st
udy-from-washington-state-patrol-on-missing-native-women-and-girls/.

Pietrorazio, Gabriel. “Washington's New Missing Indigenous Alert System Confronts 'a
Learning Curve' in Real Time.” Next City, 8 Sept. 2022,
nextcity.org/features/washingtons-new-missing-indigenous-alert-system-confronts-
a-learning-curve.

Press, The Associated. “Washington Is the First State to Create an Alert System for
Missing Indigenous People.” NPR, 31 Mar. 2022,
www.npr.org/2022/03/31/1090085138/missing-indigenous-women-alerts-washingto
n-state.

Secaira, Manola. “'We're Literally Invisible': How Better Data Could Help Advocates for
Missing or Murdered Native Women.” Crosscut, 23 July 2019,
crosscut.com/environment/2019/07/were-literally-invisible-how-better-data-could-h
elp-advocates-missing-or.

“Statement from Gov. Jay Inslee in Response to Federal Report.” Washington Governor
Jay Inslee, 11 May 2022,
 www.governor.wa.gov/news-media/statement-gov-jay-inslee-response-federal-repo
rt-regarding-native-boarding-schools.

“Task Forces.” Washington State Office of the Attorney General,

www.atg.wa.gov/task-forces#data%20collection. Accessed 4 November, 2022.

“Washington State Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Task Force.”
Washington State Office of the Attorney General,
www.atg.wa.gov/washington-state-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women-and-
people-task-force. Accessed 4 November, 2022.