Task force to study violence against Native American women
The Wisconsin Department of Justice has created a task force to combat violence against Indigenous women and girls, Attorney General Josh Kaul announced this week.
The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force will examine the factors contributing to the higher rates of violence against Indigenous women than women of other races, according to a press release issued by the Department of Justice.
Wisconsin lawmakers introduced legislation last year to create a similar task force, but that legislation died earlier this year without being put to a vote.
“While there is so much that needs to be done to stop the violence perpetrated on Native women and girls, I applaud the Wisconsin Department of Justice for taking an important first step in establishing this task force,” said Shannon Holsey, president of the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council and of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians.
In the release, Holsey called the violence against Native women and girls a crisis; in order to confront it, she said, people have to understand the “deep and intricate roots” underlying it.
A 2008 report to the U.S. Department of Justice found that Native women experience higher homicide rates than white women and higher rates of sexual violence than women of other races.
“The scope is a lot bigger than people realize,” said Kristin Welch, coordinator of the Women’s Leadership CohortMMIW, an initiative of the nonprofit Menikanaehkem.
The task force will also focus on understanding the roles federal, state and tribal jurisdictions play and how to improve and implement robust data collection and reporting methods, according to the release.
A 2018 report by the Urban Indian Health Institute found that nationwide, police data collection on Native victims of crime is patchy and varies from department to department.
The Department of Justice release does not say who will be on the task force, though Welch said the agency has been working with tribes in Wisconsin to lay out a plan for the task force and ensure it is Indigenous-led.
The announcement of the task force comes as the search for a missing 22year-old Native American woman in Wisconsin enters its third week.
Katelyn Kelley was reported missing to the Menominee Tribal Police Department on June 18. Tribal police believe she was picked up while walking along a county highway in the Legend Lake area after 10 p.m. on June 16 and possibly taken to Shawano, according to an update on the department’s Facebook page.
Tribal police have asked that anyone with information call their dispatch center at 715-799-3881.