Ponca Tribe spotlights missing and murdered Natives who ‘fall through the cracks’
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Rose Marie Fields disappeared from Omaha in 2001 and hasn’t been heard from since.
The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska highlighted her case Thursday in the run-up to Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Day on May 5.
The tribe’s domestic violence program is calling attention to one case a month until then.
The murder rate among Native American women living on reservations is 10 times higher than the national average, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“A lot of our missing and murdered Indigenous relatives fall through the cracks of the justice system” said Zack James, domestic violence outreach specialist for the Ponca Tribe.
Nebraska ranks seventh in states with the highest rates of unsolved cases.
James said sometimes, the cases are not even reported to authorities because of “the previous history of Native Americans and how they have been treated by the government.”
The Ponca Tribe will host two events in May to raise awareness of the issue: the Red Sand Project and the Red Dress project.
