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Navajo Nation President-elect Buu Nygren celebrates his victory by shouting to his supporters on election night. Joining him, from left to right, were his wife, State Rep. Jasmine Blackwater Nygren, Navajo Nation Vice President-elect Richelle Montoya Chee, and her husband, Olsen Chee. Nygren hopes to work with Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs on issues of water rights, infrastructure and taxation in the Navajo Nation.

Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs hopes to actively work with leaders of Arizona’s 22 tribal nations on a government-to-government basis to build stronger relationships that benefit Indigenous communities. Read more»

Isaiah Meza stands near his family at the state Capitol on May 5, 2022, during speeches made for National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Day. The 6-year-old had a red hand painted over his mouth, a symbol of solidarity with missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

Navajo Nation leaders have introduced two new initiatives to address missing and murdered Diné people, establishing the Missing and Murdered Diné Relatives Task Force and ordering the implementation of the Navajo Nation Guidelines for Missing Persons. Read more»

A young woman holds up a sign calling for an end to violence against Indigenous people on May 5, 2022 at the state Capitol.

Arizona’s legislative study committee on murdered or missing Indigenous women and girls is returning, with an expanded mission to investigate violence against all Indigenous people, including men, boys, two-spirits and LGBTQ. Read more»

Elaina Denny, the younger sister of Jamie Yazzie, holds a flag with a red handprint outside the U.S. District Court in Flagstaff on Aug. 9, 2022. The red handprint is the symbol for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Yazzie was missing for more than two years before her remains were found, and her boyfriend is currently awaiting trial for her murder.

Family and supporters of Jamie Lynette Yazzie packed the courtroom gallery and listened to details of the case surrounding her murder - an emotional day for those who became active advocates in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People movement. Read more»

Navajo Nation Police recruits study inside the training academy in Chinle in this photo from 2021. Under a new initiative, FBI bulletins about missing Indigenous women are written in the Navajo language.

To battle rising violent crime in the sprawling Navajo nation, the FBI has implemented what may be one of the most innovative outreach initiatives in the bureau’s history - but the Navajo law enforcement authorities say they have been left in the dark. Read more»

On Thursday, Indigenous men and women across Arizona gathered in solidarity for the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Peoples rally to march in a plea to receive more support to fight against violence on their sovereign lands. Read more»

Indigenous women led the 2019 Phoenix Women’s March, where they advocated for their missing and murdered Native sisters. Such activism is bringing a sense of urgency to the problem.

May 5 is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and events are being held at the local, state and national level to allow people to reflect on the movement and discuss the work that still needs to be done. Read more»

A hiker in February 2021 ascends Piestewa Peak, which was renamed to honor Lori Piestewa, a Hopi woman killed while serving with the U.S. Army in Iraq. The peak’s previous name was a slur for Indigenous women, and federal officials now want to rename hundreds of such places, including 67 in Arizona.

With 67 locations that have the word “squaw” in their name, Arizona could be a primary target when federal officials meet with tribes to talk about possible new names for places that currently contain a slur against Native American women. Read more»

President Joe Biden, who helped to write the original piece of the legislation in 1994 when he was a senator on Capitol Hill, reauthorized the law that helps to protect women from violence.

Tribal leaders and others across the country are applauding the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which includes the extension of tribal jurisdiction over non-Native perpetrators of sexual violence, sex trafficking, stalking, child violence, and obstruction of justice. Read more»

Kara Plummer uses a bullhorn for call and response with demonstrators marching through Old Town calling for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and relatives in Albuquerque, N.M, on Oct. 3, 2021.

Parents at a Thursday congressional hearing about missing and murdered women of color detailed their frustrating attempts to get the attention of law enforcement and adequate media coverage, describing the struggle to highlight the depth of the issue without accurate or reliable data. Read more»

A federal circuit court panel reversed the kidnapping conviction of a Navajo man, saying the charge could not be separated from the assault charge he faced. But the same panel upheld Giordano Jackson’s murder conviction in the 2017 beating death of his girlfriend.

A federal appeals court ruled that a Navajo man who held his girlfriend while he assaulted her cannot also be convicted of kidnapping, saying such an expansion of kidnapping would lead to a “steroidal version” of assault laws. Read more»

More names are added to the MMIW Bike Run USA motor home at its last stop, in Washington, D.C., Friday. Organizers said they chose to write the names in red to represent the block of missing and murdered Indigenous women that 'is on America’s conscience.'

Senate Bill 1215, which would establish a study committee for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) in Arizona. Read more»

The Department of Justice made 137 awards, totaling almost $74 million, to 85 tribes in the last year, according to the Justice Department.

Arizona tribal governments can go after funding - available through the U.S. Department of Justice - to help their communities in the areas of crime prevention, victim services and coordinated community responses to violence against Indigenous women. Read more»

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe received a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women for more than $100,000 to prosecute non-Native offenders of domestic violence-related crimes committed within their community. Read more»

Duane Garvais-Lawrence paints the name of a missing Indigenous woman on his arm before starting a run around the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It was the last stop on a cross-country trip to raise awareness of the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

The new Bureau of Indian Affairs website dedicated to solving missing and murdered cases in Indian Country provides attention to unresolved cases involving Indigenous people that the BIA, Office of Justice Services, and Missing and Murdered Unit is working on. Read more»

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