Leaders push for more funding to find missing and murdered Indigenous Minnesotans

The funding would boost a first-of-its-kind state office created to systemically tackle the problem

Feb 15, 20230

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Hundreds march down Cedar Avenue near Little Earth during the annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women's rally and march at the East Phillips Park Cultural & Community Center, in Minneapolis, Minn., on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023. Minnesota's movement to solve the cases of hundreds of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls hit a milestone last year with the opening of a first-in-the-nation office tasked with systemically trying to fix the problem. Minnesota's Native women legislators reflected on where the movement goes from here during the annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women's march in Minneapolis. ] Elizabeth Flores • liz.flores@startribune.com

The push to solve hundreds of cases of missing and murdered Indigenous Minnesotans hit a milestone last year with the opening of a first-in-the-nation office charged with systemically trying to fix the problem.

Now, Native American legislators and community leaders are trying to make sure the office has the resources it needs to tackle the task ahead - one that's been complicated by decades of inconsistent data and a lack of mainstream attention.

"The work is never going to be done," state Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, said Tuesday in front of a packed gymnasium before hundreds went out in the rain for the annual march for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives. "At the Legislature we are fighting so hard to ensure that we have the resources that we need in order to continue this work."

https://www.startribune.com/leaders-push-for-more-funding-to-find-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-minnesotans/600251630/