Native American women and girls are facing an epidemic of violence that is hiding in plain sight. They are being killed or trafficked at rates far higher than the rest of the U.S. population ( on some reservations, women are 1 0 times as likely to be murdered as the national average , according to the Justice Department). Some simply disappear, presumably forced into sex trafficking . It aims to change what the Indian Law Resource Center has called a “lack of a diligent and adequate federal response” to these crimes. Data on the issue is scattershot at best, but here’s some of what is known about the problem:______84 percentThat’s how many indigenous women have experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence in their lifetime, according to the National Institute of Justice.

Source: New York Times April 12, 2019 13:52 UTC