I will start by saying that I live on a reservation in Montana. I am a parent to a 12 year old daughter who is an enrolled member of our tribe. I am so thankful this case is getting the attention it deserves!! There has been so so many....Ashley Loring HeavyRunner, Henny Died, Kaysara Stops....that's just off the top of my head. HT is a genuine concern, but the "outside world" genuinely has little clue as to just how entirely rough life can be for these young kids on the reservation. Example---a teacher once had kids write a "what did you do last summer" paper==(these were 11th graders). One told a story of a 4o year old woman who was gang raped at a party and in the paper stated "the 
deserved it....she shouldn't have been at the party in the fist place". People are quiet when it comes to their own family members who are accused monsters. Someone above stated that when the feds show up, people shut up. This, unfortunately, is true. Tribal police are usually hands of the tribal council.....if it's their relatives or someone they love that is the accused, little is done. Cops involved romantically with suspects can really damage an investigation. There is no agreement between state/local police and the feds (IE the BIA). No databases that talk to one another, ect. Each reservation is it's own sovereign nation with their own tribal laws and codes. This is where the problem lies, and this is where the #MMIW problem needs to start to be corrected. There are also steps to prevent these horrible things from happening. If a young 13-17 year old girl is in a town over 50 miles away with young men who are in their 20's bad things can happen. This is not victim blaming, this is not parent blaming, but somewhere along the line someone, somewhere has failed this young lady terribly. My daughter will NEVER, and I mean N E V E R be in this kind of situation. Young people hitchhiking at night is probably not a good idea. We, as parents, have to know where our children are....at all times, period. They should not be "swooped" by friends to go to a basketball tournament over 100 miles away if we do not know who these friends are, what time will they be home, ect.
But---I digress....I could go on and on, my apologies. This family has suffered so much, I really hope their baby comes home soon.
deserved it....she shouldn't have been at the party in the fist place". People are quiet when it comes to their own family members who are accused monsters. Someone above stated that when the feds show up, people shut up. This, unfortunately, is true. Tribal police are usually hands of the tribal council.....if it's their relatives or someone they love that is the accused, little is done. Cops involved romantically with suspects can really damage an investigation. There is no agreement between state/local police and the feds (IE the BIA). No databases that talk to one another, ect. Each reservation is it's own sovereign nation with their own tribal laws and codes. This is where the problem lies, and this is where the #MMIW problem needs to start to be corrected. There are also steps to prevent these horrible things from happening. If a young 13-17 year old girl is in a town over 50 miles away with young men who are in their 20's bad things can happen. This is not victim blaming, this is not parent blaming, but somewhere along the line someone, somewhere has failed this young lady terribly. My daughter will NEVER, and I mean N E V E R be in this kind of situation. Young people hitchhiking at night is probably not a good idea. We, as parents, have to know where our children are....at all times, period. They should not be "swooped" by friends to go to a basketball tournament over 100 miles away if we do not know who these friends are, what time will they be home, ect. But---I digress....I could go on and on, my apologies. This family has suffered so much, I really hope their baby comes home soon.
