Felix Clary
ICT + Tulsa World
TULSA, Okla. – The Inter-Tribal Council of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma is urging the Federal Communications Commission to approve proposed alert codes specifically for missing and endangered Indigenous people.
The federal agency has proposed establishing an event code that would use the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System to distribute alerts to people in certain areas about missing and endangered Indigenous people who are 17 years and older, and thus not covered by the Amber Alert system.
The five tribes passed their resolution supporting the proposed alert system at their April 19 meeting, arguing that the current missing persons event codes do not account for the epidemic of murdered and missing Indigenous men, women and Two-Spirit people.
According to the National Crime Information Center, Native people constitute 2.5 percent of all missing persons cases, even though Native people only make up 1.2 percent of the U.S. population.
The Inter-Tribal Council resolution reads, “First American women are at an even greater risk of going missing or being endangered, with estimates suggesting that they are ten times more likely to fall victim to homicide than the average American woman, emphasizing the urgent need for focused attention and specialized support.”
For national Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Awareness Week (which ends May 5 with the National Day of Action), the Urban Indian Health Institute posted about the proposed FCC event codes on Instagram on May 1, saying, “We need this to go further – we want this alert system to be blatantly clear this is for American Indian, Alaska Native and Indigenous people.”
“We requested the FCC meet with members of the Not Invisible Act (NIA) Commission, Tribal leaders, and Native leaders to develop an appropriate name for the system.”
The Urban Indian Health Institute urged the FCC to name the alert code for Indigenou people so that the system could not be ignored or misused.
People can submit comments about the proposed Indigenous people alert system to the FCC until May 20.
The Inter-Tribal Council also passed four other resolutions at its April 19 meeting, including calls for expanded self-determination and self-governance tribal authority within the U.S. Department of Agriculture and for the Indian Health Service to continue funding housing projects.
This story is co-published by the Tulsa World and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Oklahoma area.
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