Marita Growing Thunder, 19, is sitting in the grass on a warm spring afternoon at the University of Montana campus in Missoula where she studies art. Growing up, she said, her mom was always talking about aunt Yvonne.

鈥淓veryday she鈥檚 like, 鈥極h that reminds me of what Yvonne used to do or she used to say all the time,鈥欌€� Growing Thunder said.

Yvonne was the family comedian. She made goofy faces, danced at pow-wows and got into little fights with her sisters.

But then about ten years ago, Yvonne was beaten to death by her husband.

鈥淚t was a closed casket,鈥� Growing Thunder said. 鈥淎nd when you looked at her, her nails were ripped off of her hands. It was so horrible.鈥�

Growing Thunder said almost everyone in Indian Country has a story like this.

Native American women are murdered at some of the highest rates in the U.S.

Sexual assault rates are also higher than average. Around a third of all American Indian and Alaska Native women will be raped at some point in their lifetime, according to a U.S. Department of Justice , and in almost every instance the perpetrator is non-native.

鈥淵ou know it isn鈥檛 like my grandma just died of cancer,鈥� said Ivan MacDonald, a filmmaker, social worker and member of the Blackfeet Nation. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more, there鈥檚 a possibility that my grandma was beaten to death and left behind a bar. Or my cousin, she was murdered, she was raped and left for dead.鈥�

MacDonald鈥檚 cousin, Monica, was murdered when she was just seven years old. Another cousin, Ashley Loring, 20, disappeared last year.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think their stories are being told enough,鈥� said Republican U.S. Senator Steve Daines.

He said it鈥檚 the lack of storytelling and reporting outside of Indian Country that inspired him to push for A National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls.   

Each year the resolution has to be renewed and Daines has successfully pushed through that renewal for the past two years.

鈥淭his is really about bringing awareness,鈥� he said. 鈥淪hining more light on it as we need to bring more resources to stop what鈥檚 going on.鈥�

The numbers are alarming.  

Right now an estimated 6,000 women are missing in the U.S., though that number is probably higher. Cases are under-reported and no one is officially tracking all of them.

Ivan MacDonald said building awareness is a first step.

鈥淚t brings that issue to light, but there has to be that extra step,鈥� he said.

According to MacDonald, lawmakers need to give tribes more authority to investigate, prosecute and sentence major crimes like murder and rape in Indian Country.

Generally, tribal police can鈥檛 do that. They must turn those investigations over to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Almost half of those cases are eventually dropped due to lack of evidence.

鈥淚 think putting that power back in the hands of the tribe who know their communities best can sort of help alleviate some of this stuff,鈥� he said.

MacDonald also says people outside of Indian Country need to start taking ownership.

Many indigenous women feel invisible and ignored in this country. So a day of awareness can help get their stories out as long as non-natives listen.

鈥淭hese women are so much more than just stats and figures and talking points for legislative policy,鈥� MacDonald said. 鈥淭hey were a lived, loved, mother, daughter, sister aunt that when they were here they were loved.鈥�

Marita Growing Thunder shows that love by stitching beautiful, handmade ribbon skirts.

Each skirt remembers an indigenous woman who has lost her life or disappeared.

The one Growing Thunder is wearing now has all the colors of the rainbow.

鈥淚f these skirts are for women who have been murdered or they鈥檙e missing then I believe it needs to be out there,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t needs to be bold and catch attention so that people can hear the stories.鈥�

This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, Yellowstone Public Radio in Montana, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.

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