California’s Forgotten: Missing Indigenous Women

Image: Nicholas Vides (The Press Democrat)

Published July 31, 2023

By Nikki Sadat

Emmilee Risling is a 33-year-old mother of two. She was last seen October 2021 in Northern California’s forests near the Klamath River. Risling is a member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe – one of only two tribes that still exist on their ancestral homeland in California. On May 5, 2022, National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Day, Risling’s 21-month-old daughter and parents joined other members of the Yurok Tribe in remembrance. Emmilee Risling is still missing.

Rachel Sloan’s roadside memorial lies in California’s Mendocino County. In May 2013, her remains were found inside a refrigerator on Route 162 near U.S. Highway 101. Law enforcement identified her two years later. Sloan was a member of the Cahto Tribe. As the official coroner report confirmed, she died of a gunshot wound to the head. Her murderer has not been identified. 

The poster for Khadijah Britton, a member of the Wailacki Round Valley Indian Tribe, now rests beside Rachel Sloan’s memorial. Less than one week before her disappearance in February 2019, Britton reported to domestic violence counselors that her boyfriend tried to kill her. She was last seen being forced into a car at gunpoint. 

These victims have one thing in common: they are Native American women who disappeared without answers. Emmilee Risling, Rachel Sloan, and Khadijah Britton are a part of the devastating epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women across California and the nation. Sovereign Bodies Institute has documented 259 cases in nearly three-quarters of California since 1900 – claiming this severely underrepresents the number. Their Missing Indigenous People Database is the only one of its kind. 

The missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW) crisis is worsened by the fact that Indigenous women and girls disproportionately face violence. According to the National Institute of Justice, 84% of Indigenous women reported experiencing violence – sexual, physical, or psychological – during their lifetime. Furthermore, murder is the third cause of death for Native American women and girls ages 10 - 24. MMIW is also rooted in racism and sexual objectification of Native American women. As University of Kansas Professor Sarah Deer explains, “Native women have long been considered invisible and disposable in society, and those vulnerabilities attract predators.” 

Disturbingly, there is a lack of national data and reporting of MMIW. The National Crime Information Center reported 5,712 missing American Indian and Alaska Native women in 2016. However, the Department of Justice only logged 116 cases in its national database. Even 95% of MMIW cases aren’t covered by the media. Erasure persists. Indigenous women and girls are going missing – and should not be left unseen.

Both federal and state policies have failed to provide justice. Legislation promotes a rejection of tribal sovereignty to prosecute violence against Indigenous women. The Oliphant v. Suquamish Supreme Court ruling in 1978 prohibited tribal governments’ criminal jurisdiction over non-Natives. Because ninety-six percent of Indigenous female sexual assault survivors report their perpetrators as non-Native, Oliphant prevents these women from justice. 

Furthermore, Public Law 280 (PL 280) enacted in 1935 transferred criminal and civil jurisdiction over tribal lands from the federal government to the State. Six states – California, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, and Wisconsin –  are now referred to as mandatory PL 280 states. Public Law 280 promotes a disregard for tribal criminal justice and a sense of lawlessness in places of confused jurisdiction between tribal and local law enforcement. Sentiments that the reservation is not included in the judicial system also results in underreporting of crime. The rejection of tribal jurisdiction of crimes that affect Indigenous people harms the victims of violence. 

Passing comprehensive legislation is one way to help the missing and murdered Indigenous women. One instance of progress is the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA) of 2013. This granted criminal jurisdiction to tribal governments over non-Natives who commit domestic violence or dating violence – known as Special Domestic Violence Jurisdiction (SDVCJ). However, SDVCJ excludes sexual assault and rape – crimes that disproportionately affect Native American women and girls. In 2022, President Biden signed a bill reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. This expanded tribal justice systems’ authority over domestic violence committed on tribal lands by non-Native perpetrators. Continued efforts to pass legislation that ensures tribal jurisdiction over all VAWA crimes committed by non-Natives are crucial.

Although policy plays an important role in the MMIW epidemic, extractive industries, and environmental violence exacerbate the crisis. Mining, fossil fuel, and logging bring an influx of male workers to rural areas near Reservations. Many of these men are housed in temporary accommodations named “man-camps.” One 2015 report at the Fort Berthold reservation in North Dakota found that sexual assault of women increased by 75% after the influx of temporary oil workers. Addressing the link between environmental violence and MMIW is crucial to develop strategies that protect Indigenous women. As Violence on the Land, Violence on our Bodies report writes,

“Violence against Indigenous women is structural, not coincidental, and solutions must include a deep and honest analysis of the ways in which the violence upon Indigenous peoples is mirrored by the violence done upon the land.”

California is home to the largest Native American population in the United States. The State needs to protect its Indigenous women and girls through comprehensive policy measures and the acknowledgment that environmental violence contributes to MMIW. The consequences of the climate crisis aren't isolated to the land we live on. In reality, Indigenous women suffer from our destructive practices. Missing and murdered Indigenous women cannot be forgotten. 

To learn more about the organizations that help visit Comunidades Indígenas en liderazgo (CIELO), Sovereign Bodies Institute, and Native Hope. 

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Nikki Sadat will graduate from Middlebury College this February with a major in International and Global Studies and a minor in Political Science. She can speak Spanish, Farsi, and is currently learning Italian! As a Pacific Council Fellow this summer, Nikki is writing an editorial series that examines women's rights and roles in international conflict — including in Afghanistan, Iran, and California's Indigenous communities.

References:

Native American Women Are Facing a Crisis 

Missing and Murdered Women & Girls

Unseen: Missing, murdered Indigenous women in California part of nationwide crisis

Living in the Blast Zone: Sexual Violence Piped onto Native Land by Extractive Industries

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.