The months-old disappearance of a Native American woman from California’s Yurok Reservation has prompted the tribe to Declare a State of Emergency.
There have been a total of five Native American women having disappeared or been killed along California’s rugged Lost Coast in the past 18 months, including 33-year old Emmilee Risling who was last seen in October. Risling is an accomplished Hoopa Valley Tribal Dancer, University of Oregon graduate and mother.
This crisis has brought increased urgency to efforts to build the first database of such cases in California. The Tribe is also working to gain supervision over foster care and build an Indigenous justice system that would ultimately handle all but the most serious felonies. Tribal officials say reclaiming sovereignty over such systems is the only way to end the cycle of loss that’s taken the greatest toll on their women.
