Minnesota recently established a statewide government office dedicated to addressing missing and murdered Indigenous women, as well as a task force looking into missing and murdered African American women and girls.

Data collected by the state of Minnesota show that about 15 percent of Minnesota’s female missing persons cases every month are American Indian women and girls. In any given month from 2012 to 2020, 27 to 54 Native American women were missing in Minnesota.

On this episode, MPR News host Angela Davis focused on Minnesota’s promise to Indigenous communities to redress the long-standing dismissal of missing and murdered Indigenous people.  State Sen. Mary Kunesh, DFL-New Brighton, joins her along with other activists and a media watcher to discuss a better way to turn our attention to this phenomenon other than relying on news coverage and public interest.