A nine-member task force has started compiling a report on murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls in Utah. The task force hopes to understand the scope of the problem and stop further injustices from occurring. The members include representatives from Restoring Ancestral Winds, the Urban Indian Center, the Paiute Indian Tribe, and several state officials.
Utah Rep. Angela Romero sponsored a 2019 resolution making May 5th Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons/Women/Girls National Day of Awareness. The resolution passed, providing support for a task force. “We ran the resolution honoring the memory of murdered and missing Indigenous women and reminding people that this is an epidemic in our country,” said Romero, who identifies as Hispanic and Assiniboine (part of the Sioux Nation). “And when the resolution passed, we knew that we had enough support to put together a task force.” The report was supposed to be done by November, but it is being pushed back because of the pandemic.