Memorandum
Date: May 6, 2025
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Eddie Crandell, District 3 Supervisor
Subject: Adopt Proclamation Designating May 2025 as Lake County Month of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People
Executive Summary: Designating May 2025 as Lake County Month of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People
WHEREAS, according to the National Crime Justice Training Center, Missing and Murdered Native Women are two and a half times more likely to experience violent crimes and twice as likely to experience rape or sexual assault in their lifetime, comprise 40% of sex trafficking victims, and experience rape at a rate of one in every three; and
WHEREAS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Indian/Alaska Native men are two and a half times more likely to experience violent crimes, and nearly half (45.3%) have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime; and
WHEREAS, the CDC also reports that over 4 in 5 American Indian/Alaska Native men and women have experienced violence in their lifetime; and homicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for Native youth aged 1-19, the 4th leading cause for Native males aged 20-44, and the 6th leading cause for Native women aged 20-44; and
WHEREAS, the National Crime Information Center Missing and Unidentified Persons statistics from 2022 accounted for 5,487 missing Indigenous person incidents-4,251 of whom were under the age of 20-and by the end of 2022, 1,593 of those cases remained open; and
WHEREAS, in 2020, the federal government enacted Savannah’s Act and the Not Invisible Act to address the lack of accurate data, enhance law enforcement collaboration, and create better responses to the growing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and people; and
WHEREAS, the origins of this epidemic trace back to systemic legal and structural barriers such as the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe (1978), which stripped tribal nations of the power to prosecute non-Natives who commit crimes on tribal lands, severely undermining tribal sovereignty and the protection of Indigenous people; and
WHEREAS, Lake County is home to some of the earliest known atrocities against Indigenous people, including the Temescal Massacre (1820s) and the Bloody Island Massacre (1850)-both devastating events that reflect the long history of state and settler violence against the Pomo peoples and mark the beginning of documented cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People in what is now Lake County, California; and
WHEREAS, the area known today as Lake County is located on the ancestral homelands of Indigenous Peoples who have lived, stewarded, and honored these lands since time immemorial, and is currently home to seven federally recognized tribes: The Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians, The Elem Indian Colony, The Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, The Koi Nation of Northern California, The Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California, The Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians, and The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians; and
WHEREAS, the County of Lake is committed to honoring the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People-both those documented in public records and those whose cases remain unrecorded-and stands in solidarity with the families, communities, and tribal nations impacted by these ongoing tragedies; and recognizes that addressing this crisis requires continued action, justice, healing, and systemic change.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT PROCLAIMED, that the Board of Supervisors of the County of Lake, hereby designates May 2025 as Lake County Month of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People.
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Recommended Action: Adopt Proclamation Designating May 2025 as Lake County Month of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People