Memorandum
Date: May 5, 2026
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Eddie Crandell, District 3 Supervisor
Subject: (a) Adopt Proclamation Designating May 2026 as Lake County Month of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People; and (b) Approve the Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and People Flag to be displayed at the County Courthouse Building in Lakeport, CA for the month of May 2026
Executive Summary:
DESIGNATING MAY 2026 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 enforcem...
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