Story perspectives

Native Homicide Rate Five Times White; Michigan Honors Awareness Day

5/5/2026

Center

Michigan Observes

CDC data show homicide rates for Indian and Alaska Native people are nearly five times those of white people.
Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services will observe May 5 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day.
Elizabeth Hertel, MDHHS director, pledged agency awareness efforts and collaboration with tribal partners.
The Division of Victim Services funds Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, shelters, and StrongHearts Native Helpline.

Left

Tribal Leaders Warn

Red dresses draped the Connecticut State Capitol’s south lobby, invoking spirits and spotlighting violence against Indigenous women.
Elizabeth Hertel and tribal leaders gathered at the Capitol for a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons ceremony.
Tribal leaders warned Indigenous women are murdered at rates ten times average and cases uninvestigated.
Legislators cited colonial genocide, noting John Mason’s statue honors a leader who exterminated Native peoples.

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Michigan Observes

CDC data show homicide rates for Indian and Alaska Native people are nearly five times those of white people.
Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services will observe May 5 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day.
Elizabeth Hertel, MDHHS director, pledged agency awareness efforts and collaboration with tribal partners.
The Division of Victim Services funds Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, shelters, and StrongHearts Native Helpline.

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