The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe held a march Thursday to bring awareness to the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

The march began at the Gliding Eagle Marketplace where attendees walked to the PGST Tribal Center. This is the fourth year the tribe has held an MMIW march, and the last two were socially distanced events.

May 5 is recognized as MMIW Day in the U.S. and Canada. In late March, Washington state signed into law the MMIW alert system, which creates an Amber alert-like system for missing Indigenous people.

Awareness of MMIW is exceedingly important as Indigenous Women are murdered at 10 times the rate of women of other ethnicities, according to a PGST news release.

In addition:

• Murder is the third-leading cause of death among Indigenous women.
• More than 80% of Indigenous women have experienced violence.
• More than half of Indigenous women have been physically abused by their intimate partners.
• The murder rate of Indigenous Women is three times higher than Anglo-American women.