The publication is reproduced in full below:
10TH ANNIVERSARY OF RUTHIE KINDNESS' DISAPPEARANCE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse) for 5 minutes.
Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to a citizen of the great State of Washington, to share her story and to, once again, urge my colleagues to make it a priority for this Congress to end the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women.
Ruthie Kindness, a native woman of the city of Parkland, turned 31 just last month. Unfortunately, for her family and her loved ones, they spent her birthday just as they have over the last 10 years, without Ruthie, with no idea where she is, or even if she is alive.
Ruthie disappeared on February 7, 2011. For over a decade, her family has gone without answers, and little progress has been made in the investigation.
Ruthie's story is unacceptably commonplace for our tribal communities. She is one of nearly 6,000 women, Madam Speaker, that we know of who have been a victim of this crisis.
Native American and Alaska Native women face a murder rate that is 10 times higher than the national average. Many of their cases go unresolved for years or even decades, as with Ruthie's case.
We made critically important strides in addressing the crisis when President Trump signed Savannah's Act and the Not Invisible Act into law just last year. But Ruthie and the thousands of women whose cases remain unresolved underscore that our work here is not yet finished.
The life of Ruthie Kindness matters. Her family's grief matters. The hole left in her community by her disappearance, that matters. Finding answers for them, delivering justice for Ruthie, and ending this threat for indigenous women once and for all, that matters.
I call on each and every Member of this body to join me in renewing our commitment to our Native communities, and to delivering a lasting solution to protect these women from the disproportionate rates of violence that they suffer.
If anyone has any information about Ruthie's disappearance, please call the Auburn Police Department at (253) 931-3080. Together, we can deliver justice for Ruthie and for the thousands of indigenous women who have been victims to this crisis.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 163
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