Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Advocates Gathered to Heal Our Tribal Communities

By Kyler Edsitty

David Blackeye speaks on the importance of data collection at the 51^st ITCN Conference in Reno, NV.

Reno, NV—July 31, 2025—Hundreds gathered at the 51^st Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada (ITCN) Annual Conference in Reno, NV. The theme for the conference was “Together as One, Advancing Unity Among Nevada’s Tribal Nations.” Conference attendees included Tribal leaders throughout the State of Nevada, community programs, State of Nevada agency representatives, and Tribal community advocates, including Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) advocates.

What does advocacy and protection look like for the Tribal communities in Nevada?

Several organizations and entities attended the conference. Mr. David Blackeye, MMIP Tribal Liaison from the State of Nevada’s Department of Public Safety (DPS), is using his position to bring attention to ongoing cases of MMIR and collect data on missing and murdered Indigenous persons within the State. He reported that statistics to MMIR in Nevada are difficult to compile due to several factors, including the following: misclassification of persons, lack of a centralized database, and lack of recordkeeping. The State of Nevada’s MMIP DPS website shows active cases of missing Indigenous people in the State. 

The ITCN Family Violence Prevention Program is working diligently to help address the crisis of MMIR Nevada. They have put together a task force comprised of State and Federal agencies, law enforcement, State Representatives, and allied organizations, including Native Public Media. The task force is working on solidifying its status as a State of Nevada-recognized entity. Once finalized, the task force will be able to use its status to influence legislation to help address the MMIR crisis in Nevada.

Native Public Media’s Chief Operating Officer, Brian Wadsworth, gave a presentation titled, “Exercising Tribal Sovereignty by Becoming an Alerting Authority.” Mr. Wadsworth highlighted the importance of Tribes being able to issue emergency alerts on their terms and criteria, such as the AMBER alert and the new Missing and Endangered Persons alert code. Mr. Wadsworth was quoted as saying, “Who better to protect their communities than Tribes themselves. If a Tribe is an Alerting Authority, they can issue emergency alerts without having to go through another jurisdiction.”

Each entity exemplified the theme of the conference and is working together for the protection of our Tribal communities. The crisis of MMIR is far-reaching throughout Indian Country. Many conference attendees had their own community stories. One community’s story was about Amanda Davis from the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. Ms. Davis and her unborn child, Ezra, were brutally murdered on the early morning of December 15, 2020, on the Pyramid Lake Reservation. Ms. Davis’ story is a reminder of the importance of advocacy for the protection of our communities and relatives.

Each story of a missing or murdered person in a community affects Indigenous people throughout the nation. We must all remain united for the healing and protection of our communities. Ms. Abigail Echo Hawk gave a riveting talk on the importance of MMIP data (or lack thereof) and healing at the conference. Ms. Echo Hawk’s final words for conference attendees: “Healing is what our ancestors would want.” Each MMIR organization and ally is working towards the healing of our communities.