December 29, 2022. The State of Colorado issued a Press Release and PR campaign stating "The new Missing Indigenous Person Alert is now in effect, through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The CBI is responsible for issuing all alerts at the request of local law enforcement. It will function like an Amber Alert. They’ll also work with Colorado Department of Transportation to display vehicle information on signs across the state, if they know it. The Missing Person must be *Indigenous. Colorado joins the state of Washington in offering an alert for missing Indigenous Persons for law enforcement to access."
As both a Colorado Resident and an Enrolled American Indian Tribal Member it appears to me that the new Colorado Missing Indigenous Person Alert System is an attempt to make the Colorado Democrats look like heroes in a politically charged issue while they are tone deaf to the problems that need to be addressed. It makes the state of Colorado look like a Narcissist attempting to grab national news headlines at the expense of those suffering from loss. This is not their problem to solve, and this alert system may be setting up the state of Colorado Taxpayers to pay a legal bill they don't need when sued for discriminating against other missing people.
- More funding and investigations are needed to help locate missing tribal members in both the United States and in Canada, but there is no real proof that the majority of those missing Tribal Members ever left the Rez much less are in Colorado. The last we checked the only folks currently missing that were last seen near on American Indian Reservations in Colorado are non-tribal members. The state of Colorado Bureau of Investigation is not allowed on tribal reservations unless invited either are local law enforcement agencies.
American Indian Tribal Members are seeking and deserve equal treatment in locating their Missing Person that’s all anyone is asking.
This alert system is condescending and opportunistic on so many levels. It appears to be something a politician that wants to run for national office would sign into law.
- This alert system is not going to mandate that the mainstream media will provide news coverage, nor can they that is what free press is all about.
- It's not going to mandate the U.S. Government increase funding to the Tribe's and the F.B.I. to allow them more resources to do their job.
- It's not going to end stereotypes which stops the search.
- This alert program does absolutely nothing but discriminate against other people that are missing that deserve the same access to an Amber Style Alert at the expense of Native American Tribal Members because the state of Colorado Democrats just created another reason for Haters to hate. Our Children do not deserve that.
All Missing People in the state of Colorado deserve equal protection and resources given to help find them.
We can and must do better Colorado.
While missing Tribal Members need equal access to resources both public and private to help find their loved ones the Colorado Alert program should be amended to serve all verified Missing People. Currently it is nothing more than lipstick on a pig.
