BIG HORN — In light of lives lost and family and friends affected by murdered and missing Indigenous women on reservation land, Big Horn High School senior basketball player James Richards organized a fundraiser and awareness event at Friday’s basketball game.

Richards, who is Oglala Sioux, has experienced and seen other friends, family and tribal members experience the trauma of losing a loved one — in particular, young women — in a nationwide epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women. As a senior, Richards was inspired to head up a project to bring attention to the issue in his current community, where the same fear of becoming a victim or related to a victim may not be as strong.

Several organizations aim to share statistics that barely exist. Native Women’s Wilderness website said the National Crime Information Center recorded 5,712 incidents of missing and murdered Native American women in 2016.

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