Hilo advocates call for action on missing, murdered Indigenous women, girls and Māhū

Hilo’s rush-hour traffic became a stage for grief and accountability when advocates gathered outside Ross on Kanoelehua Avenue with red dresses, red handprints and hand-held signs for the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Māhū.

The sign-waving, organized by He Hoomaka Hou Ana o Puna and Kū Ānuenue, was the third annual gathering hosted by He Hoomaka Hou Ana o Puna, a nonprofit that focuses on behavioral health services and peer mentorship for women. Supporters said the goal was not only remembrance, but visibility for violence that disproportionately affects Indigenous, Native Hawaiian, Alaska Native and Native American women and girls, along with transgender and two-spirit people.

The Hilo demonstration also pointed to a local accountability gap that advocates say is too often overlooked. An Office of Hawaiian Affairs report cited at the gathering showed Native Hawaiian children ages 15 to 17 represented the highest number of missing children on Hawaii Island. The same report said there were 182 cases of missing Native Hawaiian girls on Hawaii Island from 2018 to 2021, more than any other racial group in the report.

Advocates said those numbers reflect more than isolated cases. They tied the risk to poverty, housing instability and trafficking, along with weak media attention and uneven public response when Indigenous girls and women disappear. The message in Hilo was that missing persons are not all counted, tracked or treated the same, and that gaps in recognition can make some victims easier to overlook.

Renee Rivera, co-director of He Hoomaka Hou Ana o Puna, said Hawaii’s high cost of living leaves children and families more vulnerable when basic needs are hard to meet. That reality gave the gathering its urgency: the crisis is not confined to distant headlines, but visible on Big Island streets, where advocates are pressing for systems that can recognize Native Hawaiian, Indigenous and māhū victims distinctly instead of letting them vanish inside broader categories.