Elizabeth Smart

Of course, you know, my captors...

their cases were moved to the federal courts.

And I mean, we could talk about that for a while, but they ended up being prosecuted in the federal courts instead of the state courts.

But it was actually my own case that made me start to really feel like I needed to speak out and do more.

And as I started speaking out, I've now been to all 50 states and I've done presentations and

in all 50 states.

And a lot of times when I do presentations, they'll be really close to reservations and I generally have security at these events that I do.

And so, you know, I'm

I want to know, you know, about that person.

So we'll get into conversation and I will start talking about, you know, how many cases they work or because it's a lot of time.

It's, you know, police officers who are providing me security or FBI officers who are providing me security.

And so they'll talk about a lot of the issues that they face on the reservations.

And then, I mean, there have also been people who have just come into my life who have been like, this is really important.

And they are not receiving attention.

They are not receiving, their cases are not being pursued.

I mean, you talk about the first 48 hours being some of the most important hours when a person disappears.

But a lot of times it takes up to two weeks before their case is even given a file number, right?

And so it's kind of just been all of these experiences put together that have just made me feel like we need to change this.

I mean, this should not be the issue that it is.

There should not be this disparity between white, blonde, Caucasian, blonde women versus Native American or Indigenous populations.