Brighton trucker o ers a message and sanctuary for indigenous women

Ho-Chunk Trucking spreads message about murdered, missing women

BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

You might see Elizabeth Johnson’s semi-tractor trailer traveling the U.S. interstate highways — especially between Winnebago, Nebraska and Brighton, Colorado.

And if you do see it, there’s no way you can miss her message. e entire trailer carries the simple direct message — Stop killing indigenous women.

Starting in 2017, Johnson — a member of the Ho-Chunk Tribal Nation of Nebraska — has spread that message.

“My message as a woman is, if any woman sees this semi-truck and needs help, me and my dog Delilah will help you to safety. Knock on my semi-truck door,” Johnson said.

Estimates say there are 506 cases of missing or murdered indigenous women across the country. at’s likely an undercount due to bad veyed 71 police stations and one state agency found that 5,712 missing and murdered Indigenous cases were reported in 2016. But of those, only 116 were logged in with the Department of Justice database.

Health Institute. Of the 506, 128 of the women are considered missing while 280 were known murdered. Another 98 are cases of unknown status, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute.

According to the National Institute of Justice, as of May 2023, 84.3% more than 1.5 million American Indian and Alaskan Native women experience violence in their lifetime.