California’s new Feather Alert system aims to help find missing natives

California is issuing a new warning called the Feather Warning.

This is similar to the Amber Alert and means drivers will now see Missing Indigenous information on Caltrans signs on freeways and highways across the state.

For Cathy Chavez Napoli, a local Native American, Feather Alert is a long time coming.

As a member of the Susanville Indian Rancher Maidu tribe, Napoli is glad the state is finally on alert.

That way, Napoli said, the entire state would be able to find out about missing local women as quickly as word spread about the disappearance of Lacey Peterson and Gabby Petito.

“We can all agree that all women should have the same fame and people who seek them out. But Native Americans and women of color don’t get the same attention when they go missing,” she said.

The MP who proposed the feather alert program said California is among the states with the highest rates of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Now these cases will receive new coverage and, hopefully, more chances of being solved. Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Josu Fuentes is part of the county’s powerful anti-trafficking task force.

He welcomes the new Feather Alert aimed at the natives.

“Toward a specific sub-segment or population that is often overlooked. This is a crime that definitely affects all sections of our society,” he said.

California residents who receive yellow alerts on their phones will now also receive feather alerts in the same way.

Napoli told the Native Americans it was time.