RED RIVER PARISH - A tribal community in Louisiana is organizing an event to shed light on the widespread problem of crimes against Indigenous women as well as recent efforts to address the issue.

Lafayette-based news outlet KATC reports that The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana's Thursday, May 20 event will be held in the town of Elton.

KATC says it will celebrate the signing of an executive order by Governor John Bel Edwards to create a Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls Task Force.

The order was signed May 5 and from that day forward, the fifth of May will be recognized as 'Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Awareness Day.'

The order also mandates the implementation of a task force that will address the causes of MMIWG and recommend a series of initiatives that will work to protect Indigenous women and girls.

KATC states that the order was the result of collaboration between Chairman David Sickey of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana and the Global Indigenous Council.

The Thursday event begins at 7 p.m. in the Elton High School gym, which is to be turned into a theater for the evening. 

According to KATC, two new short films about the MMIW crisis in the United States will be shown, followed by a discussion panel featuring the films' director, RAIN, Coushatta Tribal member and presenter Juliet Hayes, and Joy Harjo, Poet Laureate of the United States.

The event is free and open to the public.

Those interested in attending can click here for additional details or call (337) 584-1401.