Fred de Sam Lazaro:
And in 2023, thanks partly to her lobbying, the state legislature voted to create the nation’s first office dedicated to missing and murdered Black women and girls.
Last April, the office got its first director, Kaleena Burkes. She spent almost seven years working for Minnesota’s Guardian ad Litem Board, which protects children in court cases.
Kaleena Burkes, Director, Minnesota Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls: We need media and law enforcement and victim services agencies to give the same level of urgency and priority to these cases that they haven’t typically gotten. You need someone that’s outside of law enforcement in order to bridge the gap with the community.
I would argue that, as soon as the case is reported to the police, that community, victims, families, relatives, they should come to us next. We will have an intake process.
