“I want to give back to my native community”: Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Rickey Medlocke releases solo single in support of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

Money raised by Never Run Out Of Road will be donated to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, which works to end the trafficking of Native American women

Longtime Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Rickey Medlocke has released a solo single to raise awareness of the plight of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). Portions of the money raised by sales of Never Run Out Of Road will be donated to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC), which campaigns to end the trafficking of Native American women. 

According to the NIWRC, Native Americans are one of the most heavily affected demographics for both sex and labour trafficking, with 40% of women involved in sex trafficking overall identified as Native American or First Nations.

Human Trafficking Search, which works to eliminate human trafficking worldwide, reveals that Native women are murdered at more than ten times the national average, while Non-Indians commit 88% of violent crimes against Native women. “Native women have been fetishised, bought, sold, and traded since the initial European colonisation of the American continent,” say the organisation.