Extend the Epstein spotlight.

IN RECENT WEEKS, survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse have gotten some of the spotlight they have long been denied. Perhaps talk of them even came up during your Thanksgiving holiday.

- MATT K. LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

GINA FERAZZI Los Angeles Times

EMMILEE RISLING, who disappeared near the Yurok Reservation in October 2021.

For most of us, conversations like these serve as a sort of moral palate cleanser. Once we've met our empathy quota, we feel free to drift back into the soft glow of loved ones, NFL commentary and tryptophan, feeling proud we've exercised some moral clarity for the day.

But caring about survivors means caring about exploitation, not just the victims of the most high-profile predator.

The very same forces that failed Epstein’s victims continue to fail thousands of others.

Here’s one example that probably didn't come up over pumpkin pie: According to federal and tribal data, about 5,700 Native American girls are reported missing every year. (To put it in perspective, one of Epstein’s victims estimated she was “one story of a thousand,” but most estimates say “dozens.” Whichever number you pick, the story is tragic.)

The disappearances of Native American women —many of whom are presumed murdered, raped or trafficked — receive only a modicum of media attention, barely registering in public consciousness.

Yet the crisis is so widespread that it has its own acronym — MMIP, “Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons.”