Indigenous people raise awareness about their missing and murdered

By MICHAEL WARREN Indigenous people across North America are calling this week for sustained responses to the violence in their communities much of it against women and girls In prayer walks self-defense classes marches and speeches at state capitols they are pushing for better cooperation among law enforcement agencies to find missing people and solve homicides that are among about open FBI cases this year Particular parents say they will use Monday s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day to make sure children understand what s at stake A great number of young women are covering their mouths with bright red handprints vowing to speak for those who have been silenced According to the U S Justice Department Indigenous women are more than twice as likely to be casualties of homicide than the national average People walk in memory of loved ones during an observance of Missing Murdered Indigenous Peoples Day MMIP at the Indigenous Cultural Center at Scottsdale Neighborhood College Friday May in Scottsdale Ariz AP Photo Matt York Donovan Paddock speaks during an observance of Missing Murdered Indigenous Peoples Day MMIP at the Indigenous Cultural Center at Scottsdale Group College Friday May in Scottsdale Ariz AP Photo Matt York In this photo provided by Shawn Milligan motorcycle rider Lisa Milligan of the Forest County Potawatomi tribe poses with a young activist at a Missing Murdered Indigenous Women event at the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation in Wisconsin May Shawn Milligan via AP In this photo provided by Shawn Milligan Lisa Milligan of the Forest County Potawatomi tribe poses with her motorcycle adorned with a red hand at a Missing Murdered Indigenous Women event at the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation in Wisconsin May Shawn Milligan via AP Kimberly Wahpepah a member of the Navajo Nation who survived sex trafficking and became an advocate for other casualties speaks at a rally in Santa Fe N M Sunday May Nilaya Sabnis via AP Native Americans march to raise awareness about Missing Murdered Indigenous People on Sunday March in Santa Fe N M Nilaya Sabnis via AP Relatives of Darian Nevayaktewa a member of the Pueblo of Tesque who went missing on the Hopi Indian Reservation in raise awareness about his disappearance at a rally in Santa Fe N M Sunday May Nilaya Sabnis via AP Family members listen to speeches at a Missing Murdered Indigenous People awareness rally in Santa Fe N M Sunday May Nilaya Sabnis via AP Native Americans march to raise awareness about Missing Murdered Indigenous People on Sunday March in Santa Fe N M Nilaya Sabnis via AP Show Caption of People walk in memory of loved ones during an observance of Missing Murdered Indigenous Peoples Day MMIP at the Indigenous Cultural Center at Scottsdale Region College Friday May in Scottsdale Ariz AP Photo Matt York Expand What the talk means to Indigenous people Lisa Mulligan of the Forest County Potawatomi carries this message when she rides her motorcycle from Wisconsin to rallies out West She plans to give her two granddaughters the talk as they grow older about what they statistically might encounter in their lives She will warn them that her father was killed and another relative was a victim of sex trafficking That s why I ride for it Milligan declared I don t want it to happen to anyone else Christina Castro of Taos Pueblo in New Mexico has a -year-old daughter Navajo Nation citizen Joylana Begay-Kroupa has a -year-old son They also have shared anguished reality checks hoping to protect their children and foster change Indigenous people don t have the luxury about NOT talking to our daughters about violence against girls I ve had to talk with my daughter since birth about bodily autonomy mentioned Castro who co-founded the advocacy organization Sisters Collective in Santa Fe New Mexico The collective organized speeches at the New Mexico capitol on Sunday and a showing of part of the documentary She Cried That Day about the unresolved death of Dione Thomas a Navajo woman And self-defense classes will be held soon at the collective and at the Phoenix Indian Center a social services hub for Indigenous people in Arizona s capital I constantly go into auntie mode You automatically want to protect your nieces and your nephews and your children stated Begay-Kroupa the center s chief executive Unfortunately in Indigenous communities we ve seen this type of suffering occur over and over again She mentioned she doesn t hold back information when speaking with her young son We have relatives that have gone missing and we just don t know where they re at Begay-Kroupa commented He wants to understand why where d they go and what happened to them Yaretzi Ortega a -year-old from the Gila River Indian District who wore the red handprint Saturday commented Native Americans need to speak up every day It s a message she understood when she too got the talk People need to be aware at a young age because it could happen to them Ortega declared The talk is an acknowledgment of how Native American women and children have often been targeted They have to be aware of the risks Indigenous men aren t immune Donovan Paddock who joined an awareness walk Friday in Scottsdale Arizona commented two of his uncles were killed His grandfather Layton Paddock Sr a Navajo Code Talker was located dead months after going missing in Winslow My passion now is to help those that can t find their loved ones Paddock revealed Years of advocacy have produced slow results A few tribes have invited federal teams to lead simulation exercises showing what to do if someone goes missing Fully implementing Indigenous Alerts as part of state Amber Alert systems will require more tools and coordination with the federally recognized tribes Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty stated Tribal alerts only in the last few days became eligible for federal funding and tribes had to lobby the Federal Communications Commission before Apple upgraded iPhones to accept them Crotty noted Pamela Foster a Navajo woman has been a strong advocate since the delayed response to the kidnapping and murder of her daughter Ashlynne Mike Several years later of the tribes responding to a survey announced they were participating in state alerts but specific state coordinators revealed they still didn t even have tribal contact information The Trump administration in April stated a surge of FBI tools to field offices to help the Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit and tribal police prepare cases for prosecution The Not One More recommendations commissioned by Congress no longer appears on the Justice Department website but still can be seen at the National Indigenous Women s Asset Center In it former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland noted over of Native American men and women experience violence in their lifetimes Associated Press journalist Matt York in Scottsdale Arizona contributed to this statement