ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — 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 4,300 open FBI cases this year.
Some parents said they were using Monday’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day to make sure children understand what’s at stake. Others — like Geraldine Toya of Jemez Pueblo, whose daughter Shawna was killed in 2021, and Lynette Pino of Tesuque Pueblo, whose son Darian Nevayaktewa disappeared in 2008 — showed up to demand answers and help other survivors.
“We’ll keep pushing and I have faith we will find him and bring him home,” said Erica Leno, Darian’s cousin. “Using any and all resources, we will find him.”
Many young women who covered their mouths with bright red handprints vowed to speak for those who have been silenced. Justice Department data show Indigenous women are more than twice as likely to be homicide victims than the national average. Among the latest: Emily Pike, a San Carlos Apache teen who went missing from a group home in January. Her mother wasn't told for a week. Her remains were found months later.
What ‘the talk’ means to Indigenous people
Lisa Mulligan, of the Forest County Potawatomi, carries the MMIP 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, warning them that her father was killed and another relative was a victim of sex trafficking.
“That’s why I ride for it,” Milligan said. “I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.”
Christina Castro, of Taos Pueblo, has a 12-year-old daughter. Navajo Nation citizen Joylana Begay-Kroupa has a 10-year-old son. They too 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," said Castro, who co-founded the advocacy organization 3 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 2015 unresolved death of Dione Thomas, a Navajo woman.
Self-defense classes are planned at the collective and at the Phoenix Indian Center, a social services hub for Indigenous people in Arizona's capital.
“I always go into auntie mode. You automatically want to protect your nieces and your nephews and your children," said Begay-Kroupa, the center's chief executive. “Unfortunately in Indigenous communities, we’ve seen this type of suffering occur over and over again.”
She said 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 said. “He wants to understand why, where’d they go and what happened to them.”
Yaretzi Ortega, a 15-year-old from the Gila River Indian Community who wore the red handprint Saturday, said her parents tried to shelter her, but as she asked questions, she too got “the talk.”
“People need to be aware at a young age because it could happen to them," Ortega said. "‘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, said two of his uncles were killed. His grandfather Layton Paddock Sr., a Navajo Code Talker, was found dead months after going missing in Winslow.
“My passion now is to help those that can’t find their loved ones,” Paddock said.
Years of advocacy have produced slow results
Fully implementing Indigenous Alerts as part of state Amber Alert systems will require more resources and coordination with the 574 federally recognized tribes, Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty said.
Tribal alerts only recently became eligible for federal funding, and tribes had to lobby the Federal Communications Commission before Apple upgraded iPhones to accept them, Crotty said.
Pamela Foster, a Navajo Nation member, has advocated for better alerts since the delayed response to the 2016 kidnapping and murder of her daughter, Ashlynne Mike. Several years later, 76% of the tribes responding to a survey said they were participating, but some state alert coordinators said they still didn't even have tribal contact information.
The Trump administration in April announced a surge of FBI resources to 10 field offices to help the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Missing and Murdered Unit and tribal police prepare cases for prosecution.
The 2023 "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 Resource Center. In it, former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland noted over 84% of Native American men and women experience violence in their lifetimes.
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Warren reported from Atlanta, Georgia. AP contributors include Matt York in Scottsdale, Arizona.
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