On May 5, The Indigenous Peoples’ Day Committee will hold a vigil near the pansy bed in Highland Park (near the corner of Highland Avenue and Goodman Street) in recognition of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Children.

This day recognizes Indigenous missing and murdered women and two spirit people who have been murdered or disappeared across the Americas. Red dresses are hung from trees to create awareness of the thousands of women, no longer alive to wear them.  

Indigenous women are up to ten times more likely to be abducted, murdered, and/or sexually assaulted. 84% of Indigenous women have experienced violence in their lifetime. 40% of all sex trafficking victims are Indigenous women/girls.

In 2016 there were 5,712 reports of missing Indigenous women and girls, yet the National Missing & Unidentified Persons System only logged 116 of those cases. In 2020 9,575 Indigenous missing women were reported to the National Crime Information center… Have you heard of any of these?

The youngest victims are under a year old. Our elders are not exempt, an 83 year old woman out on a walker was murdered. This occurs from South America to Northern Canada and has been going on since the first Spanish conquistadors and French trappers landed.

Racist governmental policies of forced removal, land seizures, stealing Native children, and violence has created this legacy. The lack of action on the local, state, or federal level has signaled this behavior is ok. It is NOT.

It is time to take action and create awareness. We must make our governments accountable for violent crimes that prey on Indigenous women, girls, and two Spirits.