From PSU to Chiloquin, Native Americans and allies gather, mourn and honor MMIP
When a loved one goes missing, who looks?
This month, Indigenous-led community groups are hosting cultural events across the Pacific Northwest with a unified purpose — to bring awareness to the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people, commonly abbreviated as MMIP.
The campaign to call attention to missing and murdered Indigenous women, or MMIW, highlights the disproportionate risk for violence Indigenous women face, calling for resources and awareness. Many cases of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples remain unsolved, including in Oregon.
May 5 is Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women's Day. Across Turtle Island, thousands donned red and decorated their faces with a red handprint to draw attention to the crisis.
From Portland to Chiloquin to Warm Springs, Indigenous communities are creating space for loved ones of the missing and murdered to grieve, be supported by their tribal communities and make a call to action.
Salmon bake
Cedar smoke, drums and children's laughter filled the air of the Portland State University quad at the Portland State University Chapter of the United Indigenous Students in Higher Education’s, or UISHE, fifth annual salmon bake event.
This year’s event was particularly special — the first in-person salmon bake in three years, since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The event fell on May 5 — so UISHE held the event in honor of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives, commonly abbreviated to MMIR.
UISHE officers Shayla Naswood, Daniel Carrillo, Carter Silago and Tashina “Bear” Cunningham expressed to Street Roots how significant it was for them to bring the salmon bake back to the PSU campus.
“It's important to keep on this tradition of showing how we traditionally cook salmon,” Cunningham (Siletz/Hunkpapa Band, Standing Rock Sioux) said. “Bringing that back to our people, and to our campus community as well, it's really important for UISHE. Also, the MMIW part of it is super important because we don't see a lot of awareness being brought to Indigenous issues such as MMIW/R awareness.
It's a huge epidemic, and it's not covered in media, and you don't see a ton of government action, even though they make all these proclamations. It’s words, but it's not always action.”
Speakers led the crowd of around 50 people in song and prayer, discussing the challenges Native communities face in protecting their relatives while others tended slabs of salmon woven onto sticks as they smoked above a small fire.
“It’s critical to bring awareness to help find our people,” Renea Perry (Tligit/Inupiat), a speaker at the salmon bake, said.
Perry, executive director of the Portland All Nations Canoe Family, urged the crowd to support policies dedicating more resources to the missing and murdered Indigenous peoples crisis.
A current proposal on the U.S. House of Representatives floor would formally designate May 5 as the National Day of Awareness For Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) proposed the resolution. Newhouse represents a large swath of rural Washington that shares geography with several tribes in support of the resolution, including Yakama Nation and the Confederated Tribes of Colville Reservation.
The crowd, many dressed in red and ribbon skirts, listened as presenters urged action and awareness to protect Native people. Volunteers doled out generous plates of smoked salmon for any passerby.
The salmon bake is one of the two major events UISHE hosts each year, the other being its Naimuma Pow Wow, which occurred May 6 and celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Cunningham said coming together to discuss such a difficult issue shows the strength and endurance of Native communities.
“The fact that we still have the strength and the ability to talk about it and be there for each other, even though we're all going through the same thing, is very empowering,” Cunningham said, adding it was empowering to see Indigenous and non-Indigenous allies show up to support the cause.
Several speakers shared personal stories about missing relatives, including Calina Lawrence, a Suquamish vocalist and community activist.
“This work is as heavy as it is beautiful,” Lawrence expressed. “There are grandmas and aunties in this community seeking to end this abuse.”
Lawrence described the emotional toll of looking for a family member in song.
“Has anyone seen her? Two days turn to weeks/ I can’t find my sister, can’t rely on police/ I can’t find my sister, I know she wouldn’t leave.”
The salmon bake was a space for raising awareness about MMIP and for all those affected by the crisis to be together — the event’s mood heavy with emotion.
For Duana Johnson, lead administrator for the advocacy group Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women USA and a citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Colville Reservation, it was essential to attend the event.
Johnson is a sex trafficking survivor and dedicates her time to bringing awareness to MMIP.
“It’s healing; it’s healing work,” Johnson told Street Roots. “So many of our people don’t get to come home.”
Johnson and UISHE are part of a growing chorus of voices demanding the public and the government pay more attention to the crisis.
Blanketed in red
Awareness efforts extended far beyond Portland. Red blanketed the Pacific Northwest as Native communities gathered to honor missing and murdered relatives.
Members of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs convened at the Warm Springs Rodeo Grounds for the “Say Their Name” Relay and Marathon on May 5. Reina Estimo and Raylene Thomas, members of community group Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives - Warm Springs, coordinated the event.
Walkers and runners, from youth to elders, participated in races in honor of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives. Many participating in the 26-mile-long relay donned bright red shirts reading “Stolen Sisters” while running past signs featuring the names of missing community members, like Lisa Pearl Briseno.
The unsolved disappearance of Briseno, a 28-year-old Warm Springs tribal member who went missing from Portland in 1997, is still fresh in the minds of loved ones. Briseno was last seen Aug. 20, 1997, leaving in a vehicle with her boyfriend. Few details are available in her case, but her loved ones and tribal community are still seeking answers.
Holding space
The call for action extended to The Dalles, where the Columbia Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, or CRITFC, hosted its first annual Columbia River MMIW/MMIP Round Dance.
The round dance, a community awareness and healing gathering, went well, according to organizer Charlieann Herkshan, victim advocate for CRITFC.
“It was a great success, and we had far more people attend than we expected,” Herkshan said. “My hope is that this round dance brought hope and healing to the families that continue to seek justice and continue to look for their missing loved ones, and that our community understands more about the MMIP crisis and that we’ve gained more allies to help us with this important work.”
Herkshan said she originally anticipated between 150 and 200 guests, but more than 400 attendees arrived.
Creating a space for Native voices to speak on the MMIP crisis was a key feature of events across Oregon.
Poets and listeners gathered in Springfield’s Heron Park on May 3, where the University of Oregon Native American and Indigenous Studies Academic Residential Community and illioo Native Theatre in Eugene hosted a Poetry in the Park event in honor of MMIW.
Tribal communities in southern Oregon are also fighting to protect their relatives.
In Chiloquin, the Klamath Tribal Court Victim Services hosted an MMIP Awareness event with a smudging walk and space for tribal members to share stories about loved ones. Additional presenters included Kristy David, executive director of the Climate Advocacy Center.
“Really, our goal with these gatherings and events is just to create safe spaces for families and those that have lost loved ones,” David said. “To be able to gather and acknowledge the names of their missing loved ones or murdered loved ones, and have a safe place where they can have a part of healing and be able to share their stories and raise awareness within our community of some of the issues that tribal communities face.”
Government action
Cedar Wilkie-Gillette, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Coordinator of Oregon from the U.S. Department of Justice, said at the Chiloquin event the DOJ is working on a pilot project that would help tribes respond in MMIP cases.
“Another thing that we worked on, and we are working on, with Warm Springs, is a pilot project for a tribal committee response plan so that the tribe has a plan in place — a protocol — of when a missing person goes missing on a reservation, what each department is going to do,” Wilkie-Gillete said. “And we plan to invite other tribes in Oregon that want to do the same thing.”
A jurisdictional tangle in Indian Country often hampers the coordination of a swift search when an Indigenous person goes missing. Supreme Court rulings and federal laws limit tribes’ ability to investigate and prosecute crimes. Family members may not know who to turn to, and a historical lack of trust between tribal communities and law enforcement exacerbates communication troubles.
Interim Klamath County District Attorney John Casalino, who attended the MMIP event in Chiloquin, said the Oregon DOJ is “improving” how the state prosecutes cases involving tribal members, but that problems exist.
“I will say, because of many of the cultural differences, it's super challenging to put a case together and have people, you know, take that risk to have trust that the system will actually listen to them and give their matter that concern it deserves,” Casalino said.
A 2020 report by the Missing and Murdered Native American Women Work Group, formed under Oregon State Police, found multiple issues that hamper the accurate reporting of missing Native women.
“Confusing processes, communication breakdowns, and historical distrust of government have led many in the Native American community to hold negative perceptions and emotions toward law enforcement and the outcomes of criminal investigations in tribal communities and urban areas,” the report found.
Respondents in the report indicated they did not expect the police to act or expect to be believed or be taken seriously, nor did they expect prosecutors to prosecute offenders or receive communication or follow-up from police.
The report made a multitude of recommendations to overcome these barriers, including developing collaborative efforts and partnerships between state law enforcement and tribes while continuing to raise awareness of the MMIP crisis.
Solutions have been slow to materialize.
However, as calls for action on MMIP grow louder, awareness efforts are reaching Oregon’s local governments.
On May 4, the Multnomah County Commission voted unanimously to proclaim May 1 through May 7, 2023, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Week of Awareness.
During its regular meeting, the county commission hosted a group of Indigenous community advocates and health workers to discuss MMIP, calling it a public health crisis.
Lucy Racehorse Suppah, a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and community health worker for the Native American Youth and Family Center, addressed the commission about the “ongoing epidemic forced upon our people known as the MMIW, MMIR, and MMIP movements.”
“Although these movements are considered new, we have endured acts of violence against our people for centuries,” Suppah said. “Since colonization, violence and trauma go hand in hand in our history. From the forcible removal of our people from our homelands to the forcible removing of our children from their families to ‘kill the Indian to save the man.'"
Suppah called attention to the lack of accurate data on MMIP, saying the numbers show only a “glimpse” of the problem.
Chenoa Landry, a member of the Puyallup Tribe and a community health worker for the Native Wellness Institute, reminded the commission of the high risks for violence and sexual assault that Native women face, emphasizing many cases of violence against Native people go unprosecuted, especially cases of sexual violence.
Landry highlighted the enduring strength of Indigenous communities who continue to work to end the violence.
“We have many strengths, and we are working to heal the traumas and intergenerational traumas of boarding schools, violence and colonization,” Landry said. “This is one of the reasons why we need safe spaces and protection — safe places such as the work we’re doing at Barbie’s Village.”
Barbie’s Village is a tiny home village in Northeast Portland that aims to help Indigenous women, children and families struggling with homelessness.
Projects like Barbie’s Village impact a section of the community at even greater risk for violence: Native women without permanent housing.
Native people, especially women, experiencing homelessness are at the intersection of vulnerable identities. A survey of Native women from the Urban Indian Health Institute in Seattle found that 94% had been raped or coerced in their lifetime. Of those women, 53% lacked permanent housing.
In addition to tiny homes for Native families, Barbie’s Village hosts community events, like an Indigenous marketplace.
Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meiran echoed the importance of supporting Barbie’s Village.
“It’s something we can do in our budget this year within the next six weeks, and it’s to support Barbie’s Village,” Meiran said. “We need to be investing as a county (in Barbie’s Village). We have a clear, discrete place that is an incredible opportunity for healing and community with a preschool, with so much for our Indigenous community, and we can make it happen.”
Meiran challenged her fellow board members to “move (the funding) forward and help how we can.”
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson acknowledged the proclamation, while important, “is not enough” and said it needs to be followed by better coordination between the multiple jurisdictions often involved in MMIP cases.
“There are things we can do right here in our community, right here in Multnomah County, in the investments that we have, to support your community and be allies in the work,” Vega Pederson said.
The same day, a call to action on missing and murdered Indigenous people reached the Oregon House of Representatives.
State Rep. Annessa Hartman (D-Oregon City), the third Indigenous woman elected to the Oregon House of Representatives, spoke on the House floor about MMIP Awareness, calling for a moment of silence.
“Indigenous women and girls continue to go missing and are murdered at alarming rates in Oregon and throughout Indian Country,” Hartman said. “Colleagues, there’s not a single Indigenous person who doesn’t know someone who went missing, or who was beaten, or raped and left to die.
Whose case was never given the attention it deserved, whose case sits in a dusty box unattended and given no further attempt to solve. There’s families across Turtle Island who will never get the answers they deserve.”
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