On the morning of the Seattle Womxn’s March, Cal Anderson Park smelled of burnt sage, an herbal smell that represents a process of soothing the spirit, cleansing and sending a prayer into the sky.
Activists with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement burned the sage and soon after led the 2018 Seattle Womxn’s March on Jan. 20 from Cal Anderson Park to the Seattle Center.
The MMIW movement began in Canada, raising awareness about the thousands of Native women in the United States and Canada who go missing or are murdered each year, many of whose cases are unsolved. The cases on Indigenous land are often not prosecuted. If the victim of the crime is Native, but the perpetrator is not, the case goes into the hands of the federal government. The cases are then often dropped, a process that has plagued generations of Indigenous men and women.
“All the factors that have led to us being vulnerable to this violence is carried through in our DNA, losing our identity, addictive personalities, histories of domestic violence and alcoholism and that is just perpetuated in each generation that we don’t heal. It puts us at high risk for being victims of violence,” said Carolyn DeFord, a Puyallup tribal member.
“All the factors that have led to us being vulnerable to this violence is carried through in our DNA, losing our identity, addictive personalities, histories of domestic violence and alcoholism and that is just perpetuated in each generation that we don’t heal. It puts us at high risk for being victims of violence.”
DeFord started a Facebook group for Missing and Murdered Native Americans, after her mother went missing 19 years ago and she realized she had no idea what to do. People on the page post about their missing loved ones, in the hopes that others can spread the word among the network that the page offers.
“I couldn’t be everywhere at once, having to take care of three little kids, I couldn’t dial a phone, everything I did, my brain was going in so many different directions,” DeFord said. “I started the page in reflection of what it was like to go through me losing my mom, thinking about other people having to go through this and thinking that they don’t have to.”
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DeFord tries to help people by making fliers and contacting news stations, or even just being there to say, “You’re not alone.”
“A lot of people want to look outside our country and help foreigners, but a lot of people don’t realize that there’s a lot of help that’s needed here with our Indigenous people and our Indigenous people are historically the most suppressed. Once we see their healing, even the non-Indigenous will see healing,” said Earth Feather Sovereign, a member of the Colville confederated tribe and an organizer of the event.
Indigenous people are historically the most suppressed.
Both DeFord and Sovereign looked forward to the community-based healing and awareness of the MMIW event.
People of all ages who supported the MMIW movement gathered at the front of Cal Anderson Park, most of them surrounded by their families and friends, holding a sign, wearing a sweatshirt or a hat, or even a name badge with the name of someone they have lost. The attendees of the event, both Native and non, were encouraged to wear red, the color that represents the MMIW movement.
People traveled from all around to support the community of Indigenous families who have lost family members. Some came from as far as Idaho, Nevada and Montana.
“I’m here for the entire movement and to raise awareness, because these women just disappear off the face of the earth,” said a woman from Beacon Hill.
“I’m here for the Indigenous in all of us,” said Sara Cowan, another local attending in solidarity, who was walking with burning sage and blowing on the embers to keep the smell rolling.
Those in the crowd discussed not only the importance of bringing awareness to the topic of MMIW, but also to the importance of a community of support above all else.
“We want to put their families to the front and see the crowds of people that are there to support them and uplift them. Maybe they’ll gather some strengths to carry on,” said Sovereign.
The MMIW organizers and family members who were being honored gathered near the front of the stage, beginning with a drum circle that could be felt in the turf below and chanting that could be heard without any microphones throughout the crowd. A young Indigenous girl, Claudia Flores, burned copal, a kind of hardened resin that acts as incense with the same intent as sage.
After the music stopped, a Duwamish man from Seattle yelled out to the crowd with passion.
“I didn’t want to speak today, but I have to. We shouldn’t have to worry about losing them like this. I’m here to support and stand in solidarity with the women who walks this earth, especially the Indigenous women who were here first. I was raised by women. My son will be raised by women. His sons will be raised by women. These are our teachings, these are our ways. If I’m here, I stand in support of them.”
The MMIW women on stage began a women’s song, also called a life-giver song. On the last verse everyone was encouraged to raise their fists to the sky in solidarity with all those that have been lost.
Throughout the rest of the event, various Indigenous women spoke. Michelle Demmert, a woman from the Tlingit tribe who is the newly appointed co-chair of the National Congress of American Indian Violence Against Women Task Force. She’ll be going to D.C. next month to bring awareness to the issue of MMIW before Congress.
“I’m a mother, friend, aunt, sister, attorney, judge, survivor of child sexual assault and I’m a recovering alcoholic and I’m here today to show that there’s strength in who we are as Indigenous women and how we can build upon what has happened to us,” said Demmert, as cheers echoed across the field in response.
Others emphasized the importance of solidarity, strength, justice for their relatives and a lack of acknowledgement of the issue by the federal government and law enforcement.
Toward the end of the speeches, a woman on stage quietly noted they were nearing the end of their time and soon they would need to wrap up their program so that the other speakers could be set on time. Otherwise their microphones would be cut off.
“They said we’ve got to hurry, or they’re gonna unplug us. They’re gonna unplug the first Indigenous people. You’re on stolen land. You are guests. Each and every single one of you. And I am a guest. You are on stolen land and what we wanted to do was honor these families and we will go line up and proceed behind these families,” said the woman of the Nisqually tribe speaking at the time of the announcement.
The passion and emotions displayed by every single speaker was clear. Often they were surrounded by women with tears in their eyes and solemnity on their faces.
At the end of the ceremony, 10 families who had lost a family member, either through death or trafficking or unknown causes, were honored by having blankets put upon the shoulders of one of their family members by other members of the MMIW on stage.
Most every member on stage came up to the microphone to talk about the loved one they had lost.
They spoke of women who had been gone anywhere from seven months to 14 years.
Soon enough, the name “Lisa Jackson” was being chanted throughout the crowd, with a chant that followed saying “bring her home.”
Sovereign, who was the last to speak, had her microphone cut off as she approached the front of the stage. She spoke about Lisa Jackson, a woman who had been murdered in the summer of 2017.
Soon enough, the name “Lisa Jackson” was being chanted throughout the crowd, with a chant that followed saying “bring her home.”
Emcees at the Womxn’s March said it was unacceptable for someone to take control of these Native women’s voices.
“That will never happen again on our time. We honor these sisters that are lost. We honor these brothers that have not been found and right now as we’re standing here getting ready to march as a call of action we do not cut people off,” said Dominique Stephens, an emcee for the march.
All the Indigenous members of the community were ushered out of the field to mark the start of the march, all standing below a large sign that read “Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women of Washington #MMIW.” From there, the drum circles, song, prayer and storytelling continued.
“Hopefully it doesn’t stop here, hopefully the fire grows. I’m hoping even our non-Indigenous allies are able to continue bringing awareness and are able to allow space for healing.”
In the future, Sovereign and DeFord hope the march sparks action.
“Hopefully it doesn’t stop here, hopefully the fire grows. I’m hoping even our non-Indigenous allies are able to continue bringing awareness and are able to allow space for healing,” said Sovereign.
Most recently, the Puyallup tribe of Washington has raised all the signatures necessary to get Initiative 940 on the ballot, which would, among other things, include Tribal governments in investigations where a tribal person was injured or killed. There will also be a walk from May 5 to May 13, from the Canadian border to Olympia as a national callout for MMIW.
Reflecting on the march, Earth Feather Sovereign said she saw it as the beginning of a larger community effort, one that brought the community together through healing. She felt that unity strongly as she and other march members held tall prayer staffs, with strips of different colored fabric at the top representing different families to pray for.
“We were all carrying prayer staffs, it was like a spiritual protective shield not only over our people, but for all the women, all the people who are marching behind us. So that way, everything was safe.”
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