Communities and lawmakers must end violence against Alaska Native people, advocates say at MMIP march

Dozens of people wore red and stood in the rain on the Capitol steps in Juneau on Sunday to mark Missing and Murdered Indigenous People’s Day of Awareness. Some had red handprints across their mouths, others carried banners and drums. Mothers and caretakers wrapped Chilkat designed blankets around the shoulders of their young children.

Amid an ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people, the crowd honored lost relatives and community members — and called on state and tribal governments, as well as community members on an individual level, for change. Legislation that would support an increased MMIP response in the state must be approved by the House before it becomes law.

Jennifer Brown has organized the event for the last four years with support from the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

“This affects our way of life. This affects our communities. Abuse happens and sometimes a blind eye is turned. It is time for us to take our stand against violence — physical, mental, and sexual,” she said.

Brown remembered the numerous family members she has lost to violence and underlined the painful effects of grieving a missing loved one. She said her family cannot have a funeral, which is culturally necessary for her cousin’s soul to be at rest.

Last year more than 160 Indigenous people went missing in the state, according to a report from the state’s public safety department; more than two dozen were not found. The agency has not yet completed its reporting for the first part of this year.

Alaska has specific challenges related to missing and murdered Indigenous people. It is the only state with its own chapter in a report that describes a failure of the federal government to fulfill its duties to tribal nations, resulting in a public health, public safety and justice crisis nationwide. This year the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety decried the lack of resources to rural areas.

John Garcia, an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women, called on men to protect women and uphold values. “I speak to our Native men here: That’s on us. That’s on us. Because this is where it’s happening — this is happening in our families, in our villages more than it happens here in the larger cities. We need to do something, we need to be part of the solution,” he said.

Garcia also pointed to civic responsibility and called out several legislators whose votes, he said, have upheld systemic injustices against Alaska Native people. He thanked Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, and Reps. Andi Story and Sara Hannan, both D-Juneau, for advocating for Alaska Native people.

“We need to know who the proponents and who the detractors are in legislation. We need to pay attention to let them know we are watching them. Our representation can so easily be erased,” he said.

Legislative response

Kiehl told the crowd that state lawmakers have begun to make progress on policy to address the ongoing crisis. He said that legislation must be aimed not only at holding people accountable for violence but also prevention efforts.

The legislative solutions he pointed to include a bill that would create a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Review Commission in the Department of Public Safety, direct that department to employ at least two permanent MMIP investigators and require that cultural training be included in police officer training. Senate Bill 151, sponsored by Sen. Donald Olsen, D-Golovin, was approved by the Senate and is scheduled in the House Finance Committee for a hearing on Friday.

Rep. CJ McCormick, D-Bethel, is the sponsor of its companion bill, House Bill 234, which differs slightly by requiring four, rather than two, additional MMIP investigators.

McCormick is also the sponsor of House Joint Resolution 17, a document that would urge Congress to pass the proposed Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act that would investigate boarding school abuses that led, in some cases, to the death of Indigenous children. The Alaska House approved HJR 17 by a 36-1 vote in April.

A handful of state lawmakers were present at the event on Sunday: Kiehl, McCormick, Hannan, Rep. Mike Cronk, R-Tok/Northway, and Rep. Ashley Carrick, D-Fairbanks. Olsen made a brief appearance and his staff was present.

Kiehl told the crowd that lawmakers need to make sure that there isn’t a “double standard” for care and justice for Indigenous people.

“We need everyone to be heard and listened to, understood the same way — no matter what your culture of origin is, or how you speak to a problem. Or how you speak to someone from the government,” he said. “We don’t meet that standard yet. We must.”

‘For all the people who are afraid to speak up’

Before the crowd at the Capitol marched through downtown, Mary Stixrud, with a bright red handprint over her mouth, called on tribal governments to model the kind of response she said Native people deserve to see on the state and federal levels.

“There needs to be accountability and it needs to start with us. We cry out for justice and yet remain silent and do not demand that from our own tribal government,” she said.

She recounted how some of her family members have told her they don’t want to hear her account of her childhood rape, or hear the perpetrator’s name maligned.

“I’m speaking up for all the people who are afraid to speak up. For all the little girls and boys who are scared and feel like they are not seen and not heard. For the women and men who are being made fun of by their own family and peers and turn to suicide and drugs,” Stixrud said.

As she spoke, other demonstrators’ eyes turned red, though it is uncertain if their cheeks were wet with tears or rain.

“Yes, I am scared,” she said. “But to ask for change, it has to start somewhere. Let it be with us.”

Originally published by the Alaska Beacon, an independent, nonpartisan news organization that covers Alaska state government.