National Day of Awareness and Virtual Day of Healing
ALASKA – The Alaska Missing and Murdered Indigenous Womxn, Girls and 2 Spirit Relatives working group comprised of the Alaska Native Heritage Center, Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center, Data for Indigenous Justice, Native Movement, Native Peoples Action with the Alaska Native Justice Center and Southcentral Foundation invite the public to a virtual MMIWG2S Vigil and Heartbeat of the Drums Ceremony on May 5, 2021 from 1:00-3:30 p.m. AKDT. We mobilize a day of awareness and healing as the MMIWG2S crisis continues to affect our communities and loved ones across our state and nation. A Facebook live event has been created and zoom link for open registration to the event:
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1:00-2:30 p.m. – Program live streamed on Facebook
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2:30-3:15 p.m. – Zoom breakout sessions (no recording)
Attendees will need to pre-register to attend the breakout sessions
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3:15-3:30 p.m. – Closing drum ceremony live streamed on Facebook
The nationwide MMIWG2S movement continues to shine a light on how Indigenous womxn, girls and two-spirit relatives are targets for violence, abduction and homicide. This crisis hits home in Alaska. In early 2021, Data for Indigenous Justice released We Are Calling To You, the first Alaska MMIWG Baseline Report that gathered and reclaimed a total of 229 cases of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Womxn and Girls in Alaska: 149 missing and 80 murdered. “We call to these 229 Alaska Native womxn and girls. We call for justice for these 229 missing loved ones, missing laughter, missing joy, missing gifts, missing talent, and missing potential. We call for justice for these 229 breaks in generations of families. We call to these 229 dreams from our ancestors. We tell these stories today, insisting that they are not forgotten.”
Our MMIWG2S Alaska working group continues to organize in honor of all those we have lost, those who are missing, and to put an end to this crisis. Our strength in organizing comes from community partnership, agreements, and the unified voice toward justice.
Even though our people continue to be hurt, we mobilize through community organizing, advocating for the passage of legislation that demands action now, creating a path forward to address concerns identified by community members, and calling for meaningful engagement by Tribal, local, state, and federal policy makers and law enforcement agencies.
At this time, the MMIWG2S Alaska working group welcomes the recent progress made on the federal level through the creation of Secretary Haaland’s newly launched Missing and Murdered Unit. Additionally, we applaud Raina Theile’s appointment as Senior Advisor for Alaska Affairs and Strategic Priorities within the Department of Interior. We also recognize that the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization has moved from the House to the Senate and we urge further action now.
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