LAKEPORT— On Friday at Xabatin Park, the Lake County Tribal Health Consortium Public Outreach Department held the second annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Day, “raising awareness to the plight of missing and murdered indigenous people.”
With attendance reaching 1,402 people, LCTHC Outreach Manager Darnell Aparicio shared the success of the event noting, “The Lake County Tribal Health Consortium and the Indigenous Communities surrounding Lake and Mendocino County received a remarkable outpouring of emotional support.”
During the afternoon at the event, families enjoyed traditional tribal dancing beginning the day with a 20-minute opening ceremony from the Native Resistance Drum Group performing prayer songs and a woman’s welcoming song. The dance groups who performed included the Pomo Nation Dance Group, Xabenapo of Big Valley Rancheria, Xabatin Feather Dancers, Patwin Dance Group, and lastly, the Round Valley Feather Dancers.
Aparicio added that, “Each group brought a unique form of the Shake Head/Feather Dance with unique songs from their ancestors who sang before them.” He continued “In the Indigenous communities, the dancers will dance to heal, and the singers will provide the songs and pray through each song.” As the focus of this year’s event was healing together, each song had a specific meaning and served as a prayer, uniting everyone in the fight against missing and murdered indigenous people.
Highlights of the event included a lengthy raffle of over 100 giveaways to the community as well as an art exhibit featuring displays of red dresses, traditional tribal dresses, and the red handprint, which has come to symbolize the MMIP movement. There were also approximately 40 organizational booths providing information and collaborative resources including the Pinoleville Victims of Crime, Inter-tribal Council of California, Circle of Native Minds, Indigenous Justice, the Indigenous Wellness Alliance, the Lake County office of Education, Lake Family Resource Center, and also the Clear Lake High School Native American Club.
May 5 was the chosen date to represent MMIPD as it is the birthday of Hanna Harris, a tribal citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, who would have turned 32 this year on Sunday, May 5, 2024, had she not been abducted and murdered. Harris is one of many tribal people whose deaths have sparked national outcry and have even made legislative differences like Hannah’s Act, Savanna’s Act, and the Not Invisible Act which enables the coordination of federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to intervene and assist each other in missing persons cases.
The Department of Indian Affairs website bia.gov shares data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as well as a 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice that shows the disproportionate rates at which native people experience violence compared to other races. The website states “More than four in five American Indian and Alaska Native women (84.3 percent) have experienced violence in their lifetime, including 56.1 percent who have experienced sexual violence.” The site continues “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) females experienced the second highest rate of homicide in 2020.”
According to the whitehouse.gov website on May 3 President Joseph Biden issued a “Proclamation on Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, 2024.” The proclamation begins by stating: “For decades, Native communities across this continent have been devastated by an epidemic of disappearances and killings, too often without resolution, justice, or accountability. On Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, we honor the individuals missing and the lives lost, and we recommit to working with Tribal Nations to end the violence and inequities that drive this crisis, delivering safety and healing.”
