Across the United States, Indigenous communities planned and held events in a national day of awareness for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples movement, organizing marches, rallies and other gatherings to honor relatives who are missing or have been killed and to demand improvements in how authorities collect data and respond to violence.
The observance, set for the week of May 5, featured activities ranging from candlelight vigils and “talking circles” to self-defense classes, with events planned from state capitols and tribal community spaces to streets in major cities, according to the Associated Press’s reporting.
Advocates tied the events to what they describe as both collective grief and long-running resilience, while also emphasizing what they say is the federal government’s responsibility to ensure public safety. The AP reported that many of the planned events call for participants to wear red, a color used to honor Indigenous victims of violence in the United States and Canada.
The AP report also described what advocates call a “hidden crisis,” saying Native Americans face disproportionate rates of violence and pointing to figures the U.S. Department of Justice has cited. The reporting said the Justice Department estimates Native Americans and Alaska Natives are more than twice as likely as the general population to be victims of violent crime, and that Native women are twice as likely to be victims of homicide.
The reporting said experts also contend that the number of missing-persons cases may be understated because of jurisdictional confusion, racial misclassification and inconsistent data collection. In that context, the AP report highlighted the view of Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Urban Indian Health Institute, who said people should not only feel sorry when they see the figures but instead ask what can be done to ensure the violence does not continue.
Echo-Hawk’s comments were included in a section of the AP story focused on what the movement calls for beyond awareness, including stronger law-enforcement resources and reforms aimed at making communities safer. “Don’t look at the numbers and feel sorry for us,” Echo-Hawk said, a citizen of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. “Look at the numbers and say, ‘How do we ensure that this doesn’t continue?’”
The AP report connected calls for action to federal efforts that were described as uneven. It said that in 2020, President Donald Trump signed Savanna’s Act and the Not Invisible Act into law, both aimed at addressing violent crime in Indian Country through improved data collection and law-enforcement reforms. It also said implementation has been slow and erratic, and that a federal commission convened in 2022, two years behind schedule, released extensive recommendations in 2023.
The AP reported that the recommendations were later removed from government websites amid the Trump administration’s “purge” of initiatives associated with diversity, equity and inclusion. The story also described the role of the federal Justice Department’s Operation Not Forgotten initiative, saying it has involved surges of FBI agents and analysts to field offices near tribal lands on a rotating, temporary basis, and that the FBI said those assignments have produced more than 200 arrests and convictions in homicide, domestic abuse and sexual assault cases since 2023.
The AP reported additional steps announced by the U.S. Interior Department on Tuesday, including creation of a task force intended to prevent violent crime in Indian Country. The reporting said Interior Department officials said the effort would align investigative resources to improve case management and prosecution outcomes, including refocusing efforts on solving missing persons and homicide cases.
In the Navajo Nation, Michael Henderson, director of public safety, said there were “pros and cons” to a bigger FBI footprint in Indian Country. Henderson said federal officers could bring fresh eyes and high-tech forensic tools to cold cases, but he also said many agents arrive with limited experience investigating violent crime in tribal communities. Henderson told the AP that “More manpower from the FBI on reservations, that’s not a good solution in my mind,” adding that federal funds could be better spent staffing and funding tribal police departments.
The AP’s reporting also described how families and supporters marked the day in multiple communities. It said marchers in Colorado Springs carried photos and stories of people who have been killed or have disappeared, including Destiny Jeriann Whiteman, whose mother, Denise Porambo, said, “It hurts every day.” The report also described crowds in Madison, Wisconsin, and Duluth, Minnesota, including trees decorated with red dresses outside City Hall in Duluth.
In Oklahoma, the AP said family members and supporters donned red shirts and ribbon skirts, carried photographs of loved ones, and painted red hands over their mouths as a symbol of solidarity. In Albuquerque, the report said marchers shouted the names of Indigenous people who have gone missing or been killed, including Emily Pike, Ella Mae Begay and Zachariah Shorty, among others.
The AP story included individual cases described by families, including Jessica Montoya, who drove three hours from the Jicarilla Apache Nation to highlight her son Jamian Reval’s 2023 killing, which she said occurred when he was 16 and family members say he was robbed and shot by a classmate. The report said Montoya carried a sign calling for an end to gun violence and described how she and her family have felt left out while navigating what the AP characterized as a maze of tribal and federal law-enforcement agencies.
The AP also described the case of Kaysera Stops Pretty Places, the 18-year-old niece of Grace Bulltail, who the report said was found dead several days after she disappeared from her home on the Crow Reservation in Montana in August 2019. The AP said no arrests have been made and that the cause of death was ruled inconclusive, while describing how Bulltail’s family organizes marches, vigils and courthouse demonstrations and continues to press law enforcement for action and answers.
This story has been updated to correct the day of the event in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Saturday.
Savannah Peters contributed to the reporting, along with other writers and local partners listed by the Associated Press.