Annual MMIR conference in Bemidji aims to push back against 'historic silencing'
May 19—BEMIDJI — Attendees of MMIW 218's second annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives conference exemplified the spirit of resilience as they marched through Bemidji on Saturday despite cold and rainy weather.
The event, which expanded from a walk into a
full-day conference last year,
is held annually in May to honor the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives.
Raising signs showing photos of their loved ones, attendees walked from Paul Bunyan Park to the Sanford Center, where the conference took place.
Following an opening ceremony that included a prayer and drum songs, participants had the opportunity to take part in breakout sessions focusing on topics like community organizing, domestic violence, healing for men and boys, two-spirit advocacy and talking circles.
As attendees gathered in the ballroom for a panel ahead of the breakout sessions, emcee Christian Taylor-Johnson welcomed the crowd.
"Today we're here to honor our stolen sisters, aunties, mothers, daughters, cousins, fathers, brothers, uncles, sons and our sacred two-spirits," he said. "We say their names, we hold their memory and we demand justice — not just with hashtags and the occasional press conference — but with our everyday presence, prayers, persistence and resilience."
Taylor-Johnson also took a moment to share the value of gathering while processing grief.
"I am truly humbled to share and be in this very sacred space with you all today. We gather like this, not just to remember, but to rise and to learn," he said. "We all come carrying heavy hearts, sacred stories and the weight of generations, but also the strength of our ancestors, the love of our communities, and yes, even our perfectly timed side-eyes and our jokes that keep us breathing through the pain."
Organizer Simone Senogles noted that although it was an unseasonably frigid day, organizers and participants have not historically been deterred by cold temps. MMIW 218 also holds a walk on Valentine's Day each year for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Day of Remembrance, drawing community members outside to endure subzero temps in an effort to raise awareness.
She recalled a moment before Saturday's walk where organizer Natasha Kingbird expressed the significance of persevering through the inclement weather.
"(Kingbird) said 'I want to be out here in this weather, if it's just one thing for me to spend an hour, or even all day, being cold and wet for our relatives then that's what I'll do,' and that's how it's always been for us," Senogles said. "We'll be out in 30-below weather on February 14th every year and we'll keep coming out, rain or shine, honoring our missing and murdered, remembering them, letting them know we're out here asking for help to find them."
Throughout the plenary, a common theme was the importance of collecting data on missing and murdered Indigenous relatives in order to start creating solutions.
Senogles noted a common phrase that states Indigenous people go missing three times: once in life, once in the media and once in the data.
"It's crucial that we are seen in the data, that there is research about what's happening to us, that there are numbers that people can look at so that people notice and so that solutions can start to be formulated," she said. "Data collection, accurate and comprehensive data, is essential for understanding the scope of the problem and developing effective intervention."
Goodwin noted that through increased MMIR advocacy efforts throughout the country, methods of data collection and analysis are slowly improving.
"We just have more resources, we have more data, we have more information," she said. "So we're really able to identify connections, identify spots and points where we see the most MMIW happening."
In the pursuit of gathering valuable data, organizer Audrianna Goodwin then introduced an interactive portion of the panel where attendees had the opportunity to answer poll questions via a QR code and see the results live on a screen at the front of the room.
One of the questions tasked attendees with contributing to a word cloud to answer the question, "What are some reasons why Indigenous peoples experience violence at the rates we do?"
Following responses from the crowd, words that appeared in the cloud included racism, alcohol, fetishization and systematic disparities. Goodwin highlighted many of these themes, especially focusing on how patriarchy and historical trauma have lasting effects on the Indigenous communities and the MMIW epidemic.
"When the United States government came here, they recognized how powerful women were. In other European communities, women didn't have the same respect and honor that we had in our communities and so that was a threat," she said. "They deliberately harmed the women in pursuit of our land, our resources."
Tawny Smith Savage, violence prevention coordinator with Minnesota's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office, discussed her role in educating young people about the topic.
Holding up the MMIR bandana showing its logo — a woman with a red handprint over her mouth — Smith Savage noted that she often asks young people to describe the meaning of the imagery.
"A lot of kids will say it represents violence, it represents the violence toward women, it represents murder," she said. "Those are tough topics for kids to acknowledge and talk about, but they're absolutely right, and it also represents ... the historic silencing that has happened in our communities."
Smith-Savage noted the importance of educating young people about MMIR so they can begin to understand and identify the risk factors that contribute to the epidemic.
"We have many youth that have so many risk factors out there right now and they're struggling. We want to make sure that we hold them close and we take care of them and get them the best information that we possibly can," she said. "Let's help our young people understand those risk factors and also empower parents to be able to put those skills in place for our youth who are vulnerable."
She also described the process of how the office assists families of missing persons, including providing high-visibility vests and two-way radios to use in searches, as well as information on how to set up an incident command center and providing education on different apps that can be useful in grid searches.
"Many times, you'll see families needing to do searches. They want to do searches," she said. "Sometimes law enforcement says they don't have enough time to do this ... We know our law enforcement offices are short-staffed and so families are going to search."
In closing, Senogles expressed the importance of reconnecting with culture in order to change the narrative surrounding violence.
"There's this intentional disconnection that was made to happen of Indigenous peoples from our culture," she said. "The boarding schools, the genocidal policies and practices, the violence, the disruption of our own education system, the disruption of our family system, the disruption of our government systems, all of those things were intentional to disconnect us from those things which make us strong."
She also noted the connection that Indigenous peoples have with their language, using an example of the Ojibwe word mindimooyenh, which means "old lady" and translates to "the one who holds us together."
"Our language holds respect for women in the way we even describe ourselves," she said. "Our language is our worldview. When we connect with that again, disrespect of women doesn't happen the same way."
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