Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Awareness Walk set for Wednesday

Wednesday starting at 1 p.m. a Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Awareness Walk is going to be held on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation.

A post on The Chippewa Cree Tribe’s Facebook page says the walk is meant to raise awareness of the issue and to remember those lost in their community.

The Havre Daily News was not able to reach contacts for comments about the walk.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Native Americans account for more than 25 percent of the missing person cases in the state of Montana despite being less than 7 percent of the population.

Native Americans, especially Native American women, go missing at extremely high rates compared to any other race or ethnicity in the U.S. and Canada and face staggeringly high rates of homicide, many times that of white people.

This disproportionate rate of violence has been attributed to a number of issues, including the historical legal inability of tribes to prosecute on their own reservation when the perpetrator is non-Native, confusion regarding jurisdiction between tribal, state and federal law enforcement, and a lack of resources on the part of tribal police departments, as well as the general economic and social marginalization of Native Americans.

Accurate statistics on missing persons cases can be difficult to obtain due to the before-mentioned lack or resources of tribal police departments, as well as frequent errors by non-native police departments, misclassifying Native Americans as another race, and many feel that the issue is not being sufficiently addressed or even payed attention to.

The Rocky Boy walk will start at the Laredo Reservation Line and will end at the Powwow Grounds for a total of about 8.2 miles rain, snow or shine.

The Facebook post says speakers will be at the event to talk about the issue and drinks and snacks will be provided.

The event is estimated to last until 5 p.m. and participants are asked to register between 12:30 and 1 p.m.

The post says that community members who may be unable to walk the full eight plus miles can join at the two, four or six mile marker.

Participants are also encouraged to wear red and use masks.

The post also says MyPaisleyPals will be donating masks with a red handprint, a common symbol of the movement to raise awareness and address the issue.