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Say Her Name!

from San Diego Veterans Magazine July 2023

from San Diego Veterans Magazine July 2023, page 64

From Navy Sailor to San Franci...

By Cj Machado Photojournalist and veteran advocate

On May 5, 2023, the President of the United States of America declared Missing or Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day.

On May 6, 2023, Indian Motorcycles of San Diego kicked off the Medicine Wheel Ride - “Ride for Resilience” to bring awareness to the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) epidemic.

Many motorcycle clubs and organizations joined the cause including American Legion Riders, and the mother chapter of Rez Riders located in Pauma Valley, Southern California - an Indian motorcycle club for all nations. The 100-mile scenic ride passed through the hillside of many local San Diego County Indian reservations encompassing Barona, Rincon, Pala and Pauma.

The Medicine Wheel Ride (MWR) gave Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) family members a voice to acknowledge those lost but never forgotten. During a ceremony to honor women, MWR volunteers repeated the names of those missing or murdered to remind the community of the family’s painful journey for closure and justice.

A report from the Urban Indian Health Institute (https://www.uihi.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ Missing-and-Murdered-Indigenous-Women-and-GirlsReport.pdf) noted that there were more than 5,700 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls in 2016. The report states that only 116 of the cases were logged in the Department of Justice’s database—tragically many cases are unsolved.

In Washington, more than four times as many Indigenous women go missing than white women, according to research conducted by the Urban Indian Health Institute in Seattle, and many such cases receive little or no media attention.

As of March 31, 2022, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law a bill that creates a first-in-the-nation statewide alert system for missing Indigenous people. The law creates a system similar to Amber Alerts and so-called silver alerts, which are used respectively for missing children and vulnerable adults in many states.

The law attempts to address a crisis of missing Indigenous people — particularly women — in Washington and across the United States.

The Medicine Wheel Ride are a group of Indigenous Women motorcyclists and allies who create awareness through organizing events and fundraising efforts for issues affecting Indigenous Women and Relatives as well as issues within their own communities.

“We support groups and advocates who search for missing persons and provide support services to women and their families,” expressed Shelly Denny, Founder of the Medicine Wheel Ride.

This August, the Ride for Resilience will continue their plea with the MMIW Ride to Sturgis in hopes of receiving nationwide attention and finally help put an end to such violence.