The VOICES
Sheku,
My name is Karen Ann Hoffman. I’m a Haudenosaunee Raised Beadwork artist and citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. It is a great honor and deeply felt responsibility to welcome you to “I Wanna Cry”.
A protector of Women, Bobby Bullet has written this lament and put our Women’s voices at the forefront. This choir of care and concern creates an anthem that wafts a message of Peace and Love on the breezes of their breath. Strong as the Wind, gentle as a Whisper, this mixing of voices connects the wisdom of our past to the hope of our future.
As Unkweunkwe our original instructions tell us to put community before self. Among the most vulnerable in our community are our Missing and Murdered. Native artists have been creating, singing and praying for these Sisters across Turtle Island. “I Wanna Cry” lifts the voices of those at risk. It is a cry of pain through tears of determination.
Never Alone
To
Our Lost Sisters… Remember,
Aksota, Our Grandmother Moon watches over us. Even when we cannot see her face, She looks after us.
Aste note k^ten^tele, the Three Sisters, are our Guardians, Sustaining our People; giving us strength and life.
All our generations surround us with the warmth of their Support and Encouragement.
To Our Lost Sisters… Remember,
We are with you. Wherever you are.
Karen Ann Hoffman OPPOSITE PAGE: “Never Alone” Watercolor by Dawn Dark Mountain, Beadwork by Karen Ann Hoffman. From the permanent collection of the New York State Museum
She Remembers
Gaa-giizhiikwajiwed Bwaananaabekwe, Mary Moose, is an Anishinaabe Elder, born in the remote regions of northern Ontario, Canada. Gaa-giizhiikwajiwed Bwaananaabekwe means The Mermaid Who Swims Fast, and is Mermaid Clan. Bwaananaabekwe was sent to boarding school in Ontario Canada at the age of 11. The first day she arrived Mary’s hair was cut and the rest was wrapped with kerosene in a towel overnight.
The next day Bwaananaabekwe was asked to take a shower. When she took the shower there were nuns and priests looking at her naked and making her feel very uncomfortable. Bwaananaabekwe was touched inappropriately during this encounter.
She remembers the only thing she could do was cry and wonder why this was going on at the boarding school.
The Next day she was taken to a church next to the boarding school. She was dragged there and forced to pray. She was beaten with a bible until she did what the nuns asked her to do. At this time Bwaananaabekwe did not understand the English language very well. She
remembers waking up in pain the next day with bruises on her ribs and legs.
She remembers sleeping in a school hall of 60 or so girls. The girls would sleep separated from the Native boys. She remembers the priest would walk in at night to select a girl to bring back to rape.Bwaananaabekwe remembers the cries of all the girls when the priests would visit at night. She would be selected on some of those nights and endured this throughout her stay at the boarding school.
At the school, Bwaananaabekwe remembers being whipped by leather belts, books, rulers, or anything the nuns could get a hold of if they were caught practicing the culture or speaking the language.
Bwaananaabekwe recalls an electric chair in the school’s basement. Sometimes they would put the kids there if they kept on speaking their language or did not listen to the nuns or priests.
She remembers losing a lot of her friends and this is very difficult for Bwaananaabekwe to talk about and says that’s all she would discuss. It’s too hard to try to remember what happened at the boarding school.
But, the only way she would carry on is to forgive herself first and to forgive what happened to her at the boarding school. It’s the only way she was able to keep on living.
Bwaananaabekwe’s Grandfather did not speak English and the Indian affairs gave her the name Mary.
Today Bwaananaabekwe is an Ojibwe Resource Specialist for the Fond Du Lac Reservation in Minnesota. She loves to teach the culture and Language.
Bwaananaabekwe Mary Moose among people near the Lake, and (opposite page) offering assema in the woods at the water.
Native women are at risk.
A 2016 study by the National Institute of Justice estimated that more than 4 in 5 (84%) Native women have experienced violence in their lifetimes. This estimate represents more than 1.5 billion women.[1]
The same year, the Urban Indian Health Institute found murder to be the 3rd leading cause of death among American Indian/Alaskan Native women.[2]
A 2008 study funded by the Department of Justice (DOJ), Native women are murdered at a rate that is up to 10 times higher than the U.S. national average.[3]
Perhaps equally troubling is the lack of data, misunderstanding, and silencing that surrounds this crisis in violence perpetrated against Native women. The majority of U.S. states do not maintain publicly available statistics relating to MMIW.[4]
While there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls in 2016, only 116 cases were logged in the the DOJ’s missing persons database.[5]
A 2018 study by the Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI) gathered information on 506 MMIWG cases across 71 US urban centers.
+ The youngest victim was a baby under the age of 1.
+ The oldest victim was an 83 year old elder.
+ 28% of the perpetrators in these cases were never found guilty or held accountable.
+ More than 95% of the cases researched by UIHI received no national media coverage.[6]
More than 4 in 5 (84%) Native women have experienced violence in their lifetimes.
Native women lead.
Many Native and grassroots organizations, advocates, and activists have increased the visibility of and demanded justice for the individuals, families, and communities impacted by the ongoing international crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, children, and Two Spirit people. May 5 has become recognized as National Day of Awareness for MIssing & Murdered INdigenous Women & Girls (MMIWG).[7]
Symbols such as red dresses or red handprints have become visible signs of the MMIWG crisis.
In 2021, as part of OLJ, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) established a MIssing and Murdered Unit (MMU) to focus on solving MMIW cases.[9]
Contacts
You can contact MMU to report a case or submit tips. Email: OJS_MMU@bia.gov Phone: 1-833-560-2065 Text: BIAMMU and your tip to 847411
StrongHearts Native Helpline: 1-844-7NATIVE (762-8483) StrongHearts is a 24/7 safe, confidential and anonymous domestic, dating and sexual violence helpline for American Indians and Alaska Natives, offering culturallyappropriate support and advocacy.
Sources
Federal Responses
Operation Lady Justice (OLJ), formally known as the Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians & Alaskan Natives, was established in 2019 to improve data collection, establish investigation protocols in response to the MMIW crisis in the United States.[8]
[1] https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/violence-against-americanindian-and-alaska-native-women-and-men
[2] http://www.uihi.org/wp-content/uploads/download-managerfiles/UIHI_CHP_2016_Web_20170531-3.pdf
[3] https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/223691.pdf
[4] https://www.nativewomenswilderness.org/mmiw
[5] [6] http://www.uihi.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ Missing-and-Murdered-Indigenous-Women-and-Girls-Report.pdf
[7] https://www.niwrc.org/mmiwg-awareness
[8] https://www.bia.gov/bia/ojs/missing-murdered-unit
[9] https://www.doi.gov/priorities/missing-and-murderedindigenous-peoples
Remembering
Boozhoo, I am a tribal member of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and I belong to the Loon (Maang) clan. My spirit name is Zii Giitchii Giizis Ikwe (Rising Sun Woman). The story about my dress is I sewed it in two days because there was a program happening in Lac du Flambeau (LDF) where all these native motorcycle riders were coming in to show their support of work being done to raise awareness of MMIW and I wanted a red skirt and top to wear. About the symbols, the hands are my own and the number 215 was in memory of the first native children found in Canada around a boarding school.
—Phyllis Wyse
I There’s a sadness in the sky For a mother’s lullaby
Milania Kmiecik
Susan Van Zile
Samantha “Sam” La Grew
Carol Amour
Christine Doud
Sandy Madden
Victoria Cahak
Carole White
Jennifer Wilcox
Phyllis Wyse
Jasmine Plasky
Barbara Black Deer Mackenzie
Scott Kirby
Pamela Nesbit
Mymea Rivera
Tess Ansay
Richie Plass
Jessica Ryan
LYRICS
Midnight – she’s still not home
Cold moon – staring silently
Colored – leaves that bleed
Stealing from the families
She was–found along the way
Says the Blue Jay in his neck tie suit
You know the victim–always gets the blame
Stolen sisters – cry’n through the rain
I wanna cry — genocide
I wanna cry — genocide
There’s a sadness in the sky
For a mother’s lullaby
I wanna cry
I wanna cry
Sister, my sweet sister
I’m missing you. I’m missing you.
I wanna cry — genocide
I wanna cry — genocide
There’s a sadness in the sky
For a mother’s lullaby
I wanna cry
I wanna cry
There’s a sadness in the sky
For a mother’s lullaby
I wanna cry
I wanna cry
Mamma, mamma, I’m on my way back home now
Stop the genocide!
©2020 Bobby Bullet St. Germaine, Barbara Blackdeer McKenzie, Pamela NesbitSINGERS
Carol Amour Theater Director, Lac Du Flambeau, WI
Maritess Ansay Philippines & Iron River, WI
Barbara Black Deer Mackenzie Hochunk, Black River Falls, WI
Victoria Cahak Ojibwe & Potowatomi, Rhinelander, WI
Christine Doud Ojibwe, Lac Du Flambeau, WI
Milania Kmiecik Ojibwe, Lac Du Flambeau, WI
Samantha “Sam” La Grew Ojibwe, Red Cliff, WI
Sandy Madden Art Director, Minoqua, WI
Pamela Nesbit Green Mantle People, Iron River, MI
Jasmine Plasky Ojibwe, Lac Du Flambeau, WI
Jessica Ryan Brothertown Nation, Brothertown, WI
Mymea Rivera Ojibwe, Lac Du Flambeau, WI
Susan Van Zile Lakota & Ojibwe, Lac Vieux Desert, MI
Carole White Potowatomi, Iron River, MI
Jennifer Wilcox Convention Manager, Minoqua, WI
Phyllis Wyse Ojibwe, Lac Du Flambeau, WI
BACK-UP VOCALS & MUSICIANS
Scott Kirby Rhinelander, WI
Bobby Bullet St. Germaine Ojibwe, Iron River, MI
Richie Plass Menominee, Sept 5, 1951 – Nov 20, 2020
I WANNA CRY ~ The Voices
The first time I learned about Canadian missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls was in a 2012 phone conversation with my sister, Joyce Musqua Meyerhoffer, of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. I asked Joyce for more information. After some time passed, I received a number of newspaper clippings from her about the victims and their families. According to the families, there seemed to be no sense of urgency by local authorities to investigate the cases.
After further research, I found that reports of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls began as far back as the 1970s in British Columbia, on Canada’s Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert. This area is now known as the “Highway of Tears.”
Indigenous missing and murdered women and girls of Canada, as well as those of the USA and world-wide, deserve news coverage.
I WANNA CRY honors the sanctity of life and is interpreted/sung by “the Voices” of women and girls. During the recording tears were shed. I want to thank all who participated in this project.
—Bobby Bullet St.GermaineMigwetch / Thank you
This project was made possible with contributions from
Waaswaaganing First Nation Institute of Indigenous Teaching and Learning
Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
Lake of the Torches Casino and Resort
Lac Du Flambeau Public School
Campanile Center for the Arts
Karen Ann Hoffman, Onieda Nation of Wisconsin
Dawn Dark Mountain, Onieda Nation of Wisconsin
Sara Klemann, Director, Walter E. Olson Memorial Library
Dr. Gwendolyn Saul, Director of the New York State Museum
Diana Hoover, Owner of Strong Heart Design
Greg Ginter, Owner of the Guitar Shop of Wisconsin
Apple Computer Support
Black Scotty Records
Harvey White Family
Recorded at Paint River Studios ~ Iron River, MI ~ 906-265-3321
CD cover and insert design by Strong Heart Design
