by Elizabeth Turnbull
On Thursday, May 19, Seattle City Councilmembers and organizers with the Seattle Indian Health Board urged the Seattle Police Department (SPD) to change its racial identification protocol and to collaborate with local tribal law enforcement in order to better respond to missing and murdered Indigenous person cases.
Continue reading Changes Needed to Improve Police Response to Missing Indigenous Persons Casesby Enrique Cerna and Matt Chan
A couple of retired guys that spent their careers making television dish on the good, bad, and ridiculousness of life for People of Color in America. They tear apart the news of the week, explore the complexities of race, and talk to people far more interesting than they will ever be.
On March 31st, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed into a law a bill that created the first in the nation statewide alert system for missing Indigenous people. State Rep. Debra Lekanoff sponsored the bill. Lekanoff is a Democrat, who represents the 40th legislative district.
Continue reading Chino Y Chicano Podcast: Washington State’s Alert System for Missing Indigenous Womenby Amanda Ong
In July of 2020, Maddesyn George, a 27-year-old Native mother and member of the Colville Confederated Tribes in Eastern Washington, was raped by a white man named Kristopher Graber. George had considered Graber a friend, but after refusing to let her leave his home, he allegedly assaulted her while taunting her with a gun. George fled the scene with Graber’s gun, a sugar-packet amount of methamphetamine, and some of his other possessions. The next morning, Graber came looking for George on the Colville Reservation in northeastern Washington. In front of several witnesses, Graber then attacked George. Terrified, she shot him with his gun. Graber died instantly.
This Wednesday, Nov. 17, is George’s sentencing hearing. She is being charged with voluntary manslaughter and drug possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. She will be heard by the U.S. District Court in Spokane. Because the shooting occurred on a reservation and falls under the Major Crimes Act, a law that dictates that certain crimes committed by Native people on Native territory fall under federal jurisdiction, George is being prosecuted on the federal level by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington.
According to George’s attorney, Steve Graham, George has already accepted a plea deal to avoid up to 45 years in prison. However, she still faces up to 17 years in federal prison in California, over 1,000 miles away from her 20-month-old daughter, Shynne. This potential sentence is despite federal advisory guidelines suggesting less than 11 years.
“She’s a very strong person, she doesn’t let people walk over her,” George’s mother, Jody George, said in an interview with the Emerald. “She knows you got to stick up for yourself, nobody else is gonna do it. And I know my mom raised me that way. And we’ve got all sisters and my grandma had all sisters and it’s a strong family of women. That is what we’ve come from, and she’s all about family.”
Continue reading Free Maddesyn George: Native Mother and Survivor Faces Hearingby Chloe Collyer
May 5 was the annual day to honor Hanna Harris and the movement for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW). Harris (Northern Cheyenne) was a 21-year-old new mother who was murdered in July of 2013. What sounds like a plot to a psychological thriller is a daily reality for the families of over 5800 missing and murdered Indigenous women in North America.
Continue reading Be’er Sheva Park to Host Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Solidarity Prayer Walkby Rachel Heaton
Since time immemorial, Indigenous people have celebrated storytelling as a way to connect the present to past lessons and future dreaming. Narrative sovereignty is a form of land guardianship, and Nia Tero supports this work through its storytelling initiatives, including the Seedcast podcast, as well as in this column for media partner the South Seattle Emerald.
I’m Rachel Heaton. I am a member of the Muckleshoot Tribe in Auburn, Washington. I’m also a descendant of the Duwamish peoples, the original inhabitants of Seattle, and do hold descendancy with European folks, mostly Welsh, German, and Irish. I’m a mother to three children, ages 22, 14, and 2. I work as a cultural educator for the Muckleshoot Tribe, and I’m a co-founder of Mazaska Talks.
Inspired by our learnings from Standing Rock, specifically finding out which banks funded the pipeline and learning about the coalition work done by organizers to get the City of Seattle to divest their money from Wells Fargo, co-founder Matt Remle and I formed Mazaska Talks. We use it as a way to educate people on issues related to the harming of Mother Earth and repression of Indigenous rights, then to organize action. For example, because we see the harm brought by the fossil fuel industry, we organize divestment campaigns.
Continue reading Seedcast: Protecting Mother Earth, Standing Up for #MMIWGby Susan Fried
Led by Indigenous Sisters Resistance, Indigenous Peoples’ Day rally attendees sang, “today is for us, Indigenous people, rise up, sing loud, celebrate and be proud,” their words ringing through Westlake Park on Oct. 14.
by Kayla Blau
A groundbreaking report was released from the Urban Indian Health Institute revealed that Seattle has the highest number of missing and murdered indigenous women (MMIW) in the country, and Washington state holds the second highest rates of missing and murdered indigenous women. Native women have been leading the way in responses to the crisis of MMIW through legislative advocacy and community organizing work. In Washington state, two bills were recently passed thanks to the work of native women which increase reporting of missing native women and require law enforcement to improve their response to MMIW through hiring tribal liaisons and improving data collection methods.
by Carolyn Bick
Despite its large, open space, Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center was almost overflowing Monday evening, many generations of Indigenous people packing the center for the fifth annual Indigenous People’s Day celebration.
