The murder rate of Native women in the United States is a staggering 10 times higher than the national average. For Rosalie Fish, a member of the Cowlitz tribe from Washington’s Muckleshoot Reservation, the epidemic is personal. In 2004, her aunt Alice Looney went missing. Her body was discovered more than a year later.
Now, Fish advocates for justice for Native women as a track star. At her state meet, she ran to keep her aunt's memory alive by placing a red handprint over her face to represent Native women who have been victims of violence.
"For me, being Native American and representing missing and murdered indigenous women and bringing awareness to the epidemic isn't a political statement, but rather just an aspect of my humanity and my identity," she said.
Now, Fish advocates for justice for Native women as a track star. At her state meet, she ran to keep her aunt's memory alive by placing a red handprint over her face to represent Native women who have been victims of violence.
"For me, being Native American and representing missing and murdered indigenous women and bringing awareness to the epidemic isn't a political statement, but rather just an aspect of my humanity and my identity," she said.
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00:00The red is the color of the MMIW movement and the handprint is to represent the women,
00:07and specifically the Native women, that have been silenced through violence.
00:16She's giving a voice to those who have been silenced.
00:30To me, running empowers me, and it gives me a platform where I can speak and use my voice.
00:50Missing and murdered Indigenous women is an epidemic that you can't really ignore
00:54when it's happening to your family and your community.
00:57And to me, when I realized that I could use the state track meet as an opportunity to present this issue,
01:03it was something that I knew I needed to do.
01:15Only my mother and my coach knew about my exact plans,
01:20because I knew that some people might tell me to keep politics out of sports,
01:26being Native American and representing missing and murdered Indigenous women
01:30and bringing awareness to the epidemic isn't a political statement,
01:33but rather just an aspect of my humanity and my identity,
01:36and I didn't want that to be interfered with in any way.
01:44Boston Marathon runner Jordan Marie Daniels is a Lakota tribal member,
01:48and she ran at the Boston Marathon with red paint over her mouth and MMIW down her leg.
01:54And when I saw that, I was inspired.
01:56She told me that it was going to be very painful to run, and she was right.
02:01It was very, in a way, sometimes traumatic to think of the stories of these women,
02:07and she told me that I needed to pray.
02:10We need to show up, we need to be persistent, and we need to keep talking about this.
02:24On the Yakima Reservation already, there was 13, about 13 missing women, Indian women, Indigenous women.
02:43And then for my sister to go missing, and it left our family, where is she?
02:50And we looked on the sides of the roads, we looked everywhere,
02:56and just dumbfounded as to where is she? She's just disappeared.
03:07I watched the news, and I just started shaking and trembling,
03:10because it said the body was there for a long time.
03:14And I called Mary, and she called the tribal police.
03:18She called me back the next day and said it was her.
03:21And I just broke down, because 14 months I was looking for her every day,
03:30not knowing if she was hungry, being abused in any way.
03:38But I was grateful that we got her back, our prayers were answered.
03:47We was glad we found her, but we wanted to know, well, what are you guys doing to find the answers?
03:54How did she get out there? And was there any foul play? And they couldn't answer it for us.
04:02To save our mother! To save our mother!
04:06To save everyone's lives! To save everyone's lives!
04:10There is sufficient evidence that there are predators who target Native women and girls for trafficking.
04:18Esther Smith, say her name! Esther Smith!
04:22Esther Smith!
04:25Our sisters go missing in our homes, from our families, from our tables, from our ceremonies.
04:35And then they go missing to the rest of the world, because nobody ever hears about them.
04:39Violence against women, acts need to be taken seriously and really understood that this is an epidemic and it's genocide.
05:10This is a photo of Ashley.
05:19Ashley was an outgoing 20-year-old Native college student during the summer of 2017,
05:27when she went missing on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana.
05:32Last December, I heard firsthand about the devastating impact of Ashley's disappearance
05:39when her sister, Kimberly Loring Heavy Runner, came before the Indian Affairs Committee to ask Congress to take action.
05:47If they would have taken her serious as a person, because we are important,
05:52I believe that my sister would have been here, or we would have had closure.
05:58I am aware also, and I guess we'll discuss this any moment, about the epidemic which now exists in terms of violence against women.
06:10And this is an issue that will be very, very high up on my agenda.
06:16We will see cooperation between the federal government and the sovereign Indian nations in order to address this crisis.
06:28I remember she used to always wear those hats.
06:38Well, at the end of her life, she wanted long hair. She was growing it out long.
06:43I just don't think there's enough information given to non-Native people about Native Americans and how sacred our women are to our people.
06:54They're the creators, you know, of life, and they're revered and honored.
06:59And so to get no coverage, it's like they don't understand us.
07:14I was glad she's being remembered and thought of. Her life mattered. She mattered to us.
07:24On our canoe, you'll see these red ribbons with the names of our stolen relatives who we prayed for today.
07:39There's no way that I could continue running and not continue to advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women.
07:45I plan to include myself academically and athletically in the issue and to continue to raise awareness,
07:52but also see what I can do personally with the momentum I have right now to continue to advocate for my sisters and my relatives.
08:15For more UN videos visit www.un.org