MMIR MONTH

We are creating a packet of resources to support congregations digging deeply into their local roots on behalf of water, well-being and relationship-building. It’s fitting we’ll be unveiling it on May 18: right in the middle of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Month.

This Great Idea is a part of our packet of resources:

We’ve still got some work to do on the packet as a whole, but a key element is the intention of supporting predominantly white, colonizer-dense congregations as they grow in awareness and appreciation for our Indigenous neighbors; develop relationships and work toward reconciliation with Indigenous neighbors; and stand in solidarity with Indigenous-led movements that support water well-being in our local or regional contexts.

A major trauma in Indigenous communities – around the country – is the kidnapping and murder of Indigenous women. According to the MN Department of Public Safety’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office, Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people are far more likely to experience violence, be murdered, or go missing compared to other demographics in Minnesota.

For instance, while Indigenous people make up just one percent of Minnesota’s population, between 2010 and 2019, nine percent of all murdered girls and some in the state were Indigenous; and in any given month, from 2010 to 2020, anywhere from 27 to 54 Indigenous women and girls went missing.

Find more terrible statics here and learn about current government-based resources and laws intended to protect Indigenous women and girls.

See the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force’s report to the MN Legislature on the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center website here. The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center also offers information on the BADGES for Native Communities Act: learn more and encourage Congress to pass it here.

Follow and join efforts in the Northwoods through MMIW 218; see their Facebook page here.

White allies can:

• learn how local, state, and national laws actually harm Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit peoples in this video
• support Indigenous-led movements protecting water, land, and related treaty rights, such as:
  • Honor the Earth
  • Indigenous Climate Action
  • Indigenous Environmental Network
  • Seeding Sovereignty
  • and my personal favorite: Resilient Indigenous Sisters Engaging (RISE) Coalition
• support Indigenous-led businesses like:
  • Harvest Nation
  • 8th Fire Solar
• explore avenues for reconciliation and reparations between communities to strengthen Indigenous sovereignty and socio-political networks.

Learn more about Reparations & Restorative Justice (in general) in our lib guide. See especially:

• Patty Krawec’s Becoming Kin (Broadleaf)
• Edgar Villanueva’s Decolonizing Wealth, Second Ed. (Penguin)
• Sarah Augustine’s The Land Is Not Empty (Menno)

These are just a few ways non-Indigenous allies and neighbors can grow in awareness, understanding, empathy, compassion, and solidarity. Learn more as we unroll our resource packet (yet to be named!) in the next week!