Native university students share poetry and songs to honor MMIP victims and survivors

Many cases remain unsolved, with advocates urging law enforcement and lawmakers to do more.

The fifth annual Poetry in the Park is a joint effort between Illioo Native Theater and the University of Oregon’s Native American and Indigenous Studies Academic Residential Community (NAIARC). Most participants are current students of the university, and they’ve donned red garments and face paint, often in the shape of a hand across the mouth to represent those whose voices have been silenced.

Held on the first Wednesday of May, the poetry event sometimes follows the national MMIP day of awareness (May 5), but organizer Marta Lu Clifford said it’s a date that enables the NAIARC students to participate and serve as the main readers. And all of the poems are written by Indigenous women.

“It’s very spiritual and personal,” said Clifford, recognizing the efforts of the students. “It’s helping them to learn their voice to bring awareness to the problem.”

Clifford explained that she got the idea for this event after seeing an installation at the National Museum of the American Indian by Red River Métis artist Jaime Black in 2019.

“My vision was seeing the dresses hanging in trees somewhere in Lane County — Springfield or Eugene.”

Clifford says many tribes believe that red is the only color spirits can see, and that they’re drawn to events like this one.

“When we first hang up the dresses, the dresses are empty,” said Clifford. “But always when we first hang them up, they start moving. That’s one of the powerful things of the ceremony, is to see the dresses in the wind with the spirit in them. I feel that’s the spirits of the missing and murdered women coming back to see what we’re doing.”

On this particular night, the dresses in Heron Park swayed non-stop. Strong and constant gusts kept them animated, as a small group of readers traveled in a circuit among several trees, accompanied by two young men with hand drums. A crowd of roughly 70 people followed, as poems by Clifford, Joy Harjo, Tanaya Winder, and others were shared.

Ericka Grunlose, a Colville tribal member who’s studying education and Native American studies at the University of Oregon, helped recite “I am 10 Years Old” by Astokomii Smith. It describes the short life of a Native girl named Natalia who’s abducted, raped and murdered by a non-Native man “with the gentlest smile.”

“I actually cried the first time I read this,” Grunlose said. “As another Native woman myself, I just really felt it in my heart.”

Grunlose said the organizers asked her if she wanted to switch poems, but after talking with her mother, she felt she had the strength to share it “to remember all of our lost, stolen sisters.”

Joining the young women was Pachomio Feliz, a Yurok from northern California. Holding a rawhide drum and sporting a bright red hand painted across his mouth, Feliz said he’s been greatly affected by the disappearance of Emmilee Risling, who was a fellow resident of the Yurok reservation. An accomplished student leader, Hoopa Valley tribal dancer, and 2014 graduate of the University of Oregon, Risling later struggled with her mental health and disappeared in October 2021.

“She disappeared just a few feet away from my village, from my reservation,” said Feliz. “I knew Emmilee, I know the family. It’s definitely caused a lot of hurt and suffering happening right now back home.”

The theme of Indigenous women and girls being targeted for harassment, fondling, assault, rape and murder is underscored by troubling statistics that show this group is disproportionately at risk for being targeted.

Government data shows that over 84 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women experience some form of violence in their lifetime. And murder rates for them are more than ten times the national average in some counties and overall, nearly three times that of white women.

The poem read by Mykeisha Yepa, an architecture student who’s a member of the Jicarilla Apache, evoked feelings of persecution and being hunted. Marilyn Dumont’s “Helen Betty Osborne” is about a 19-year-old Cree girl in Manitoba who was abducted and murdered in November 1971. A group of four men emerged as suspects a few months later, but the case took 16 years to go to trial, and only one of the suspects ended up being convicted of the crime.

“It’s the metaphor of ‘open season’ and how much women are preyed upon,” said Yepa, reflecting on the poem’s impact. “It’s like hunting season for women.”

Yepa said events like the Poetry in the Park ceremony are important because they spread awareness of the MMIP crisis.

Christina Thomas, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs who’s studying human anatomy, physiology and chemistry — as well as minoring in Native Studies — agreed. The poem she read, “All the Broken People Have Ceremony” was penned by another Oregon Native, Tracie Meyer of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

“The poem was really intense, it brought up a lot of emotions,” said Thomas. “But it’s really important that we read these poems and bring awareness to such a huge issue that affects all of us.”

After the last poem was shared, an honor song was performed, and Clifford handed all the participants red roses for their help. Acknowledging that the content could trigger grief and traumatic feelings for some, the students stayed around in case anyone wanted to come forward and privately talk through their experiences.

Organizers said while the event was to observe Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s Day, all Native people affected by violence, abuse, kidnapping and trafficking — including two-spirit people and men — were being honored.

As the sun set and people began to relax, mingle and laugh amongst each other, Clifford reclined in a lawn chair before preparing to pack up for the night. The dusky glow lit up the red dresses with an unearthly vibrancy, as they continued to sway in the breeze.

“I just hope this continues for many, many years,” Clifford said. “Even when I can’t walk between the trees, I’ll still be here.”