Honoring the sisters.

Gedakina - Maine along with friends and community members, gathered for a powerful remembrance and honoring event where the deep sounds of drumming and singing led by sisters, Lindsay and Danielle Desmond reflected the intensity of the day. The red dresses were placed high above in front of the Tribal ffices for those who passed by to also be able to observe the day.

Meanwhile in Vermont, Gedakina and a collection of staff from our partner organization, Shelburne Farms, took time out of their lives to gather together by sharing, noshing, and beading pins to honor the significance of May 5th, a national day of awareness — to continue to make prominent the unsolved disappearances and murders of women, girls and Two-Spirits.

Beading our pins…

We settled in around a large wooden table to learn the basics of constructing a beaded red pin skirt with Gedakina’s Executive Director, Judy Dow. After about an hour and a half or so, some of us were farther along than others. But, we were all finding some joy in the beading process. And, as we were all experiencing in the phases of our learning process; as we steadied ourselves in our initial beadmaking the room was quiet, and then as we each found our confidence in each stitch, the room gathered some of that momentum and more folks struck up conversations.

For many tribes, the color red is the color that Spirit sees. It is hoped that by wearing red, we can call back the missing spirits of our women and children so we can remember them or find them, honor them and when necessary lay them to rest. A red hand over the mouth has become the symbol of the MMIWG2S movement. It stands for all the missing sisters whose voices are not heard. It stands for the silence of the media and law enforcement in the midst of this crisis. It stands for the oppression and subjugation of Native women who are now rising up to say #NoMoreStolenSisters. #MMIWG2S

Advocacy mainly focuses on cis-women and girls. Two-Spirit is a Pan-Indian umbrella term for American Indians who identify outside the male and female gender binary; who possess both masculine and female energy and exist within another gender identity. Two-Spirits are also targeted, murdered, assaulted, and disappear at disturbing rates akin to Indigenous women and girls. #MMIWG2S.