ONEIDA, Wis. (WFRV) – Community members gathered Saturday morning for the Oneida Nation’s fifth annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) Walk, taking steps both literal and symbolic to honor those lost and to raise awareness about the silent crisis affecting Native communities.
Participants dressed in red and carried signs bearing names and dates of missing loved ones. The walk began at the Oneida Recreation Center and ended at the Turtle School, where attendees were invited to share a meal, listen to presentations and reflect with music and prayer.
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“This is our fifth annual MMIW walk. We have everyone come together — it’s a healing event because it’s a silent crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls,” said Oneida Nation Council Member Jennifer Webster.
Red has become a symbol of the movement, representing both the voices of the missing and the resilience of the families left behind. Many attendees wore red handprints across their faces, a visual symbol that has become a hallmark of MMIR advocacy across Indian Country.
Webster said around 200 people participated in this year’s walk. She noted that the walk is not just about remembrance, but also about ongoing efforts to push for justice and prevention.
“It started in 2017 with Savannah,” Webster said, referencing the case of Savannah Greywind, a 22-year-old pregnant Indigenous woman who was murdered in North Dakota. “From that event grew Savannah’s Act.”
Savannah’s Act, signed into law in 2020, was designed to improve coordination and data collection among federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement agencies in cases involving missing or murdered Native people.
Tsyoshaaht Delgado, the Bear Clan manager for the Oneida Cultural Heritage Department, said walks like this are happening across the country.
“Native American people are the number one group that have gone missing and been murdered, and they never get investigated,” Delgado said. “So this is to bring awareness to the community and the surrounding area.”
Many who attended the walk have been directly impacted by the crisis or know someone who has. For some, that pain remains unresolved.
“Some of their relatives are missing and they’ve never been found,” Delgado said. “That always impacts our community.”
Webster added that Native women face disproportionately high rates of violence.
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“Native women are three times more likely to be involved in trafficking, to be involved in domestic violence,” she said. “So the whole thing today is for healing.”
Organizers hope to grow the event each year and keep the conversation alive, not just for those who are missing, but for those still searching for answers.
