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SALT LAKE CITY — Hannah Harris, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, would've turned 30 years old on Thursday.
But ever since her 21st birthday, there haven't been birthday candles, but candlelight vigils across the United States.
Harris was last seen leaving her home in Lame Deer, Montana, on July 4, 2013, to celebrate with some friends. Her body was found days later in a nearby field.
Her birthday, May 5, is nationally recognized as Missing and Murdered Indigenous People's Day. The day of awareness was a resolution introduced by Montana senators Steve Daines and Jon Tester, in response to the murder of Harris and in remembrance of other Indigenous people murdered and missing across the U.S.
Many in the Native American community have a relative with a story like Harris'. In 2021, there were 5,203 missing Indigenous girls and women, according to the FBI's National Crime Information Center. Their rate of disappearance is nearly three times their estimated share of the national population.
Michelle Brown's nephew lost his mother in 2017. It was her murder that drove Brown to become engaged with the cause and to begin work with Utah's Missing Murdered and Indigenous Women+ (MMIW+), a local group that advocates for women, teens and others who don't typically get the public attention they likely deserve.
"It was extremely frustrating from a law enforcement perspective of not having like an open dialogue with them and not really having clear communication on the case," said Brown.
Cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people are an epidemic across the United States — but Utah ranks eighth among the states for the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women with Salt Lake City as the city with the ninth-highest number of cases.
The grief and mourning of the community were present on Thursday as they gathered at Carry the Water Garden, an Indigenous healing garden in Salt Lake City.
The day was marked with prayer, dancing, eating and a candlelight vigil. Community members were encouraged to wear red to honor missing and murdered Indigenous relatives and orange to honor Indigenous children lost to residential and boarding schools.
"For most Native communities, our connection is a part of our healing. The issue about remembering our missing and murdered Indigenous relatives is that they're not a part of their community or their voices are not heard anymore; they're not able to tell their stories anymore," said Kristina Groves, co-acting executive director of the Urban Indian Center of Salt Lake. "So gathering together really helps to honor those people that we've lost and honor what has happened to them."
The Carry the Water Garden is marked with a mural honoring those lost in a community space. The mural features flowers painted by the community in red and orange as a way of remembrance. The garden will feature community programming, indigenous plants and herbs, and a traditional sweat lodge.
"Native American people didn't survive without evolving and living in the city, we have to figure out how to kind of how to adapt," said Groves. "But we still want to hold on to our culture and the things that are important to us — those traditions and those values that have been handed down for generations."
Those traditions and values include a connection with the earth and all that inhabits it.
"We have responsibilities to each other and we extend those responsibilities past people. Those responsibilities go to the trees and the animals and everything. They are beings and because they're beings they have to be held with value," said Carl Moore, co-founder of Peaceful Advocates for Native Dialogue and Organizing Support. "When we have any kind of marginalized communities or any kind of people that are being exploited, it's our duty as good family members to look out for those or to speak out for those or to be the voice for those."
Instead of silence, MMIW+ Utah suggests these actions:
- Understand the history.
- Reflect on how you fit into this.
- Share emotional labor by creating space.
- Share information.
- Hold legislators accountable.
- Show up.
- Invite others to show up.
- Practice being uncomfortable or having uncomfortable conversations.
"We have to remember that these are human beings who have families that are like really troubled by the fact that they're missing or are found murdered and seeking justice," said Groves. "I think it's important to note that families, there are many families who do not gain justice, and it's important to continue to spotlight those cases until justice is found."
The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Girls and Women Taskforce was established by the Utah Legislature in 2018. The task force has currently been visiting Native communities to gather input and collect data.
