February 14: Wear Red & Join the MMIR March

Beloveds, Relatives – 

I hope this message finds you as spiritually well as we can all be during these times. 

As we continue to witness the kidnapping of our relatives across the cities, it seems appropriate to recognize the Minneapolis Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives March on February 14th at 11am to 2pm. The March starts at the Minneapolis American Indian Center at 1530 E. Franklin Avenue.

It is hard to find an Indigenous person from Turtle Island that hasn’t been directly impacted by the astronomical horror of discovering that a friend, cousin, auntie, sister, or another relative has gone missing or was murdered. According to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center: “On some reservations, Native women face murder rates ten times the national average.” And yet, the United States government that continues to break treaties and tribal sovereignty refuses to assist in the efforts of lowering this statistic. 

My family experienced the harm directly back in December of 1977, when the body of my cousin Corina Lydia Contreraz was found just south of the metro area of Billings, Montana. A school bus driver just happened to discover her partially clothed body along the stretch of Interstate 90 while he was doing his rounds one morning. Corina, like many other MMIR, is still considered a cold case to this day. 

This only adds to the horror when Indian Country Today reported that five Oglala Sioux men were kidnapped by ICE back in 2026. Five Indigenous people to the land of Minnesota. Kidnapped and possibly threatened with deportation. 

Many Latinos are Native American and many Native Americans are Latino. There are Indigenous people throughout all of Mexico, Central America, and South America. We are all relatives and one with this land. My biggest fear is that the atrocities of this administration and the modern day Nazi officers that continue to keep us under occupation (despite what the administration is trying to tell us) will only skyrocket the number of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives. Relatives that are being held in modern day concentration camps. Relatives that were forgotten because they have been forced to move so frequently across the country. 

My hope is that everyone will wear red clothing on Saturday not just for the holiday we are all too familiar with, but for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives. In addition, please consider joining us on Saturday and march with us as we remember and fight for our relatives. Our church offering this week will go directly to the march and the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition. 

Please, don’t let your guard down just because the administration that continues to lie to us told you that the occupation is over. The occupation is over when we all experience it being over. Until then, keep your whistles close, your Signal chats open, and watch out for all of your neighbors, but especially your Native and Latino relatives. Who keeps us safe? We keep us safe. 

Tlasokamati, 

Amelia D. Marquez (She/They) 
Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan and Mexican American