Hello, my name is Patricia Graham. May is Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/People Month. Sunday, May 5, is the National Awareness Walk — here in Juneau starting at 1 p.m. on the Alaska State Capitol steps.
My dear sister Jodi was murdered June 21, 1991. This year Polaris House (434 W. Willoughby Ave.) in Juneau allowed me space at Our ClubHouse for the past two weeks. I have been doing a poster drive this year and hope to make it an annual event. Saturday is the final push before the annual walk and rally starting at 1 p.m. and going until 4 p.m.
Requesting help from Polaris House members and members of our community to join us you are invited from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at the Polaris House for our final push to make posters. You can make one for a loved one you have lost or choose another idea for a poster. We intend to hand extra posters out to people to carry during the walk and rally. They are free and proudly created by Polaris House, Salvation Army Women’s Ministries, and everyday community members.
I will be at the Capitol steps early to hand posters out to anyone kind enough to carry them. The Central Council Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska have put the walk and rally together. During the poster drive at Polaris House I worked on my sister Jodi’s poster, I put on Jodi’s poster, “Call To Action — YES bring awareness, but then what?”
For the entire state of Alaska our MMIW Task Force has only four Alaska State Troopers who work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, along with other local and federal law enforcement agencies to solve cold case murders. They are not enough to cover the largest state in America with the worst statistics in our country.
Alaska is number one in this area of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (Alaska is also number one in many other areas not to be proud of as well) and has been for most of my life: I am going on 54. Jodi was murdered 33 years ago and the problem is not going away, it’s getting worse. State Trooper Austin McDaniel emailed to me, “In 2023 12 Alaskan Natives or American Indians were murdered and 143 were reported missing to the Alaska State Troopers.”
A call to action would include major funding to provide outreach programs for scholarships and education toward law enforcement and other professions with opportunities to help Our People in this area. We have a strong need for trauma-informed care to prevent secondary wounding from persons who deal with victims and the families of victims. I’m training to become a “Traditional Peer Support Professional 1” and also getting my certificate as a “Peer Support Professional 1” at the same time. The only difference is traditional peer support professionals must be Alaska Native or American Indian. Certification is through The Alaska Commission for Behavioral Health Certification at (907) 339-8006.
Calling on all Alaskan Natives and American Indians to rally to do outreach, education, training and job creation for work in fields that help Our People. We need funding for scholarships, education training and helping victims and their families. It has never been in me to be against any other race: I believe in the Medicine Wheel which teaches us we are One People. However, I ask that Alaskan Natives and American Indians get priority on funding and education in these fields so we can help our people.
There is healing for battered and abused Alaskan Native and American Indian women in the Yiel Koowu Shaawat — Raven Tail Woman program created by Amalia Monreal. Just Google “Yeil Koowu Shaawat” and it will come up for anyone to download it.
The Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/People State of Alaska Task Force is (907) 451-5100. Also it is important to know that as soon as someone is missing, report it as soon as possible — there is no 24- or 72-hour wait period in Alaska for reporting a missing person. Gunalcheesh for your time. Sincerely (my Tlingit name) Shuxun, Patricia D. Graham.
• Patricia Graham is a Juneau resident.
