More than 20 people gathered for a noise parade and vigil in honor of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Awareness Day on May 5. It was the largest turnout since Petersburg’s local tribe, the Petersburg Indian Association, started hosting the event three years ago. Organizers said it was a way to bring awareness, ask for accountability and remember those who are missing.
9-year-old Sandra Grant was part of the parade.
“I know that it’s important to us Natives, and I’m excited that we get to honor it,” she said.
Aniseek Veronica Ware, who works as a youth program coordinator for the Petersburg Indian Association, was one of many at the event with a red handprint over her mouth. The handprint represented the silence that often exists around missing and murdered Indigenous people.
She said the point of the event was to break that silence.
“When people go missing, they say that they ran away so they don’t expedite the search for those people. And then they show up murdered,” she said. “It’s just really to bring attention and awareness to the fact that this is an underserved population when it comes to our missing and murdered people.”
Right now, staff at the Petersburg Indian Association don’t know of any current cases in Petersburg. But as a state, Alaska ranks fourth in the country for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
The parade ended at the Alaska Native Brotherhood John Hanson Sr. Hall, where attendees held a candlelight vigil and remembered those who had been lost. Victoria Moore read the description of Tracy Day, a Tlingit woman who went missing in Juneau in 2019. She knew Day personally.
“Last seen wearing a turquoise coat and vest. Tracy has brown hair with bangs,” she read. “Tracy has blue eyes and dimples on her cheeks. She’s missing one of her top front teeth, and has a small bump on her cheek from an old injury.”
Day has not been found but was declared dead by a court last year.
Petersburg Indian Association Tribal Administrator Jalyn Pomrenke spoke about 19-year-old Kelly Hunt, who went missing in Anchorage in January. Her body was found last month.
“That story really hit home for me recently,” she said.
Pomrenke said that was another example of “demanding action from our law enforcement to take these cases seriously right off the bat. Not after someone’s found, not after tragedy strikes, but before.”
For more resources on missing and murdered Indigenous people, you can contact the Petersburg Indian Association at 907-772-3636.
