Comanche Nation Hosts Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Red Rally
On Saturday, April 12, Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) Red Rally took place at Watchetaker Hall.
The benefit gourd dance was for an upcoming rally in Washington, D.C.
Advisor to Oklahoma MMIP State Chapter Geneva Hadley said the powwow required the help of many family members. The chapter is not funded through a tribe or government agency.
“Law enforcement doesn't go out and search for our missing loved ones, and it's really, you know, all we have is our community to depend on,” she said. “So, you know, with all these MMIW, MMIP chapters in Oklahoma, they're able to do that for the families in their own respective communities.”
Although Hadley does not have anyone missing or murdered, she did lose a loved one.
“I started in the MMIP movement in 2017,” she said. “Then it was called…MMIW, and in 2018, I lost my own son to suicide, and ever since then…I kept going and kept going, and it helped me actually to through the grieving process because I was seeing other families grieving, and all I wanted to do was help them.”
Hadley looks forward to the trip to D.C., one of her main focuses when she began in MMIP.
“To make our voices heard, and I'm starting to see my dream come true,” she said. “The closer it gets to May the 5th. May the 5th is known as National Day of MMIW Awareness. It's a federal holiday. So, we want to be there on that day…at the U.S. Capitol, and we're basically doing what we usually do every May the 5th, which is we always go to the Oklahoma State Capitol, and we have an event. We invite families and speakers and…just whoever is there, whoever shows up. So, that's what we're going to do there in D.C.”
They began fundraising in November 2024.
Every head staff member was picked out to be recognized by MMIP.
“I wanted the head staff to be, to have, actually have family members that are missing or murdered,” Hadley said. “So, every one of them that is on the head staff does have a person that's been missing or has been murdered. So, that's who we're recognizing tonight.”
Comanche Nation MMIP Coordinator Roxe Large said it was important to take time out to raise awareness, gather the local community and have an honor dance for the families.
“It's very important to our families because just depending on the circumstances of their case, some of them are resolved, some of them aren't resolved,” she said. “So, it was very important that that awareness gets out there and that they're remembered by who they are and just share their memories. And so, it's very important that we let people, let the families know that they are still important and they're still here and that we can be a voice for people and stand up…for them.”
Large said it felt good to be at the powwow.
“Getting out there and dancing and seeing all the families and seeing all the community come together and represent…in their regalias, and it's very beautiful. It feels good because dancing it's therapeutic,” she said. “So, and then for everyone to gather in the same place and to let everyone know that we've all shared a similar experience and to let people know that they're not alone.”
Comanche Nation MMIP also announced their new princess, Dina Niedo.
She said it was great to have the title and had a grandmother and grandfather die in the 1980s.
“Some people lost their family, and I know how that feels because I lost my brother because he overdosed, and I really miss him,” Niedo said. “But I still be more supportive of myself and more confident and do it for my brother.”
She said her goals in the role are to show people that it’s not okay to have people gone and to encourage them to be confident in themselves.
