Navajo woman walks across the country to raise awareness about missing indigenous people

[Behind the Aegis]

A Navajo woman hopes to raise awareness about missing and murdered indigenous people by walking across the country.

Seraphine Warren hopes her walk brings attention to hundreds of missing and murdered indigenous people all across the country. She became an advocate after her aunt, 63-year-old Ella Mae Begay, went missing.

Warren said, “Sometimes I feel like, will I be able to go another year without her, without finding her, without getting answers. I do have families that have been waiting 35 years. That’s the longest I know.”

She’s walking across the country. She started her journey in Sweatwater, Arizona and plans to walk all the way to Washington D.C. -- a distance of 2,330 miles.

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[HipChick]

1. K&R

[ismnotwasm]

2. K&R

[Faux pas]

3. Kickin'

[crickets]

4. K&R for visibility.

[Solly Mack]

5. K&R

[secondwind]

6. K&R for Seraphine Warren!

[Duppers]

7. Would be nice if she

Followed The Tail of Tears for part of that journey; however, it's not a direct route.

There has been and continues to be such heartbreaking cruelty toward indigenous people in this country.

[iluvtennis]

8. Wow! n/t

[summer_in_TX]

9. In 2018 I got invited to be part of a panel at the UN Conference

on the status of women.

While waiting on my event to start, my husband and I happened into the session on the status of indigenous women. It was eye-opening for us Texans where tribal peoples were usually subsumed into the Latino population or marginalized to just three recognized reservations far from where I grew up (in Austin).

The level of indifference that they documented enduring at the hands of law enforcement and governmental officials to the endemic violence directed at indigenous women was horrific. The presenters were survivors, some of whom had managed to get Masters degrees and study the issues involved in the hopes of making things better for their community.

Some had themselves been raped and all had members of their families who had been raped, beaten, or murdered. Almost never were the perpetrators caught or held accountable. The northern midwestern states, including Michigan and Minnesota seemed to have a darkness that as white people we'd never heard about before.

There's a lot of awareness that needs to be raised. Good for Ms. Warren!

[calimary]

11. It's SO damn infuriating!

We’ve STILL got miles - and years (maybe decades) to go before we reach full awareness matched with the same levels of successful effort toward full equality.

[summer_in_TX]

12. George Floyd and the discussions following his murder

broke many hearts, broke them wide open to hearing and seeing. Finally.

But only those receptive to the message in the first place.

[Codifer]

10. I am curious.

Is the name of her starting point a typo? I had been prepared to pronounce it "Sweetwater" (as in the '60s rock band) and I can't imagine (actually, I can but it's not pretty) anyone naming a town "Sweatwater".... but Arizona.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

13. I wish she could have a relay of escorts on her journey.

[panader0]

14. She's in Cherokee land now. Cool video, dressed in traditional clothing.

https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/watch-now-navajo-woman-passes-through-cherokee-nation-on-walking-journey-to-raise-awareness-for/article_f111b47c-144b-11ed-b852-0b3a264d0f48.html