BEMIDJI — While Feb. 14 might mark a day of expressing devotion, it also is Missing and Murdered Indigenous Day of Remembrance.
The annual event aims to honor those Indigenous relatives who are missing from the lives of their loved ones.
MMIW 218 coordinates annual events on Feb. 14 in Bemidji. After a sign-making event at the Northwest Indian Community Development Center from 9-10:45 a.m., the group will march to the Beaux Arts Ballroom on the Bemidji State campus at 11 a.m. for a program of speakers and ceremonies until 3 p.m.
Participants are encouraged to wear red and bring signs.
According to Minnesota’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office, between 27 and 54 American Indian women and girls in the state were missing in any given month from 2012 to 2020. Although American Indian women and girls make up just 1% of the state’s population, nearly 8% of all murdered women and girls in Minnesota were American Indian between 2010 and 2018.
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