BEMIDJI — A Bemidji woman with a profound impact on community organizing for social justice issues died at the age of 54.
Simone Senogles was a Red Lake band member with given names of Chinoodinikwe and Miskomakwakwe. She was the operations director for the Indigenous Environmental Network, a global organization that organizes campaigns around environmental justice.
She was also one of the founders of MMIW 218, raising awareness and building community for families of missing and murdered Indigenous relatives in the Bemidji area.
Among her many tributes Monday, Sept. 23, MMIW 218 said Senogles “reminded us that violence on the land and violence on our bodies are connected, and she stood boldly to protect both.”
Senogles was featured on KAXE over the years to discuss this connection, including in this excerpt from 2018.
“If you want to disempower a people, you attack the women, and I think Indigenous women have been dealing with that and are still dealing with that,” Senogles said.
A wake for Senogles will begin Thursday evening at the new Red Lake Center, with traditional services to follow Friday morning. There has been a Go Fund Me site set up in her honor.
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