Drums in Fargo for missing Indigenous women

News | February 14th, 2018

FARGO – Native drums reverberated through Downtown Fargo Wednesday when more than 200 people marched to bring awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women, an epidemic that plagues the state and the nation.

Native Americans, tribal dignitaries, Fargo city commissioners, even the mayor showed up to support the cause. Valentines Day is now also proclaimed Missing Indigenous Women’s day by Fargo’s Native American Commission. Passing cars honked in support as the marchers passed. A Sammy’s Pizza employee stood outside the parlor clapping.

“Somebody has to make this known,” he said.

Fargo was the first city in the nation to begin raising awareness of the numbers of missing Indigenous women, and men, in 2015, City Commissioner John Strand said.

“Who would ever think we would need a day for that?” Strand said. “And this topic, you can’t find out anything, I couldn’t give you a clue about how many missing Indigenous women there are in America. Why can’t someone tell you how many are missing in Fargo?

“And that’s the place to start. Let’s start with information and then roll our hearts into this.”

Information could come with Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s Savanna’s Act, a bill written in response to Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind’s murder and abduction of her then unborn child in August 2017 in Fargo. Greywind was a member of the Spirit Lake Nation.

Marchers through downtown Fargo - photograph by C.S. Hagen

Dozens, if not hundreds of Indigenous men and women have gone missing over the years, and their cases have grown cold, speakers said during the meeting before the march.

“This is something near and dear to the city of Fargo,” Mayor Tim Mahoney said. “We lose so many people, we need to do everything possible for anyone who goes missing, and we all need to be a part of this. We need to be an embracing community.”

Raising awareness and helping to solve these issues is one of Mahoney’s goals for the year, he said.

More signs during march - photograph by C.S. Hagen

Dave Flute, chairman of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and the United Tribes of North Dakota, prayed before those gathered, dressed in red shirts, marched. He issued a criticism of the city however, in backing a claim by the Greywind family that they were not satisfied with the methods by which the Fargo Police Department performed its initial investigation into Savanna’s disappearance.

“As First Nation people we need to see action, which is more swift than before,” Flute said. “We also need to have that cultural training so no one disrespects us Indigenous people.”

Stereotypes need to be destroyed before healing can begin, Flute said.

One dignitary from Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate spoke shortly, breaking down in tears when she spoke of another recent case of a missing woman found murdered. A child read a letter about a 25-year-old murder case, still unsolved. Another woman stood up and read a letter introduced in Congress recently, about the lack of follow up and justice in investigating Native murder cases.

“It’s a sad reality that people face, but this endemic needs to be addressed,” Ruth Buffalo, of Fargo’s Native American Commission, said.

Marchers, led by the Desert Era Veterans, prepare to walk downtown Fargo - photograph by C.S. Hagen