- Details
- By Levi Rickert
This week, Native News Online reported news about the positive DNA identification of Melissa “Missy” Ann Poitra, a Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa tribal citizen who had been missing for 15 years. The story, by coincidence, was published on March 4, one day before National Awareness Day for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons. For decades, the issue was called “the silent crisis.”
Some 1,600 miles from her homeland in North Dakota, Melissa’s body was discovered in North Carolina 10 years after her family notified police she was missing. It took another five years for her body to be positively identified by law enforcement.
With her identification, Melissa becomes another MMIW statistic. But for her family, friends and tribe, she was no statistic.
Sadly, Melissa’s story is only one of thousands. We talked about several of those stories during an MMIW Live Stream event with tribal leaders on Wednesday. Importantly, we also talked about what needs to change to end this silent crisis.
Native News Online remains committed to publishing stories and hosting events that help raise awareness and offer solutions.
Please consider supporting our work with a donation, so we can continue to produce stories and events that shed light on important issues that affect Native Americans.
Megwetch for your readership and support.
Levi Rickert
Founder, Editor & Publisher
More Stories Like This
House Passes Bipartisan Debt Ceiling Deal; How Native American Members of Congress VotedHistory Made as First Navajo Appointed U.S. Federal Judge in California
California Bill Aims to Increase State Funding for Tribal Housing
Navajo Nation Leaders Recognized the Fallen on Memorial Day
This Day in History — May 28, 1830, Andrew Jackson Signs Indian Removal Act
Native News is free to read.
We hope you enjoyed the story you've just read. For the past dozen years, we’ve covered the most important news stories that are usually overlooked by other media. From the protests at Standing Rock and the rise of the American Indian Movement (AIM), to the ongoing epidemic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous People (MMIP) and the past-due reckoning related to assimilation, cultural genocide and Indian Boarding Schools.
Our news is free for everyone to read, but it is not free to produce. That’s why we’re asking you to make a donation to help support our efforts. Any contribution — big or small — helps. Most readers donate between $10 and $25 to help us cover the costs of salaries, travel and maintaining our digital platforms. If you’re in a position to do so, we ask you to consider making a recurring donation of $12 per month to join the Founder's Circle. All donations help us remain a force for change in Indian Country and tell the stories that are so often ignored, erased or overlooked.
Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous journalism. Thank you.
