Nomeites march to commemorate Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons

On the afternoon of Tuesday, May 5, Nomeites marched down Front Street from the UAF Northwest Campus to Anvil City Square to commemorate Missing and Murdered Indigenous Person’s Day. Some people carried signs with pictures of lost loved ones. Some had red bags, each with a name of an Indigenous person missing in the state of Alaska.
One person carried a poster with a picture of Kelly Marie Hunt of Shaktoolik, who went missing in Anchorage in January and whose body was discovered on April 20, in a wooded area in Anchorage. Hunt, 19, went through Anchorage on her way back to college. Her death is under investigation by the Anchorage Police Department.
Blaire Okpealuk had a poster with a picture of her sister Florence Okpealuk who disappeared in Nome in August 2020 and has not been found.
As the marchers walked down Front Street, they chanted: “What do we want? All our stolen sisters! When do we want it? Now!
Once they reached Anvil City Square, they gathered in a large circle that spread across all the open space in front of Old St. Joe’s. Going one by one, everyone with a red bag read off the names, and the crowd repeated them in unison. It took over ten minutes to read all the names. Deilah Johnson, Tribal Resources Director with the Native Village of Solomon, organized the event. She asked people to put the bags in their front yard tonight and light the electric tea lights inside each bag as a memorial.
Afterwards, participants were invited into Old St. Joe’s for refreshments, to share memories of missing and murdered loved ones, offer support for one another and to hear about available resources.
Isabel MacCay with the Village of Solomon Taskforce for Justice Committee shared information about the “Trail of Hope” initiative. There are QR codes around Nome that can be scanned to get information about statistics, unsolved cases and resources. “Our goal with this is to just really bring that information to all of you and to bring it to more people who maybe aren’t here today because they don’t have that information,” she said.
Shannon Klescewski with Behavioral Health Services at Norton Sound Health Corporation spoke about the impact of MMIP on those left behind. “When someone goes missing, families often live in a space of not knowing, holding both hope and grief at the same time,” she said. “This is called ambiguous loss, and it can be incredibly heavy to carry.”
Klescewski said that it is important to offer support and understanding. “You do not have to be an expert to make a difference,” she said. “What matters is that you care, that you listen and that you choose to stand with those who are impacted.”
Johnson has been organizing MMIP events in Nome since 2019. She said that the bags are new this year. “We would just like to encourage people to be interactive in their advocacy,” she said. “I want to empower everyone’s advocacy individually.”
If you or someone you know needs support, you can contact Norton Sound Health Corporation Behavioral Health Services at 907-443-3344 or after-hours at 844-586-8773. The Bering Sea Women’s Group 24/7 hotline number is 907-443-5444.