On May 4, 2026 The Red Sky Nation organization hosted a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) march in Sioux City, Iowa to bring awareness to the family members who have been lost to violence. The march began at the Sioux City Police department, traveled by the Courthouse then ended at the Sioux City Public Museum. At the police department, they hosted a drum circle, prayers, speakers and smudging. The march was led by Princess Delia Ice. Ice is the 2026 Miss Red Sky Nation MMIR Princess. She led an estimated amount of 80 or more people to the courthouse. Ice says, “I felt good, and I felt like I was the leader and everybody followed behind me and they trusted me to take the role and be a princess too.”
The marchers went inside the courthouse to listen to speakers talk about the inequalities and injustices that indigenous people face. The speakers not only touched on the crisis but helped bring in spiritual and kind thoughts and words to help the families through their grieving. The march ended at the Sioux City Public Museum where prayer leader and emcee Terry (T) Medina led the sit down and lunch portion of the march. Welcoming everyone and explaining what this day is all about, families of murdered and missing relatives shared their powerful stories about their lost loved ones. “Our relatives, they have a broken heart. And sometimes it’s not broken, it’s shattered, same thing through spirit,” said Medina.
The speakers talked about their family members’ lives before they were lost, they explained the years long struggles of trying to get justice or even simply acknowledgment. They talked about the hurt and grief of losing their family members. One family shared about how their 18 year old daughter went missing four years ago and still they know nothing. A father, mother and sister have no idea what happened to her. They continue to fight for justice and nothing is being done. Another family spoke about a sister they lost over 20 years ago. They have proof for the perpetrator and try to get justice but law enforcement denies them. Medina says, “Our relatives everyday, they are still going missing, missing and murdered indigenous relatives. So right now what’s taking place in Sioux City is taking place nationwide, big cities in Arizona, all over the country, California, so everyone’s taking the time to reflect. I pray over for Creator God that he can bless us to put his loving arms around us here, that all these relatives can come home. But the sad reality is that they’re never going to come back, so we have to keep pushing on.”
Executive Director of the Red Sky Nation, Rachael Parker marched and spoke, leaving powerful impacts on the families present. Parker says, “I think that if people would just not look so much at the color of our skin, but look at us as human beings. The epidemic that it has presented is against our people. Just to carry over many years of colonialism, residential schools, assimilation, and so for our generation today, this is the end result of all of those years of going through what we have as Indian people.” Parker adds, “I think if people really had an understanding that our connection to the land and our connection to the culture is really what keeps us going and that’s what really makes us unique. I think that stereotypes and stigmas don’t accurately paint the picture and the power that our people hold.”
The rise of MMIP/R is an epidemic. Indigenous people, especially women and girls go missing and murdered 10x more than any other demographic. Just in 2024, 5,487 indigenous people were reported missing, and of those cases only 15% of them were solved, which doesn’t include the many cases that go unreported. 95% of cases do not get covered by mainstream media. This causes the majority of the public to not know what this epidemic is or that it exists. This is an increasing crisis. With the difficulty of blood quantum requirements for tribes, which are legal standards put in place by the government that require Indigenous people to have a certain percentage of native blood in order to enroll in tribes, less indigenous people are acknowledged in tribes which continue to thin out their population and culture.
With boarding schools and massacres, indigenous people, their language, and traditions are being destroyed and erased. Now with this increasing epidemic, their people continue to disappear. With this information in mind, please inform others about this crisis and by raising awareness to others. If you want to help more, participate in marches, donate to MMIP causes, read more information about indigenous people and this crisis and wear red. If you want to learn more about this crisis, visit the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons section in the Office for Victims of Crime.
