(Riverton, WY) – Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives 307 (MMIR 307), a local missing and murdered Indigenous person (MMIP) advocacy/awareness group, marched down Riverton’s Main Street last Sunday, May 4, to once again remember and seek justice for those lost to the MMIP crisis.
Members of the Redrum Motorcycle Club, whose motto is “Spreading positivity on 2 wheels,” escorted dozens of marchers to City Park. Adorned in red, the attendees carried posters and flyers picturing their loved ones while they chanted, “No more. Stop the violence.”
After the group entered City Park, Elder Rupert “Ducky” Goggles recited the opening prayer, and Nicole Wagon from MMIR 307 gifted him a star quilt, made by Betty Matthews.
Donna Tropser, accompanied by Maleah C’Hair and Northern Arapaho Little Princess Taveah Glick, then read Governor Mark Gordon’s official proclamation declaring May 5 as Missing & Murdered Indigenous Persons Day of Awareness for the state of Wyoming.
Madison Miller, Ruth Friday, Jeffrey Headley, Cory Enos, Stephanie Grace Bearstail, Jocelyn Watt, Jade Wagon, Warren Jorgensen, Lene’a Brown and Clara Blackburn were just a few of the names/victims of the MMIP crisis that family members honored following the proclamation.
David Henrikson and Toni Brown from Casper were the first to address the crowd. They honored their daughter, Lene’a Brown, a young Northern Arapaho girl who would have been celebrating her birthday the same day as the march.
“I miss her, and I hope to spread awareness,” Henrikson told attendees. “Maybe talk to your kids, know your kid’s intentions, know your child’s whereabouts; I think we all hold a responsibility for our youth, I truly do.”
“Pay attention and take it seriously if there’s something wrong,” Brown said as she fought back tears.
“We stand with you today, you’re not alone,” Wagon told Brown’s family before gifting them sage wrapped in a handkerchief. Arapaho Eagle Drum then performed a Birthday Song for Lene’a.
Cassandra Burson then spoke on behalf of her father, Warren Jorgensen, who was murdered in April 2024, in a case that just recently saw a change of plea from the perpetrator and a subsequent sentencing hearing date being set. Burson shared the following words that she wrote after sitting through the week-long jury trial in her father’s case.
“I chose my dad. And I will choose him in every lifetime. He was not homeless. This is his home. He was born here. He struggled here and he suffered here. Flashes of photos, in the back of my mind. His fragile body. The wear and tear these years had on him. Trying to survive in a colonized world not meant for him to thrive. Land knows him. Ancestral lands claim him. Community claims him. We claim him. His ties and connection to the land that leads to our Shoshone ancestors who cared and tended this land for thousands years of years, just as they nourished and cared for earth together. The burial was life-giving, regenerative, and reciprocal. I see his smile. I hear his laugh. In many of our dreams, his Warren J humor lives on in spirit, safe from harm. Ancestors got him.”
Burson later read the following passage from the book “Restoring the Kinship Worldview.”
“What it means to be a good relative not only with each other, but through all beings and everything we do. Looking beyond those immediately involved, Indigenous people tend to interpret those actions less individualistically and more as signs of imbalances within the community as a whole. Imbalances that affect everyone. In this sense, offenders help the community by drawing attention to imbalances. Their actions tell us that the essential fabric of the community is starting to unravel and needs mending. Instead of placing all the blame on the offender, our traditions acknowledge that everyone in the community has played some role in the patterns that culminated in hurtful actions. Responsibilities for harms are distributed and shared.”
“We stand here in solidarity with our missing and murdered indigenous relatives,” Wagon later commented. “This is what it’s about, the movement.”
Wagon then gave Burson wrapped sage and presented her with a ribbon skirt that the MMIP Billings group gifted to her in solidarity.
“The tears may flow, but they’re not gonna blind us,” Wagon commented. “We’re gonna keep pushing, picking each other up, move forward, and never give up on hope.”
“One word I don’t care for, is closure,” Wagon later stated. “We never received closure. We miss them every day. Every holiday. Remember them. Their lives counted and mattered. We matter.”
The event then culminated in two versions of a Memorial song and dance, followed by the closing Round Dance, courtesy of the Arapaho Eagle Drum.
MMIR 307 shared the following shout-out post to thank everyone involved in this year’s March.