"IT HURTS EVERY DAY."

Story Written by Cara Cowan Watts for Cherokee 411

Those are the words of a mother who buried her 24-year-old daughter. Destiny Jeriann Whiteman of Towaoc, murdered last August. Her son just turned 1.

This past weekend in Colorado Springs, dozens of Indigenous relatives marched under thunderous buffalo-skin drums for the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. Among the voices? Shay Arcella-Bohman — CHEROKEE AND SHAWNEE — who lost her mom to murder when she was just 17. She stepped to the microphone and sang "Orphan Child" IN CHEROKEE — the song she grew up singing as a child.

Let that sink in. A Cherokee woman, singing her grief in our language, for the relatives we keep losing.

THE NUMBERS: More than ONE Native person goes missing per week in Colorado 200+ Missing Indigenous Person Alerts issued since late 2022. At least 10 MMIR task forces across the country — most underfunded, understaffed, and stretched thin

"NO MORE STOLEN LIVES ON STOLEN LAND." That was the chant. And it should echo from Tahlequah to Cherokee, NC to Park Hill to every Cherokee household reading this.

This isn't somebody else's crisis. Cherokee citizens — from all THREE federally recognized tribes Cherokee Nation, EBCI, and UKB, live, work, marry, and raise families in every state in this country. When an Indigenous relative goes missing in Colorado, in Oklahoma, in North Carolina, in ANYWHERE — that's OUR relative.

QUESTIONS WORTH ASKING: Where is Cherokee Nation's coordination with state MMIR task forces outside Oklahoma? Does EBCI have a formal MMIR liaison for citizens living off the Qualla Boundary? Is UKB resourced to track and advocate for missing Keetoowah citizens nationwide? How many of OUR people are on those lists right now — and would we even know?

Say their names. Light a candle. Wear red. And demand more than awareness — demand ACTION, FUNDING, and ACCOUNTABILITY.

Full reporting by Cherokee Nation citizen Nancy Marie Spears for The Imprint / Global Indigenous Reporting Network / AP.

CHEROKEE 411 — UNFILTERED. INDEPENDENT. CHEROKEE.