The Coretta Scott King Center is a space on the Antioch College campus for the promotion of teaching, discussion, and action for social justice. This mission is carried out through the day-to-day work of creating a welcoming space that is decorated with many powerful art pieces, but also through the planning of events to support our community and communities everywhere. Many of my personal goals align with the goal of the CSKC. In particular, to keep our communities safe, I believe we must keep them informed and educated.
This was one of the reasons I wanted to host an event in honor of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) during my co-op. On May 7th, 2025 the CSKC in collaboration with the Urban Native Collective (UNC) hosted its first MMIW walk on campus
When I brought the idea to Dr.Queen Zabriskie, the director of the CSKC, and explained that I wanted to host this event for the first time during Winter Term she was immediately supportive of me and helped me reach out to people at the UNC. When Spring Term finally came she scheduled a day where she and I drove down to the organization’s headquarters in Cincinnati in order to further plan the event. That day, we ended up staying much longer than we intended because of the lovely conversation we had with representatives of that organization. That day was very meaningful for me as an indigenous youth. It was as sacred as it was healing. When we left, we had an official plan.
The event took the form of a walk where those participating visit six different stops on campus that are marked by a red dress and posted information about different MMIW along the walk. I had thought for a while about just buying different red dresses for this event, but at the same time I wanted it to be more personal to honor these women and girls. I ended up deciding I was going to personally sew the dresses. The process was time consuming especially since they were hand sewn not using a sewing machine, but satisfying as I polished off my sewing skills. The dresses are made out of a water proof fabric so they could stay hung up even after the event ended.
I remember getting anxious right before the event about no one showing up, no one caring, this fear was quickly proven wrong as people slowly trickle in. When I was talking to people who showed up a woman came up and thanked me for doing this event. She then said she’s from the same tribe as Emily Pike, a 14 year old Native girl who was recently found dismembered on the side of the road, and knew her family. I can’t even describe how much it means to me that she was there. When we got to Emily Pike’s memorial she gave a personal account on the incident and told us about Emily as person not just a victim. She was a bright and bubbly girl who loved pink, hello kitty, and drawing. This event served as reminder to me of how every person is a universe, even if this system treat us like trash.
I could feel those girls with us, I could feel them at every stop. I could feel the land mourning their loss and honoring their lives that were taken far too soon. I hope that this becomes a tradition on campus, even when I graduate. The MMIW genocide is barely talked about especially on this level so I pray that we can keep this small way of honoring those we lost.
