IT’S A BITTER COLD MORNING IN IGNACIO, COLORADO, ON THE SOUTHERN UTE RESERVATION. COMMUNITY MEMBERS GATHER FOR A PRAYER WALK, RAISING AWARENESS AND HONORING LOVED ONES OF MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS RELATIVES. THIS WALK IS A POWERFUL REMINDER OF THE ONGOING CRISIS AFFECTING INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES, WITH MANY FAMILIES STILL WAITING FOR ANSWERS. TEN YEARS, FIVE YEARS, 20 YEARS AND THEY’RE STILL HOPING AND WAITING. DESPITE THE PASSAGE OF TIME, THE PAIN REMAINS FRESH AND THE PEOPLE, THE FAMILY ARE THE ONES WHO ARE HURTING THE MOST BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE THAT CLOSURE. ACCORDING TO COLORADO’S MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS RELATIVES ONLINE PORTAL, THERE ARE CURRENTLY 38 OPEN INVESTIGATIONS INVOLVING INDIGENOUS PEOPLE. SOME ARE MISSING PERSONS INVESTIGATIONS, BUT A MAJORITY OF THEM 27, ARE COLD CASE HOMICIDES. WOMEN ARE GOING MISSING AT AN RATES AND NO ONE IS LOOKING FOR THEM. ACROSS THE STATE, THE CRISIS SEEMS TO BE GROWING. ADVOCATES …
