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Advocates strive to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women in the US and Canada

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Advocates strive to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women in the US and Canada

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This story was produced in collaboration with Al Jazeera's Fault Lines and was supported by a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network.
Tina Russell drives along one of the main roads in Kent, Washington, about a half hour south of Seattle. She's taking me to the place where her niece, Alyssa McLemore, used to live. We speed down a street neatly lined with suburban-style homes when we make a right turn.

She points to a peach house with Christmas lights hanging in the window.

It's not far from where Alyssa McLemore was last seen before she went missing - a busy intersection with an entrance to state Route 167 and Interstate Highway 5 - which connects California, Oregon and Washington. It's here that a witness saw Alyssa McLemore talking to a man in a green truck with out-of-state plates.
Related: Vancouver Whitecaps accused of mishandling abuse allegations against former coach
It's been 10 years since 21-year-old Alyssa McLemore disappeared, but Russell hasn't given up trying to find her. She keeps flyers with Alyssa McLemore's picture tucked in a backseat pocket of her SUV, so she can hand them out at events, fairs or wherever lots of people gather. She never stops hoping someone might have seen her.

"My family needs to heal," Russell said, wiping away tears.

"Somebody knows something, and we just need them to come forward. It can be email. It can be, you know, anonymously, or whatever. Just come forward. It's 10 years; our family is still suffering."

Tina Russell

"Somebody knows something, and we just need them to come forward. It can be email. It can be, you know, anonymously, or whatever. Just come forward. It's 10 years; our family is still suffering."

Alyssa McLemore, a member of the Aleut tribe, is one of the thousands of Native American women nationwide who have gone missing or been murdered over the past few decades. It's difficult to know the exact number, but the rate of violence against Native women is disproportionately high in the US and Canada. Advocates and activists in the Native community have been raising awareness, saying cases aren't taken seriously and families continue to suffer because of racism and years of being ignored by law enforcement who should investigate these crimes.

A few days before Alyssa McLemore disappeared, her grandmother, Barbara McLemore, called her to come home - Alyssa McLemore's mother, Gracie McLemore, was dying.

"In all the years her mom was sick, she might go away for like, a few hours," said a soft-spoken Barbara McLemore from Russell's living room. "But, she was always there. ... She wouldn't just go somewhere and not show up. She might be late, but she'd be there."
Related: A UN resolution condemning sexual violence against women should've been uncontroversial
Alyssa McLemore never came home. Her mother died three days later.

It was a chaotic time, and the family isn't clear on when a missing person's report was filed. Russell says she contacted the police. But Alyssa McLemore was 21, an adult, and the local Kent police department said they couldn't do anything for 24 hours. But when a 911 call came that week from Alyssa McLemore's phone pleading for help, police say, they opened an investigation. So far, Russell says, it's yielded few clues and little action.

Anytime she hears about a death on the news, she gets a sick feeling.

"Every single time there's a body found on the news, there's a pause. It's literally like you're dead for a moment because you have to wonder, 'Is it Alyssa?' I think I've called the coroner more than anybody should in a lifetime."

Tina Russell

"Every single time there's a body found on the news, there's a pause. It's literally like you're dead for a moment because you have to wonder, 'Is it Alyssa?' I think I've called the coroner more than anybody should in a lifetime."

Over the border in British Columbia, Lorelei Williams' family has a similar story. Lorelei Williams is a member of the Skatin Nation on her mom's side and Sts'ailes on her dad's. She's part of a dance group called Butterflies in Spirit, which performs to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women. She also works for the Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Center, where she is the women's coordinator.
Related: This Canadian TV show wants to address racism. Some Indigenous people say it's doing more harm than good.
Lorelei Williams' family in Vancouver is still looking for her aunt, Belinda Williams, who is from the Skatin Nation. She went missing 41 years ago - two years before Lorelei Williams was born. Lorelei Williams says authorities didn't open a missing person's report until 2004. She's not sure why, but a Vancouver newspaper says it coincided with the arrest of a notorious serial killer, Robert Pinkton. Lorelei Williams says the fact that authorities ignored her aunt's case for years reflects racism within all areas of law enforcement.

"It's all these systems ... that are against Indigenous women and girls, and that's why predators know that they can target us," she said.

Lorelei Williams had a cousin, Tanya Holyk, also from the Skatin Nation, who disappeared in 1996. The family later learned that she was murdered by Pickton. Her DNA was found on his farm. Lorelei Williams says at first, Vancouver police didn't take Holyk's disappearance seriously, either. One officer was especially dismissive.
Related: Can First Nations Court stop Indigenous women from ending up in prison?
"She said horrible things. She said stuff like, 'She's just a drug addict; she's just partying in Mexico probably. Nobody cares about her,' and she actually told my aunt to go try to figure things out and then come back and report her [missing] again," said Lorelei Williams.

Which meant no one was looking for her in the critical first days she went missing.

Provincial authorities later acknowledged failures in the Pickton investigation. And they launched an inquiry to determine what went wrong.

That's not the only inquiry Canada has undergone. In 2016, Canada launched what's known as the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, interviewing more than 2,000 families. But many, like Lorelei Williams, are skeptical that much will come of it.

The inquiry's mandate is to look into what's behind Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit (or LGBTQ) people going missing. One of the goals is to create a way to collect data on how many Indigenous women are going missing or being murdered. Currently, data collection neglects cultural or racial identity and gender diversity.

Lorelei Williams and others cite some of the same problems Indigenous communities in the US face - especially a lack of trust in law enforcement. Families say they were given the impression that their loved ones who were murdered or have gone missing were disposable. That's certainly how Lorelei Williams feels: "And it really is so heartbreaking that, you know, this is our country. These are our lands, and our women are going missing and being murdered at a high rate and our own mountains are not our own territories like across the board in Canada and in the states."

"And it really is so heartbreaking that, you know, this is our country. These are our lands, and our women are going missing and being murdered at a high rate and our own mountains are not our own territories like across the board in Canada and in the states."

Lorelei Williams

It's not just lack of attention. Another issue in solving these cases is the lack of hard data.

Government agencies don't have comprehensive data on how many people in the US are missing.

"We can't solve [what] we don't check. We can't prevent violence that we don't bother to pay attention to," said Annita Lucchesi, who is Cheyenne.

Lucchesi says it seemed like no one was keeping track of these missing and murdered women. So, she figured she would. Lucchesi spoke from Berkeley, California, at the launch of the Sovereign Bodies Institute, which gathers data on gender and sexual violence against Indigenous people. She's the executive director. She says the more she looked at what records were available, the more she realized how incomplete they were. Especially when it came to race.

"I couldn't afford Wi-Fi. So, I was working out of coffee shops," Lucchesi said.

"And I was sitting at a Panera, and I really thought someone had created this list. So, we assume, 'Surely someone is doing something about it.' [But] what I assumed was there wasn't [there]. And I was so frustrated."

Her work at Sovereign Bodies began as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women database. The more she looked at what records were available on missing Indigenous women, the more she realized how incomplete they were.

"Many law enforcement agencies still don't track race at all or don't include a signifier for Native American with any options," she said. "They'll just do like white, black, Hispanic, Asian and then many of the cases that do get logged into systems are misclassified because the officer looked at someone and assumed or didn't enter the information in and the system defaults to white."

The database now includes more than 5,000 names - a few going back to the early 20th century, though most are from the past 20 years.

Lucchesi says she filed numerous records requests with law enforcement agencies across the United States. She also keeps track of missing women in Canada. The database now includes more than 5,000 names - a few going back to the early 20th century, though most are from the past 20 years. She says that number is an undercount.

Lucchesi says the database is a keeper of names. But it's also data about Native women and girls collected by Native women and girls. And that in itself is powerful. She calls it "data sovereignty."

She says she grew tired of hearing people say they didn't know how to fix these problems.

"So, it becomes this excuse for people that just kind of throw their hands in the air and just say, 'I don't know, I don't know,'" Lucchesi said.

"But that's not good enough anymore. So, that's the work of the database; that's the work of Sovereign Bodies Institute is to say, 'We're not going to throw our hands in the air anymore.'"

Often when Native women go missing, she says, there is a lot of victim blaming. She says some Native women were labeled by police as sex workers putting themselves in harm's way.

"They didn't consent to live under colonial occupation; they didn't consent to have their nation and their community be displaced and experience all of this horrific violence."

Annita Lucchesi, executive director, Soverign Bodies Institute

"They didn't consent to live under colonial occupation; they didn't consent to have their nation and their community be displaced and experience all of this horrific violence," Lucchesi said.

"So, the very way we think about these women and the choices they make is very victim blaming."

Lack of attention or lack of data is just one problem that prevents missing and murdered cases from being solved. In the United States, there's also the issue of jurisdiction.

When it comes to most violent crimes, tribes lack the authority to prosecute, with the exception of domestic violence.

It's federal agencies like the FBI that prosecute those crimes.

And, that's a problem, says Sarah Deer. She's a citizen of the Mvscogee (Creek) Nation, a lawyer and an advocate for Native women who are survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse.

"I think that federal Indian law has really worked as a patchwork of different laws that kind of almost contradict each other at times, which makes everything very confusing for all involved. And so, sometimes when a crime is reported in Indian country, again depending on where you are, there is no action because everyone is in disagreement about who should be in charge. And so nobody acts at all," Deer said.

The problem goes back more than a century and has to do with the Major Crimes Act, which was passed in 1885 as part of the Indian Appropriations Act. It places certain crimes under federal jurisdiction if they are committed on a reservation.

"So, if a Native woman goes missing from a reservation and there's any instinct that she's been kidnapped or assaulted or has been the victim of homicide, technically, if that happens within the territory of the tribal nation, the federal government would have that authority to come in and investigate them. And eventually, if possible, prosecute the offender. Historically, what tribal nations have all complained about is that even though the federal government has the authority, sometimes they don't respond at all."

And when they don't respond, families end up waiting for years for answers.

Meskee Yatsayte and her husband wanted to do something about the crisis of missing and murdered Navajo women and men. Yatsayte is a Navajo Nation citizen who volunteers for the Navajo Nation Missing Persons Updates. On the first Saturday of the month, she and her husband park their trucks on a main street in Gallup, New Mexico. Their trucks are plastered with banners that contain the faces of those who've gone missing or been murdered.

They're hoping someone happening by will recognize the faces pictured or drop a clue.

Even though it's a cold and windy day with rain clouds looming overhead, Yatsayte remains committed to giving justice to these families. She points to a few people on the banner. One of them is Leland Tso, a Navajo man and father of three. Yatsayte says Navajo men are also going missing and murdered. And she says their families deserve some peace.

Tiara Shorty, who is also a Navajo Nation citizen and is Tso's niece, says her family is heartbroken over his murder. "He was the glue that kept everyone together," Shorty said. "He knew what was going on. What events were going on. He knew people's birthdays; he knew numbers by heart."

Tso was last seen on July 4, 2016, in Wheatfields, Arizona, where Shorty's family is from. Witnesses say he was getting into a white truck in Navajo, New Mexico, on his way back to Wheatfields. His body was found in a "wash," a shallow creek, by a family having a picnic.

When they first got the call that Tso's body was found, Shorty says, her mom thought it was a joke and hung up on officer Ernest Yazzie, who is currently investigating the case. Tso's body was found on the reservation, and so far, there have been few clues as to what happened. They've set up a hotline and offered a reward, but so far, few leads have materialized.

Shorty knows the Navajo Nation police is short-staffed, but she is grateful for what has been done on her uncle's case. She remains committed to getting justice for him.

In the past few years, several states have passed legislation to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women. And Savanna's Act, named for Savanna La Fontaine-Greywind, who was killed in North Dakota in 2017, has been reintroduced in Congress to set guidelines for law enforcement agencies investigating missing Indigenous women. In Canada, Lorelei Williams plans to travel to Ottawa next month to hear the conclusions of the National Inquiry. But she's not sure how much comfort it will bring her family.

"My family has been broken apart. It's never been the same," said Lorelei Williams.

As for Russell, who still carries flyers with photos of her niece Alyssa McLemore, she says her family is frozen in time.

"We don't know what happened so we can't begin to heal. Life goes on, but like I said, we're just putting a Band-Aid over something that is really a stitcher's job. You know, until we find Alyssa and bring her home, it's going to cause generational trauma."

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Advocates strive to raise awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women in the US and Canada

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It's been called an epidemic that has gone on for generations. Indigenous women, disappearing in both the US and Canada. Until the last few years, the public has paid little attention to their stories. But the families of these missing and murdered women are demanding to be heard - and counted.

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Women risk their lives on a daily basis to provide water for their communities. Access to clean water and sanitation for all must be achieved by 2030. You can join us and take action on this issue here.
When a young girl or woman spends most of her day collecting water for her family or looking for a place to use the bathroom, she can't fit much else into her schedule.

Women collectively spend 200 million hours per day finding and collecting water, which puts them at risk of sexual abuse, disease, and missing out on school.

"This time-consuming process leaves little time for education or income-generating activities, exacerbating existing issues of poverty and gender inequities," Heidi Rickels, executive director of the organization Freshwater Project International, told Global Citizen.
Take Action: How Much Do You Know About The World's Most Vital Resource?
World Water Day is March 22, when everyday people and activists are coming together to leave no one behind in the effort to guarantee safe, clean water for all. Fetching water is one of the many chores that fall on women because of genderd norms and traditions. Marginalized communities, including people with disabilities, refugees, and women, are often discriminated against the most while trying to secure the basic necessity. Pregnant women without water access are especially vulnerable - they can suffer infections and pass them on to their children.

"Empowering women is critical to solving the water crisis," Rosemary Gudelj, senior adviser of public affairs at the nonprofit organization Water.org, told Global Citizen.

Using social media or attending local advocacy events are just a couple of ways to educate each other on the world water crisis, a spokesperson at Water Mission, an organization implementing safe water solutions around the world, told Global Citizen.

If you want more ideas for how to take action, here are six women working on the crisis who you should know.

1. Georgie Badiel

Fashion model Georgie Badiel spent three hours fetching water as a young girl in Burkina Faso, where almost half the country lives without clean water, she told Forbes. When her sister became pregnant and still needed to wake up in the middle of night to get water, she was inspired to do something about it.

Badiel launched the Georgie Badiel Foundation in 2015, which has made water accessible to over 100,000 people by building wells in local communities in Burkina Faso. The foundation also trains women to restore wells in their communities and educates students on menstrual hygiene management. In 2016, Badiel also co-wrote the educational children's book The Water Princes about her experience growing up without clean drinking water.

"Right now my biggest dream is to provide access to clean water to every person in my country Burkina Faso. I created this social project Georgie Water that will give back to the cause," Badiel told Forbes.

2. Stella Bowles

A school science project led Stella Bowles to test water samples from LaHave River in Nova Scotia, Canada, where she was always told she couldn't swim, according to Green Matters. The 14-year-old found fecal matter and didn't understand why straight pipes, which dump water from home toilets into waterways, were being used. Bowles posted her discovery on Facebook and put up signs near the river notifying her community. Her efforts garnered national attention and prompted the government to announce a $15.7 million in funding to clean up the river.
Read More: American Photographer Mustafah Abdulaziz Highlights Global Water Crisis in Pictures
"I hope it can show them that your age shouldn't put a limit on what you can do," Bowles told CBC. "Age is just a number."

Bowles' book My River: Cleaning Up the LaHave River, which she co-wrote about her experiences, comes out in September 2019.

3. Autumn Peltier

Autumn Peltier, 13-year-old water advocate from the Anishinaabe tribe of Canada, addresses the event to launch the International Decade for Action titled "Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028."
Autumn Peltier, 13-year-old water advocate from the Anishinaabe tribe of Canada, addresses the event to launch the International Decade for Action titled "Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028."
Image: Manuel Elias/UN Photo

Autumn Peltier started educating the public on why many Indigenous people living in Canada lack access to clean water at a young age. Inspired by her aunt, who walked the Great Lakes educating people on water conservation and Indigenous water rights, the teen started talking at community events about the importance of protecting Canada's water at just 8 years old, according to the BBC.

After advocating for water protection at the UN General Assembly, and meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Peltier isn't slowing down anytime soon. The 2016 International Children's Peace Prize nominee told the BBC, "I want to be prime minister or minister of environment."

4. Ramona Kasavan

Growing up in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Ramona Kasavan saw how menstruation stops people from going to school and working because they lack access to menstrual hygiene education, hand washing facilities, and waste management. When people don't have access to clean water and soap, they can't manage their periods safely and with dignity and become susceptible to disease. Kasavan wanted to prevent young girls and women from entering child marriages, suffering violence and health complications, and living in poverty. Kasavan launched the sanitary pad and menstrual health education company Mimi in 2013 to empower girls.

"The problem was about creating accessibility and that's what the business does," she told Global Citizen.

In several rural communities in South Africa, 56% of water carriers are women, who miss out on work while carrying out the task. The company gives women in disadvantaged areas the opportunity to build sustainability and sell Mimi sanitary pads. Mimi's low-cost sanitary pads have also helped 32,500 girls go to school.

#loveyourwork ❤️ pic.twitter.com/fXOWQn2Yhm
- Ramona Kasavan (@RamonaKasavan) March 1, 2019

5. Varshini Prakash

Varshshini Prakash grew up in Boston, but her grandparents are from Chennai, India. In 2015, Chennai's highest rainfall caused a massive flood - and flooding, when exacerbated by climate change, is making water availability less predictable. While an undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Prakash became involved in the climate movement.

"My nightmares are full of starving children and land that is too sick to bear food, of water that poisons that which it should heal, and of seas that are ever more creeping on our shores," she said during a speech she gave at a climate change protest in Washington, DC, in 2018, according to the New Yorker.

Prakash co-founded the Sunrise Movement that year to protect environmental resources like water, and air by promoting solar energy and creating sustainable jobs. The youth organization has raised less than a million dollars since it started and is currently advocating for the Green New Deal, a policy which proposes to keep public water clean by reducing greenhouse gases, and restoring waterways.

6. Mari Copeny

Eight-year-old Mari Copeny known as "Little Miss Flint" waves as she is acknowledged by President Barack Obama at Flint Northwestern High School in Flint, Mich., May 4, 2016.
Eight-year-old Mari Copeny known as "Little Miss Flint" waves as she is acknowledged by President Barack Obama at Flint Northwestern High School in Flint, Mich., May 4, 2016.
Image: Carolyn Kaster/AP

At the age of 10, Mari Copeny wrote a letter to US President Barack Obama, requesting a meeting to discuss the Flint water crisis. Lead piping has caused a deadly water crisis since 2014 in Flint, Michigan. Obama went to visit Copeny's hometown, where nearly 100,000 residents of the majority-black, low-income population were exposed to dangerously high lead levels in the water. Humanitarian crises like Flint disrupt the schooling of 75 million children, but Copeny wants to see her peers continue their educations.

"Anyone can change the world no matter how small you are," she told Fortune.

Since meeting Obama, Caponey has donated more than 1,000 backpacks and school supplies to children in her city using the hashtag #PackYourBackChallenge. The campaign paved the way for Caponey to land the role as the youngest Women's March Youth Ambassador, and work with the Nations' Girl Up Initiative.

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6 Young Women Fighting for Water Access Around the World

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Fetching water is one of the many chores that fall on women because of gendered norms and traditions. These 6 young women are fighting for water access.

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from "Our Democracy and the American Indian"

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from "Our Democracy and the American Indian"

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"My heart has not ached through the mountains in vain."

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Women risk their lives on a daily basis to provide water for their communities. Access to clean water and sanitation for all must be achieved by 2030. You can join us and take action on this issue here.
When a young girl or woman spends most of her day collecting water for her family or looking for a place to use the bathroom, she can't fit much else into her schedule.

Women collectively spend 200 million hours per day finding and collecting water, which puts them at risk of sexual abuse, disease, and missing out on school.

"This time-consuming process leaves little time for education or income-generating activities, exacerbating existing issues of poverty and gender inequities," Heidi Rickels, executive director of the organization Freshwater Project International, told Global Citizen.
Take Action: How Much Do You Know About The World's Most Vital Resource?
World Water Day is March 22, when everyday people and activists are coming together to leave no one behind in the effort to guarantee safe, clean water for all. Fetching water is one of the many chores that fall on women because of genderd norms and traditions. Marginalized communities, including people with disabilities, refugees, and women, are often discriminated against the most while trying to secure the basic necessity. Pregnant women without water access are especially vulnerable - they can suffer infections and pass them on to their children.

"Empowering women is critical to solving the water crisis," Rosemary Gudelj, senior adviser of public affairs at the nonprofit organization Water.org, told Global Citizen.

Using social media or attending local advocacy events are just a couple of ways to educate each other on the world water crisis, a spokesperson at Water Mission, an organization implementing safe water solutions around the world, told Global Citizen.

If you want more ideas for how to take action, here are six women working on the crisis who you should know.

1. Georgie Badiel

Fashion model Georgie Badiel spent three hours fetching water as a young girl in Burkina Faso, where almost half the country lives without clean water, she told Forbes. When her sister became pregnant and still needed to wake up in the middle of night to get water, she was inspired to do something about it.

Badiel launched the Georgie Badiel Foundation in 2015, which has made water accessible to over 100,000 people by building wells in local communities in Burkina Faso. The foundation also trains women to restore wells in their communities and educates students on menstrual hygiene management. In 2016, Badiel also co-wrote the educational children's book The Water Princes about her experience growing up without clean drinking water.

"Right now my biggest dream is to provide access to clean water to every person in my country Burkina Faso. I created this social project Georgie Water that will give back to the cause," Badiel told Forbes.

2. Stella Bowles

A school science project led Stella Bowles to test water samples from LaHave River in Nova Scotia, Canada, where she was always told she couldn't swim, according to Green Matters. The 14-year-old found fecal matter and didn't understand why straight pipes, which dump water from home toilets into waterways, were being used. Bowles posted her discovery on Facebook and put up signs near the river notifying her community. Her efforts garnered national attention and prompted the government to announce a $15.7 million in funding to clean up the river.
Read More: American Photographer Mustafah Abdulaziz Highlights Global Water Crisis in Pictures
"I hope it can show them that your age shouldn't put a limit on what you can do," Bowles told CBC. "Age is just a number."

Bowles' book My River: Cleaning Up the LaHave River, which she co-wrote about her experiences, comes out in September 2019.

3. Autumn Peltier

Autumn Peltier, 13-year-old water advocate from the Anishinaabe tribe of Canada, addresses the event to launch the International Decade for Action titled "Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028."
Autumn Peltier, 13-year-old water advocate from the Anishinaabe tribe of Canada, addresses the event to launch the International Decade for Action titled "Water for Sustainable Development 2018-2028."
Image: Manuel Elias/UN Photo

Autumn Peltier started educating the public on why many Indigenous people living in Canada lack access to clean water at a young age. Inspired by her aunt, who walked the Great Lakes educating people on water conservation and Indigenous water rights, the teen started talking at community events about the importance of protecting Canada's water at just 8 years old, according to the BBC.

After advocating for water protection at the UN General Assembly, and meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Peltier isn't slowing down anytime soon. The 2016 International Children's Peace Prize nominee told the BBC, "I want to be prime minister or minister of environment."

4. Ramona Kasavan

Growing up in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Ramona Kasavan saw how menstruation stops people from going to school and working because they lack access to menstrual hygiene education, hand washing facilities, and waste management. When people don't have access to clean water and soap, they can't manage their periods safely and with dignity and become susceptible to disease. Kasavan wanted to prevent young girls and women from entering child marriages, suffering violence and health complications, and living in poverty. Kasavan launched the sanitary pad and menstrual health education company Mimi in 2013 to empower girls.

"The problem was about creating accessibility and that's what the business does," she told Global Citizen.

In several rural communities in South Africa, 56% of water carriers are women, who miss out on work while carrying out the task. The company gives women in disadvantaged areas the opportunity to build sustainability and sell Mimi sanitary pads. Mimi's low-cost sanitary pads have also helped 32,500 girls go to school.

#loveyourwork ❤️ pic.twitter.com/fXOWQn2Yhm
- Ramona Kasavan (@RamonaKasavan) March 1, 2019

5. Varshini Prakash

Varshshini Prakash grew up in Boston, but her grandparents are from Chennai, India. In 2015, Chennai's highest rainfall caused a massive flood - and flooding, when exacerbated by climate change, is making water availability less predictable. While an undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Prakash became involved in the climate movement.

"My nightmares are full of starving children and land that is too sick to bear food, of water that poisons that which it should heal, and of seas that are ever more creeping on our shores," she said during a speech she gave at a climate change protest in Washington, DC, in 2018, according to the New Yorker.

Prakash co-founded the Sunrise Movement that year to protect environmental resources like water, and air by promoting solar energy and creating sustainable jobs. The youth organization has raised less than a million dollars since it started and is currently advocating for the Green New Deal, a policy which proposes to keep public water clean by reducing greenhouse gases, and restoring waterways.

6. Mari Copeny

Eight-year-old Mari Copeny known as "Little Miss Flint" waves as she is acknowledged by President Barack Obama at Flint Northwestern High School in Flint, Mich., May 4, 2016.
Eight-year-old Mari Copeny known as "Little Miss Flint" waves as she is acknowledged by President Barack Obama at Flint Northwestern High School in Flint, Mich., May 4, 2016.
Image: Carolyn Kaster/AP

At the age of 10, Mari Copeny wrote a letter to US President Barack Obama, requesting a meeting to discuss the Flint water crisis. Lead piping has caused a deadly water crisis since 2014 in Flint, Michigan. Obama went to visit Copeny's hometown, where nearly 100,000 residents of the majority-black, low-income population were exposed to dangerously high lead levels in the water. Humanitarian crises like Flint disrupt the schooling of 75 million children, but Copeny wants to see her peers continue their educations.

"Anyone can change the world no matter how small you are," she told Fortune.

Since meeting Obama, Caponey has donated more than 1,000 backpacks and school supplies to children in her city using the hashtag #PackYourBackChallenge. The campaign paved the way for Caponey to land the role as the youngest Women's March Youth Ambassador, and work with the Nations' Girl Up Initiative.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
6 Young Women Fighting for Water Access Around the World

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fetching water is one of the many chores that fall on women because of gendered norms and traditions. These 6 young women are fighting for water access.

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Inez Jasper - Native American Activist/Musician

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Inez Jasper - Native American Activist/Musician

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inez singsoulgirl jasper sto:lo stolo strong

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Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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Rebel Music | Native America: 7th Generation Rises (Full Episode) | MTV

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https://seedingsovereignty.org/

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"Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind. Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger? Know that you yourself are essential to this world. Understand both the blessing and the burden of that. You yourself are desperately needed to save the soul of this world. Did you think you were put here for something less? In a Sacred Hoop of Life, there is no beginning and no ending"

- -- Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nations

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The International Indigenous Youth Council (IIYC) aspires to inspire young individuals to build bridges of solidarity and become leaders of their communities.

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When her white parents were killed, Oatman was taken in by the Mojave tribe, who tattooed her in traditional religious rites to ensure passage into the afterlife.

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Our democracy and the American Indian: a comprehensive presentation of the Indian situation as it is today by Laura Cornelius Kellogg

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Our democracy and the American Indian: a comprehensive presentation of the Indian situation as it is today by Laura Cornelius Kellogg

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pg 32: "Where are the sons of the men who bled for Liberty - I hear a cry from the fastnesses of the wilderness. I see the fires over the tops of the mountains. Bring me the buckskin robe embroidered in the art of the people I love. Bring me the eagle plume that stands for vision and valor. I want to be with the fraternity, for it is very dark before the dawn - and tomorrow emancipation. "

Does this remind you of any other speeches/calls to action?

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Indigenous Activist, Musician, Educator, Writer

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Indigenous Activist, Musician, Educator, Writer

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"But what shall I say I say to you now, Americans of my America?"

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"But what shall I say I say to you now, Americans of my America?"

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Laura Cornelius Kellogg

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Constitution and by-laws of National Council of American Indians

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Constitution and by-laws of National Council of American Indians

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Why do think "active members" had to be Native American while "associate members" were non-native? Does this connect to the currently popular idea of "allies"?

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Hawaiian activist who worked to teach and promote traditional Native culture.

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Life Story: Mary Kawena Pukui, 1895-1986

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Life Story: Mary Kawena Pukui (1895-1986) The Kumu (or source) of Traditional Hawaiian Language and Culture The story of a woman whose Hawaiian heritage inspired her to resist Americanization and dedicate her career to cultural preservation.

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https://wams.nyhistory.org/modernizing-america/xenophobia-and-racism/zitkala-sa/