Not Invisible: Advocates for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Asked for Justice Outside Humboldt County Courthouse Yesterday Evening
Two young activists march near the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office on September 9. The event was organized by the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) group in Humboldt County. [All photos by Kris Nagel]
Nearly 150 demonstrators held up portraits of missing and murdered indigenous peoples such as Virgil Bussell Junior, Nick Vigil, Khadijah Britton, Jules Tripp, and many others. Several protesters held signs with portraits of Tawny James, the 32-year-old Humboldt County woman of Yurok and Karuk ancestry, whose death is considered suspicious by many in her community.
Several of the protesters had a red handprint painted over their mouths, a symbol of MMIW movement, that Armstrong said represented the silence of the missing and murdered and the voice the protestors hoped to give them.
A 2020 research project entitled the “The Year 1 Project Report on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirit People of Northern California” concluded 1 in 5 of California’s missing or murdered indigenous women are from Humboldt County.
Lydia West, a member of Oklahoma’s Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes and MMIW activist, traveled to Eureka from her residence in Lake County to join last night’s demonstration. Armstrong and West are collaborating to encourage local law enforcement, and ideally, the State of California, to establish a task force dedicated to solving these disappearances and homicides that disproportionately affect the native populations. West also described efforts to work with tribal leaders across Northern California to call for the establishment of these task forces.
Using GoFundMe, Armstrong is currently seeking donations that assist with transportation to “search efforts for missing Humboldt County cases.”
Reflecting on last night’s demonstration, West expressed gratitude for the families of the missing and murdered who showed up en masse to speak for themselves and their loved ones. West described the gathering as an important step in healing and closure for families still seeking justice.
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- Cody Collins holds a sign that reads, “Justice 4 Our People.” He was part of a large crowd of activists hoping to bring attention to the missing and murdered indigenous people in Humboldt County.
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- Lydia West asked for a task forced dedicated to solving these disappearances. West is an organizer with the MMIW group based in Oklahoma and lives in Lake County.
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- Michele Patino (top right), Aliyah Conrad (front), and Fawn Bussell hold signs near the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office reminding the community of Virgil Bussel who was reported missing this March after his family discovered his abandoned truck.
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- Jesse Armstrong, organizer with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) group in Humboldt, wears a red handprint painted over his mouth which is a symbol of the MMIP movement.
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- Children and adults hold signs facing traffic on 4th Street in Eureka.
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- Hunter Irvin (front), brother of Tawny May holds a sign remembering Andrea Jerri Chick White who went missing in 1991.
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- Veronica Jones holds signs asking for justice for those who are missing or murdered.
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Good luck the Humboldt county sheriff’s and the supervisors are too busy ILLEGALLY and UNCONSTITUTIONALY robbing and extorting everyone. There’s no $$$$$$$$ in being real police officers.
Murder bbllaaaa, where’s the tens of thousands to be stolen in that ????
Are you kidding? The police need assistance from people, aka witnesses, to come forward. Some of you people need to grow up, and move out of your parents!
are you suggesting that HCSO hasn’t been involved in corrupt/illegal practices beyond the dubious-but-legal practices of civil asset forfeiture? are you suggesting that they haven’t been actively a part of the “black market” cannabis industry for decades? did you forget the whole coroner’s office/stealing from the dead debacle?
sure, they need witnesses to come forward. they also need to put their resources into those investigations, and in building trust with communities so those witnesses might think it worth coming forward. but it’s common knowledge as far as i can tell that HCSO has been some kind of dirty since always and still is, even if there are officers that genuinely care and try to do the best work that they can.
Lay down with dogs, get up with fleas. Can anyone deal constantly wth greedy people who make and sell drugs outside of the law and not end up with contempt for them and the damage they do? Is it not inevitable that, after hearing the same excuses, accusations and rationalizations base on self interest, they might no longer care about them?
I Agree
This land was stolen.
Not by me or anyone I know
and yet one can be arrested for the purchase and possession of stolen property. hmmm… almost like the property is the crux of the matter, not the mechanism by which the property was originally taken.
Which is true everywhere and is used by every one all the time. Even Tribal territory became and stayed tribal territory by unpeaceful means.
Mexico was paid for it after the US conquered them. If you or Mexico want it back it’s going to be costly.
half your brain cells were stolen
when the white man came, is when shit got crazy and life was out of order… stolen lives on stolen land and we will get justice
thanks to all who participated! I look forward to seeing progress made on this problem…it’s about time.
Thanks for the encouragement! We have hopes to get a bill passed similar to “Ida’s Law” in Oklahoma.
The bill would establish a special liaison and task force within the California to help with jurisdictional issues that arise between the state and federal agents when crimes occur on and off tribal land. It will also give our state law enforcement in real time with statistics and physical descriptions of the indigenous person(s) missing. I am hoping to work with the northern California tribal communities and governments to gain their support and input.
Thank you for your work. Focusing on solutions is very important and so hard to do when there is so much pain. Blessings.
Thank you for positive encouraging words!
yess
So there’s 1 MMIW?
There are thousands of MMIW, this was just a few of the missing and murdered. This year there are Indigenous men disappearing and being murdered at an alarming rate here locally and there is no one searching for them except their families. Indigenous Women are disappearing all over the United States along with children. This was a peaceful protest to bring awareness.
Got it! Do natives think white people are coming to the Rez and doing these things? Why are they protesting our government for things that are happening on the Rez by other natives?
you could hop on google to find these things out, nick. but i’ll give you the gist: yes, there are serious issues with white folks going onto reservations and otherwise targeting native folks. specifically, where there are work crews that travel to remote places for weeks-to-months. when big development projects come thru and there’s a sudden influx of dozens to hundreds of out-of-town workers, native women suffer and cops typically do little-to-nothing about it because it’s not politically expedient to interfere in the economic endeavors of the people that essentially run the police departments.
there’s more than that, of course. like i said, hop on google. there’s even a wikipedia article on the topic.
But if a protest is held, the object is to get information out there. If you think that information is needed, provide it. There are complications similar to this https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/despite-tribes-objections-navajo-man-scheduled-to-be-executed-at-terre-haute/ar-BB18nSJT to consider- there are different standards on what is justice between Tribes and non Tribes. “Our justice system is based on life – Iiná – that is sacred and must be protected. “We therefore condemn murder and abhor the crimes committed in this case,” Seth Damon, speaker of the Navajo Nation Council wrote. “But our belief system requires us to seek harmony and restore not only the victim, but also to restore the broken relations between families and communities so we all may heal.”” What happens if justice is demanded from outsiders then the nature of that justice is opposed? https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/07/supreme-court-mcgirt-oklahoma-tribal-courts.html or https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/02/on-indian-land-criminals-can-get-away-with-almost-anything/273391/
It is so far from simple that “Google it” is no kind of answer. Having googled it, only more questions are created. Apparently there is also little good will in resolving them.
I am a Native but look white. I would never hurt one of my own Native people so please don’t confuse all white people as being bad. My Grandfather on my Mothers side was Sioux Indian. My mom was Sioux Indian along with my uncle. So I suspect I have at least a small percentage of Native in me also, but I look white. I Appriciate and love all Natives and have many friends who are Native, as a Matter of fact we had a good friend who was Native Was Murdered a little over a week ago up near Orleans and I pray to God to find his killer and Bring who ever done it to Justice.
What’s the big project attracting outsiders, who according to you commit so many of the crimes against Natives, to Hoopa? You wouldn’t be covering for a local problem, would you?
Great question Nick.
The answer is yes, rez crime on rez residents is the largest source of disappearing people. It’s way beyond political correctness. It’s survival. It’s people interacting as they have for thousands of years.
Try not to judge rez attitudes by the attitudes of off rez people.
There are numbers of missing non indigenous people murdered and missing with no one looking for them. What is so different about indigenous people in this respect? Details rather than accusations and demands might help. Who are they? Are they ever found to say why they disappeared? What were the details when an indigenous was murdered? What happens when indigenous people are contacted by authorities about missing? What is expected of non indigenous people? What are indigenous authorities doing? Do you think drugs are involved or something specific?
I think sometimes about Virgil Bussell mostly because he disappeared while working, leaving behind the fruits of his labor, and I have great respect for working people. Anyway thinking about these questions, I asked the internet and found this https://www.forbes.com/sites/civicnation/2019/12/06/the-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-womens-epidemic/#785879e63308 which at least gives some specifics of why there’s an issue. And https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/texas/missing-north-dakota-woman-believed-to-be-victim-of-human-trafficking-in-texas/285-6e7b307e-30ea-4b7f-b09a-68de688cbe4a gave an example. As did https://www.foxnews.com/us/native-american-woman-found-submerged-strapped-passenger and this https://apnews.com/cb6efc4ec93e4e92900ec99ccbcb7e05
There are several chapters throughout California
The local fbi has secret police that work with the mafia they illegally put you on a list to be chipped and tortured. I could name the people. You will find their names at a later date. It is mkultra and cointelpro. They call it a outdoor holding cell. This is highly illegal. The chip team breaks in your house poisons you, knocks you out and implants a neurophonic transciever. You hear ear ringing see images and hear fbi voices and voices of loved ones.
They also make you disappear. I have 5 secret police members and their fbi handlers. They also steal babys and rape them. They rape nine month old babys. Justice for natives justice for travellers. Down with lietchenstein nazi police unit.
Kym deleting posts today must not meet propaganda standards. This shit is about to be on the world wide news.
Moderating comments has not been at the top of my list. However, when I checked your comment I couldn’t decide whether this was an insult or what…? You said, “our landlord could end up being a police mafia nazi baby rape human experimentation sadistic scum bag.” I couldn’t understand it or the context it was in and I don’t have time to parse out things this morning. So yes, you got deleted until you could express yourself in a way that didn’t look like I might be missing an insult.
Just from the articles I read, I knew there was something very wrong about Tawny’s death… and Virgil’s too. I am so sorry for the families and the community. Yet I am so proud of these folks for demanding justice. I want justice for these people, and for all missing and murdered women and men and children and mothers and fathers and uncles and brothers and aunts and sisters and nieces. The injustice has got to stop! The criminal neglect, the racism, it has to stop!
Justice for Tawny!
Justice for Virgil!
Women of all kinds are victims all the time. Sometimes they are the perpetrators.
Despite the rhetoric, justice is not that simple just as people are not that simple.
Yes, women are missing and murdered all the time.
Women are more likely than men to go missing and murdered, though men are still missing and murdered.
Women of color are more likely than white women to go missing and murdered, though white women are still missing and murdered.
I want justice for them all.
I don’t give a [edit] if that’s not simple enough for you.
If it’s simple for you, you haven’t even decided what justice is. That is the easiest path- just emote all over the place and leave others to clean up after you.
Here’s where your narrative gets sour: try to answer the question, who commits the vast majority of crimes against POC?
Get a clue dude.
When there’s no justice, it means there’s no investigation, and there’s no trial, so no one gets to know. See how that works?
I want justice for all victims. Right now, number wise, more indigenous men go missing than women. BOTH need help and we need to stop advocating for only one gender. It’s not a victim contest. I’ll break it down. If there is a victim then help them no matter their gender.
Amem
Thank you so much!
I speak as a family member of Virgil Bussell jr. & Cheryl Bussell. We all want Justice for our missing & murdered loved ones! We need closure. I will not stand for any of these murders to just be swept under the rug! So please when you jump on here & start talking crap about us native americans, just think for 1 minute. How would you feel,
If it was your loved ones, wouldn’t you want justice?
Like with most murder cases, the unfortunate thing is that it is really hard to do anything without a witness. There are usually witnesses to most murders, in one degree or another, they need to come forward and speak. There is plenty of evidence, especially from Josiah Lawson’s case, that people can protest and scream and shout and demand all they want but absolutely nothing will happen until a witness comes forward. You would think that people who have crucial information for solving murders would want to give the dead rest and the families peace, but its not that way. Usually a lot of people who are witnesses to murders are beholden to the murderer themselves, not the victim. I also know that a witness must be credible, i.e. not on drugs or not have frequent run ins with law enforcement, for the law to take the witness seriously. You can pretty much draw law enforcement a map to a body and say dig here and you will find it, but if you aren’t credible they won’t do anything, as evidence with growers coming forward as witnesses to the Garret Rodriguez murder. I have a strong feeling that the rez community is just as closed off and suspicious of law enforcement as the community I reside in. Its a hard ask, but to bring justice to those who have been taken from us, it requires everyone to play and to give a little trust to one another. I also know, that when it comes to the rez, many of the families are related and extremely extensive, it would be hard to turn in one family member for murdering another and risk being ostracized from your family and community for trying to do the right thing. Human relations are complicated at best.
Very well put. As long as in-group preference overrides desire for safety and justice among certain people, crimes will remain unsolved. Until certain communities rally themselves for justice and against crime, and inculcate the idea that co-operating with investigators is a good thing, it will be hard to take their demands on outsiders seriously.
There are several chapters throughout California
Thanks for the encouragement! We have hopes to get a bill passed similar to “Ida’s Law” in Oklahoma.
The bill would establish a special liaison and task force within the California to help with jurisdictional issues that arise between the state and federal agents when crimes occur on and off tribal land. It will also give our state law enforcement in real time with statistics and physical descriptions of the indigenous person(s) missing. I am hoping to work with the northern California tribal communities and governments to gain their support and input.
I didnt read through all the comments, because I know its just going to be a buncha passive racism, and somehow Trump will get dragged into it. But I will say this is how you protest. Not burning down buildings and burning down Forests. Same with that small group of BLM protesters ive seen in Eureka.Thank you for trying to bring attention to problems, without resorting to tactics that completely delegitimize the message your trying to present.
Nice! 👍🏼
As far as I know Tribes have Cops. Did they investigate?
Are they funded properly for this type of work?
If not, why are they not protesting at the Congressmans office?
Why has Huffam not chimed in? I’ve read his thoughts on a flag flown in a State thousands of miles from here…
I’m fine with supporting our tribes with $$$ so they can police their lands. Last thing we need is some white cop shooting some tribal person, even if it was a “justified” self defense situation.
Pointing out injustices from the past helps no one. We all immigrated here. There is not one race that hasn’t screwed another one over at some point in history…. We can focus on today’s problems with today’s solutions. As far as I can tell with this, fund the Tribes to police this themselves.
[…] was organized by Jesse Armstrong, who traveled to the area from Humboldt County, and who has held other rallies for missing Indigenous […]