Run-walk to remember indigenous people murdered or missing takes place in La Crosse

For the fourth straight year, La Crosse has taken part in nationwide events bringing attention to crimes committed against indigenous people in America, mainly women and girls.

A native American drum circle and local speakers were featured at outdoor ceremonies Monday, marking the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Run-Walk, based at Burns Park and the local Ho-Chunk office on Main Street. Event spokeswoman Tracy Littlejohn says the people attending are not just from the immediate La Crosse area, but traveled from other parts of Wisconsin to attend. Littlejohn says the attendance has been growing since the first local event in 2022.

About 100 people walked and ran through downtown as part of the ceremony, with many of them wearing special T-shirts for the occasion. La Crosse Mayor Shaundel Washington Spivey read a proclamation recognizing the event, citing statistics showing that a large majority of native women in America experience violence during their lifetimes.

Sponsors say thousands of missing Alaskan and American Indian females have been reported missing in recent years, but those cases don’t get as much public attention as when white women are missing or victims of crime. The May 5th date of the event recognizes the birthday of Hanna Harris, a young woman killed at a reservation in Montana 12 years ago.