‘Missing and Murdered Indigenous People’ event in Seaside to honor, raise awareness
SEASIDE – An event with the intent of giving a voice to those who no longer have one, while also bringing attention to and honoring the thousands who have gone missing or murdered, will be held this weekend on the Monterey Peninsula.
Red Dress Day in Monterey County will be a time set aside to honor “missing and murdered Indigenous people” giving folks an opportunity to learn about this “historical, social and civil rights tragedy that speaks to a deep and abiding cultural wounding that needs to be addressed,” according to a press release from event organizers.
This Saturday, Sand City Mayor Mary Ann Carbone, a member of the Chumash people, will be the host of the Red Dress Day event at the Oldemeyer Center at 986 Hilby Ave., in Seaside, from 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. This is a free event.
“This year again, we join state and nationwide efforts to continue to increase awareness, and transparency of this (Missing and Murdered Indigenous People) crisis,” said Carbone in the release. “We will also celebrate our Native-Indigenous cultural traditions through the sacred drum, singers and storytellers.”
The 2024 Red Dress Day event to honor Missing and Murdered Indigenous People will begin with a memorial featuring the Indigenous Unity Singers, followed by a keynote by Assemblyman James Ramos, a member of the Serrano-Cahuilla people, a Missing and Murdered Indigenous People panel, traditional Native-Indigenous storytellers, drummers and dancers, and a Red Dress Art Installation to remember the Indigenous women and girls we have lost.
For too many generations, Native and Indigenous individuals and communities have mourned missing and murdered loved ones, organizers said.
A mandate issued by President Biden in 2022 made the plight of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People a top priority of the United States Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior under Secretary Deb Haaland, and with the endorsement of Governor Newsom, California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
In 2023, Carbone led the first Monterey County Missing and Murdered Indigenous People response with the Red Dress Day event to remember and raise awareness.
The first ever Red Dress Day was inspired in 2010 by Jamie Black, a Metis artist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Black hung hundreds of empty red dresses in public places to represent missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and to bring awareness to the issue.
In Canada, Red Dress Day, also known as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit People, is observed on May 5. The day honors and brings awareness to the thousands of Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people who have been subject to disproportionate violence in Canada.
Though Two-Spirit may now be included in the umbrella of LGBTQ, the term “Two-Spirit” does not simply mean someone who is a Native American/Alaska Native and gay, according to Indian Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Traditionally, Native American two-spirit people were male, female and sometimes intersexed individuals who combined activities of both men and women with traits unique to their status as two-spirit people, said the agency. In most tribes, they were considered neither men nor women; they occupied a distinct, alternative gender status.
Sponsors of the Monterey County Red Dress Day: Raising Awareness of Missing and Murdered People event include the Supporting Indigenous Communities Group, Arts Council of Monterey County, California Humanities, California-American Water Company, Native Cultures Fund, Central Coast Community Energy, Native California Research Institute, and the cities of Sand City and Seaside.
