Welcome to Part 1 of our July 2024 Inspirational Interview with Cheryl Horn, MMIW (Murdered or Missing Indigenous Women) Activist and Advocate in the USA.
Cheryl Horn, Magazu Nahzi (Standing in the Rain), an Assiniboine from Fort Belknap, Montana, became a member of the Murdered or Missing Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement in July of 2018 with the disappearances of her niece, Tristen Gray, and in 2020, Tristen’s sister, Selena Bell Not Afraid. She is a fierce advocate for families and survivors of missing, murdered and trafficked individuals. She works tirelessly to change laws, find resources, media, lawyers, and more advocates for Indigenous families. Her mission is to bring awareness, prevention and healing to everyone by sharing the experiences she and her family went through.
In 2022, she was awarded USA Today National Woman of the Year along with 10 other very distinguished recipients. With this award, she hopes to bring opportunities for families to tell their stories. As an active member of Pretty Eagle Woman Resource board of directors and the Montana-ACLU board, she now focusses on providing healing spaces to victims and their families. She believes that not addressing grief and sorrow only hurts us and that collectively, we need healing and the opportunity to see a future with hope.
Part two of Cheryl’s interview will be published 15 July, 2024.
All photos are courtesy of Cheryl Horn.
1. How and why did you join the movement to end violence against women (VAW)?
I “joined” the violence against women movement in 2015 when I began employment with the Fort Belknap tribe as a Domestic Violence Coordinator. I was a resource for families with domestic violence. In 2018, my niece Tristen Gray went missing in Billings, Montana. We found her in the morgue 2 days later. This began my Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) journey. In 2020, Tristen’s sister, Selena Not Afraid, went missing and was found 20 days later, deceased in the same area we had been searching. Since then, missing and murdered people is my life and not a movement.
2. When your niece, Selena Not Afraid, went missing in 2019, you searched for her yourself. After the heartbreaking discovery of Selena’s body, you continued your work by advocating for Native/Indigenous families whose loved ones are missing or killed because, as per your statement in your interview with the Great Falls Tribune: “I have all this knowledge; it’s ugly knowledge. But how can I not pass it down to help these families? It’s needed.” Could you share some of the strategies that worked for you during your search for Selena and which might be of help to Native/Indigenous families dealing with MMIW?
In 2020, we had to search for my niece Selena. This was my second experience with missing family members so this time I was not going to fail (I told myself this). The main thing we did was start a social media campaign like nobody had seen before. Every morning and evening I would make a big post to update everyone on how the case and the search were going. My interactions with law enforcement, FBI, our Governor and our Senator were all put on my Facebook page for the world to follow and ask “Where is Selena?”. From the time she was found until today, I have kept to my promise of helping other families. I am on MMIP non-profit boards, I am on the MT-ACLU board and I continue to answer the call for help. I encourage families to begin the search themselves. DO NOT WAIT FOR ANYONE! Ask for help and keep the social media campaign updated. Utilize tribal courts in the murder cases, if possible. Utilize your civil court in these cases. Civil court is a much easier route to prove guilt.
3. Native/Indigenous women in the U.S. experience disproportionately high rates of VAW and very little justice for victims. In fact, MMIW cases routinely go unsolved due to a combination of factors including (but not limited to) jurisdiction issues among law enforcement agencies, the hostile attitudes of law enforcement officers towards Native/Indigenous communities, and the lack of comprehensive data about MMIW. In your opinion, for law enforcement officers and agencies who are serious about tackling MMIW cases, what are some concrete steps they can and should take when working on such cases?
When law enforcement officers answer MMIW cases, I always look to see how invested in people they are. It is very easy to tell how the interaction will go by the first impression given by law enforcement. I have begged officers over the phone to go to a motel to check on a trafficked woman. The first contact he had with her was him asking her in front of everyone if she was okay. She said yes. I begged him to go back and ask her the same question but have her alone this time. The second time he went back she told him NO. And from there, we got her home to South Dakota. So, the law enforcement component is crucial in MMIW and all cases involving women and violence. The hope would be to have a female responder to all cases.
4. Since 2019, what sort of progress and/or changes have you seen in the U.S. government’s approach and attitude towards MMIW on both the federal and state levels?
Since I began this life in 2018, I have seen many positive changes in MMIW. The state now has a task force that collects data and is slowly progressing to my goal: resources for victims and families. The state of Montana is also bringing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) to the table and having crucial conversations about missing and murdered Montanans. The federal government is also keeping the spotlight on cases by addressing the cases in a Congressional Review. The review is very detailed and the crucial part to understand is: tribes must step up and help. Our tribal leaders must be supportive of local advocates and families. We must start prosecuting in the tribal courts and not wait for the FBI to decide if they are going to take a case or not.
5. Awareness-raising is one of the cornerstones of effective anti-VAW activism and advocacy. In your opinion, what can the media do to help and support the MMIW cause?
The media plays a large part in the MMIW/MMIP movement. They are our allies or our enemies, depending on how they portray the victim. In Selena’s case we had negative radio media coverage in Billings, Montana. Social media stepped in and shut him down and he issued an apology. In Montana, we now have a woman who works on native issues and stories. This is amazing because in 2018, I could not get the news to do a story on Tristen. But I used the media from podcasts, newspapers, magazines, radio to get the story out. I had a hard time with local media until the New York Times came into the picture. After that, our local news sources began to pick up Selena’s story and share it. Selena became known worldwide!
