When circumstances prevented the appearance of a CSULB professor, an LBCC indigenous student stepped up to share her personal perspective on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement last Wednesday at PCC.
The student who led the event, Emma Manetta, is a Yurok Native and the Co-President of the Native American Indigenous Collaborative at LBCC.
Manetta opened the discussion with a traditional introduction in Yurok language and included American sign language. A common saying in the tribe is “to’ ko’moyok’,” which means “I understand, you.” Her hope for the presentation was for attendees to feel seen.
“There is a lot of power in healing and there is a lot of power in that pain because we cry for our ancestors, who weren’t able to cry. We’re healing them from our work now,” said Manetta.
The presentation began with an overview of the MMIW movement, in which indigenous women are stolen and silenced at alarming rates, but miscalculated in the overall data.
“American Indian and Alaskan Native women are two-times more likely to experience violent crimes and 2.5 times more likely to experience sexual violence in their lifetime,” Manetta explained.
When violence occurs to indigenous people in urban areas, the data is not relayed to the tribal nations in which they are citizens resulting in the inaccuracies of identifying indigenous people in national data.
The Yurok reservation is located in northern California, but due to the violence her grandmother faced there, her family left.
After the slides and videos there was a short break, as the presentation covered triggering content. Manetta led attendees in a ‘guided breathing’ to alleviate the trauma that these conversations bring up.
“These conservations are important to have and they’re really difficult, but I welcome the vulnerability,” said Manetta.
The discussion portion of the presentation allowed students, teachers and other attendees to ask questions regarding MMIW and indigenous communities. The conversation included disproportionate media portrayals, disseminating information, and other ways to champion indigenous people.
“Follow local tribes, talk to your peers and use language that champions indigenous communities. That doesn’t put the person at the center of the blame, not using such a passive voice when discussing crime,” said Manetta.
Eric Becerra, the director of student equity at LBCC’s Social Justice Intercultural Center, explained that Manetta only had the weekend to pull this presentation together.
“Emma deserves this space. We want to bring voices to the table,” added Becerra.
Manetta concluded the event by providing resources and opportunities to get involved with Indigenous communities.
LBCC’s Native American Indigenous Collaborative holds peacemaking circles and other meetings monthly by providing a safe space to promote healing and champion Indigenous students and staff.
“It’s so easy to have this distorted perception of yourself. This isn’t a cultural issue, missing and murdered indigenous people aren’t to be blamed for the epidemic we are in, ” said Manetta.
The next peacemaking circle will be held on Thursday, April 13 from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the lower level of the E Building at LBCC in the Social Justice Intercultural Center.