A few hundred students from Hoquiam High School (HHS) and Hoquiam Middle School (HMS) walked together for several blocks on Friday to bring awareness to the violence plaguing Missing Murdered Indigenous Women.

May 5, which was Friday, is National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

While Sandy Ruiz-Greenway, native education coordinator for Hoquiam School District, was there to help with the walk, it was evident the students — mostly dressed in red — were the ones in charge. And they took it seriously, because the matter is a severe one. Washington state has the second most cases of violence against Indigenous people. Only Alaska has more such cases.

Tyson Reece, a junior at HHS, took the lead on the walk.

“There are sisters, mothers and aunties who are not coming back,” Reece said as the student-filled crowd increased in numbers on the HHS upper parking lot. “While we’re walking, I want you to think about why we’re walking.”

The students, and a few faculty members, stood for a moment of silence before Reece and a few other students led a Mourning Prayer song that included the rhythmic banging of ceremonial drums. Before the walk began, a few minutes after 1 p.m., Ruiz-Greenway made sure the middle school students were walking near the front and that the high school students helped keep a clear eye on them.

Omar Ivan Estrada, a junior at HHS and Teen Quinault Warrior for Quinault Indian Nation, was right up in front for the cause as well.

“So many of our cousins and family have been taken,” Estrada said just before the walk began. The 40-minute walk covered a little more than a mile. Estrada called the group of students “a red blob.”

Once the group left HHS, the students headed down Chenault Avenue to Adams Street. The students — many with a crimson-colored handprint across their mouths — continued down Adams Street to Emerson Avenue. They kept walking down Emerson to the HHS track. The estimated “400-500” students ended the walk on the track and stood for group photos.

This was the largest Missing Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) walk for the district, which is home to 172 Indigenous students, Ruiz-Greenway said. Hoquiam students walked on May 5, 2022 and multiple people estimated the group was much bigger Friday than it was last year.

Eva Cummings, an HHS senior who represents the Quinault Indian Nation tribe, explained why she walked Friday. She was near the front, too.

“I think it’s a good way to get information out about it, because not a lot of people would know or understand what’s actually going on,” Cummings said. “They might just see a missing post on Facebook, but not actually understand the severity of MMIW.”

Cummings said she wants to help branch out the information to other students, those students’ parents, and the friends of those parents.

“And maybe help bring it to a stop,” Cummings said about the violence toward the missing and murdered Indigenous peoples.

Cummings said she’s known of a couple family friends — her mom’s friends — who have gone missing.

“I think one of them, they ended up finding, but I never really heard the end results of them,” Cummings said. “I just know they went missing and they got put in the category of MMIW.”

Cummings liked how the students led the walk.

“I think maybe, sometimes, adults might pay attention more if they see that like even kids are serious about it,” Cummings said. “I like how involved Tyson is, and I like how he brings it so close to him and that he’s really serious about it and he has a very loud voice. And he’s confident in speaking about it.”

While it appeared Reece had a wealth of leadership experience, he only recently found his voice.

“For the longest time, I’ve always shied away from being a leader,” Reece said. “I was always scared to be. I never had the confidence. But being here with Sandy, she’s built me up to be a leader and built me up to explore different types of leadership aspects.”

Reece said he’s spoken across the country, including Seattle and Oklahoma. He’s also protested with the American Indian Movement in Washington, D.C.

“Being a leader, some people say there are natural born leaders, but I feel like you’ve got to find the right person to build you and make you a leader,” Reece said. “Sandy’s that person to me.”

Reece, a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation, said for the longest time he was “very ashamed” of his Indigenous roots and being native.

“And this program has built me up so much that I felt like I need to give back to my community in some way,” Reece said. “By doing this walk I’m not just helping myself, I’m helping others. I’m helping all the mothers and sisters who aren’t returning to us. Being able to be there for them and being able to walk with them, and seeing the elders and the children walk with us is something I think, it helps me wake up in the morning. It’s great.”

Reece said there are approximately 509 open cases around 71 of Washington’s cities. Washington State Patrol, as of its report on July 18, 2022, stated then there were 135 “active missing,” cases of adult and juvenile Indigenous people.

The fact Indigenous people have this reality is frustrating to Omar.

“The MMIW walk means a lot to me, because I’ve had missing cousins, missing relatives, some even who are not even in this world anymore, they’ve moved on,” Omar said. “It’s really hard because I want to protect my sisters. I want to look out for them. And knowing they’re in that category of people, knowing that they can go missing almost at any time way higher than other people, scares me.”

Omar explained how there’s mistrust between the tribes and the U.S. government, which only exacerbates the situation. Some information isn’t shared because of that mistrust.

Omar’s younger sister, Sophia Estrada, also walked. She walked last year as an 8th grader, too. Sophia explained why, and it’s terrifying.

“I heard a lot of stories of girls who have gone missing, and I’ve just known not to go anywhere by myself like on walks or anything,” Sophia said.

The walk itself is important to Sophia.

“When we’re on that walk, it’s supposed to be a really powerful walk. When they’re singing you can tell just how powerful it is,” she said.

The unfortunate aspect about the walk itself, is not everybody realizes its importance, nor do they respect the walk’s solemnity. Sophia said hearing people’s unrelated chatter, “kind of ruins the purpose of the walk.”

Sophia wasn’t the only one who was disappointed by the immaturity from a few of her classmates. Cummings said she heard them telling jokes.

“I could hear some kids behind me,” Cummings said. “I know their names, so I’m probably going to bring it up to the principal. Like making jokes and stuff, it’s kind of irritating how like kids would use the walk to just get out of class. It’s cool that they still walked with us instead of skipping class and skipping the walk, but I think if they want to walk with us, they should probably just be quiet. Just respect it instead of making jokes and stuff because it’s not funny.”

Cummings, who wanted to keep it a solemn walk and not engage with the disrespectful few, waited for Reece to yell back. Another couple students near the front yelled too, in order to remind those students to stop and respect the walk. Reece knew there were students who weren’t as respectful as they should have, but at the same time, he had another viewpoint regarding those students.

“I feel we’re stronger in numbers no matter what,” Reece said. “Even if they’re out there and they’re just skipping class, it’s good to say we’ve got 500 students who came out. And they’re out there getting familiar with how this is a problem. And it is a problem. I would rather be inside, nice and cozied up and being able to have a good day with my friends and family, but unfortunately that’s not the case. We’re not able to make those changes just yet. Hopefully we’ll have enough of these walks where we don’t have to have another one.”

Reece, who wore a red and black headwrap Friday, said he wore it because of the Apache warrior Geronimo.

“He would always wear a red thing around his head whenever he did something brave, or did something for his people,” Reece said. “So, I wear it to symbolize the strength of Indigenous people, and to connect back to the roots of Geronimo.”

Reece, who spoke about how if he wants to become “as half as strong” as Geronimo, he’s got to continue.

“That’s the main reason why I like to wear this,” Reece said. “I wear it at every big protest I go to. It makes me feel powerful.”

Reece also spoke of his female classmates who were out walking. He was proud of them then and he continues to be.

“A lot of people, when they hear the word ‘warrior,’ they don’t think of our brave females,” Reece said. “Our brave females walking around at night and being able to survive another day.”

Reece then gave his thoughts on the word “warrior.”

“When I think of ‘warrior,’ I think of all my aunties and relatives, all the people who have gone through traumatic life experiences and keep on going,” Reece said. “Those are our true warriors. Our women are our warriors and I think if I were to describe any Indigenous woman is they are a warrior. They are who keep us in line. And we need our women to survive, and to carry our children. Those are our warriors.”

While the problem, and reason for the walk, facing Indigenous women and girls is a terrible reality, Ruiz-Greenway said it’s not just a problem for them. It’s a problem for the community.

“It’s time to encourage the kids to lead,” Ruiz-Greenway said. “These kids need to learn to speak up.

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Near the end of the 1.2-mile walk on Friday, in which an estimated 500 Hoquiam students led, a Hoquiam School District bus passed them on Emerson Avenue during their final steps of the walk. The walk concluded on the Hoquiam High School track, which is in front of Hoquiam High School. The high school and Hoquiam Middle School students walked past HMS and Emerson Elementary School on the way.

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Anthony Watkins, a senior at Hoquiam High School, holds the eight-foot-long banner he made for the Hoquiam students’ Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women walk, which took place on Friday. Watkins, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, was proud of the work he did with the banner. The banner took a week to make. “I think it’s great how younger generations can get the community together and speak of the change that it needs,” Watkins said.