MMIP seeks to raise awareness about about missing and murdered indigenous people

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MMIP seeks to raise awareness about about missing and murdered indigenous people

Sat, 06/12/2021 - 00:20
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Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) of Northern Oklahoma was established on May 5, 2020 and is the tenth chapter of its kind in Oklahoma. MMIP’s goal is to establish a database of missing natives and bring awareness to the epidemic of indigenous people being at high risk of becoming missing or murdered.

President and founder of MMIP of Northern Oklahoma, Vivian Mesteth, became aware of a similar organization while she was at the pipeline protest at Standing Rock camp.

“I was there for the duration of the protest and saw the signs popping up and became aware that we have a real problem,” said Mesteth.

The symbol for the MMIP is that of a handprint covering a mouth, symbolizing the voiceless in red and black. The red represents murder and blood, while the black represents those that are missing.

Mesteth had discovered that a relative of hers in California was missing, and helped organize a search for the family. When she came back to Oklahoma, she learned a Choctaw man was missing here in Ponca City and asked the Ponca tribal members if anyone was looking for him.

Mesteth started organizing local searches and learned a few other groups in Oklahoma were organizing and doing searches, as well. The groups began sharing information between each other.

MMIP was formed as a nonprofit in 2020 to reach out to other organizations in an official capacity. MMIP primarily operates on social media and has a big network through ongoing Social Justice Activism in the Native American community.

“We’re aware of each other throughout the country, and more than likely have spent time together at the front lines” said Mesteth of other similar organizations. “We’re not as active as southern OK, since there is a corridor for human trafficking the closer you get to the I-35 and I-40 crossways. We have to be a voice for the voiceless and take it to our tribes and our groups. We work with domestic violence programs, which is important because they are funded and we are not. MMIW/P is where victims who slip through domestic violence programs end up.”

MMIP is a grassroots organization that is based on community support and donations.

“We’re grassroots and what we need is allies, people who volunteer, sponsor, give us a platform,” said Mesteth. “What we’re doing is a service for the greater good. Not only do we search for the missing, but we also rescue those at-risk. We don’t have funding and this is done on our very own.”

MMIP of Northern Oklahoma has a Facebook page and uses the hashtag #MMIP on social media sites.

“Natives are a target. We’re rare, because there are so few of us and we don’t know what the agenda is on why they’re trying to kill us,” said Mesteth. “We consider ourselves protectors and the more awareness and allies we have out there, the greater the chance of a victim being rescued or found.”

The organization is also involved with tribal victims services and serves Ponca, Tonkawa, Pawnee, Kaw, Osage, Otoe-Missouria, Iowa and Delaware tribes. NOISE is Power (Northern Oklahoma Indigenous Safety and Education) is another group that operates out of Osage County and serves a much larger area than MMIP. They offer specialized services and are a mentor to the Oklahoma MMIW/P chapters.

Oklahoma sits in the top ten for states with the highest number of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.*

“We align native woman with Mother Earth, and as Mother Earth is destroyed and raped and killed so are we. We’re failing as keepers of the earth and protectors of the women. We need help.”

*(https://www.uihi.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ Missing-and-Murdered-Indigenous-Women-and-Girls-Report.pdf)

"We consider ourselves protectors and the more awareness and allies we have out there, the greater the chance of a victim being rescued or found"

Vivian Mesteth

President and founder of MMIP of Northern Oklahoma remai