Two Sundays ago, I marched with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe in their event to raise awareness for missing and murdered indigenous people. Joining with several others from UUFCM, we walked through Island Park and downtown Mount Pleasant, wearing T-shirts with the message “No More Stolen Sisters.”
Gathering at the pavilion on Island Park before the march, a group of drummers sang an honor song; elders smudged the marchers with sage; and tribal leaders as well as law enforcement officers spoke. They named some of the history of violence and abduction--against Native women especially—that have prompted this event. According to the National Indigenous Resource Center, “The alarming rates of abduction and murder of Native women represent one of the most devastating issues facing Tribal communities. On some reservations, Native women face murder rates more than ten times the national average. These disappearances and murders are often directly linked to domestic violence, dating, trafficking, and longstanding harms impacting Indigenous communities.”
Along the route of the march were signs proclaiming the facts behind this ongoing tragedy, as well as red dresses displayed everywhere—the symbol of this event.
I felt many things attending this event, including wonder, sadness, anger, gratitude, and joy. My sense of wonder is that I’m still amazed that I live in a place where the local Indian tribe is so visible. This wasn’t true in my home state of Massachusetts or the state I lived in recently, Ohio. I felt sad and angry hearing the disturbing facts about how many of my Native cousins are harmed and killed…and I felt gratitude and joy to be part of the event. The organizers did an amazing job with every part of the planning and implementation of the march, and it was joyful to be together in common purpose.
Coming up is another important event on the local calendar, similarly highlighting a tragic part of the Native American story: the commemoration of the closing of the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School. This history is acknowledged every year on June 6, the anniversary of the school’s closing. I think that every Mount Pleasant resident should witness this event and acknowledge this disturbing piece of our history.
PRAYER:
Great Spirit, we are here on this land living together, Native and non-Native. All of us mourn when any of us are abducted or harmed. All of us together say, “No more.”
Grant power and wisdom, courage and strength to the law enforcement units investigating these crimes; grant peace and strength to the families whose loved ones have gone missing.
Aho. Ashe. May it be so.
Rev. Drew Frantz
May 12, 2026
Gathering at the pavilion on Island Park before the march, a group of drummers sang an honor song; elders smudged the marchers with sage; and tribal leaders as well as law enforcement officers spoke. They named some of the history of violence and abduction--against Native women especially—that have prompted this event. According to the National Indigenous Resource Center, “The alarming rates of abduction and murder of Native women represent one of the most devastating issues facing Tribal communities. On some reservations, Native women face murder rates more than ten times the national average. These disappearances and murders are often directly linked to domestic violence, dating, trafficking, and longstanding harms impacting Indigenous communities.”
Along the route of the march were signs proclaiming the facts behind this ongoing tragedy, as well as red dresses displayed everywhere—the symbol of this event.
I felt many things attending this event, including wonder, sadness, anger, gratitude, and joy. My sense of wonder is that I’m still amazed that I live in a place where the local Indian tribe is so visible. This wasn’t true in my home state of Massachusetts or the state I lived in recently, Ohio. I felt sad and angry hearing the disturbing facts about how many of my Native cousins are harmed and killed…and I felt gratitude and joy to be part of the event. The organizers did an amazing job with every part of the planning and implementation of the march, and it was joyful to be together in common purpose.
Coming up is another important event on the local calendar, similarly highlighting a tragic part of the Native American story: the commemoration of the closing of the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School. This history is acknowledged every year on June 6, the anniversary of the school’s closing. I think that every Mount Pleasant resident should witness this event and acknowledge this disturbing piece of our history.
PRAYER:
Great Spirit, we are here on this land living together, Native and non-Native. All of us mourn when any of us are abducted or harmed. All of us together say, “No more.”
Grant power and wisdom, courage and strength to the law enforcement units investigating these crimes; grant peace and strength to the families whose loved ones have gone missing.
Aho. Ashe. May it be so.
Rev. Drew Frantz
May 12, 2026
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