Here and Now
One Menominee Nation Family's Story of Tragedy and Advocacy
Clip: Season 2400 Episode 2443 | 6m 1sVideo has Closed Captions
Advocates and family gathered at a rally to honor missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Advocates and family gathered at an annual rally to honor missing and murdered Indigenous women — the murder of Linda Dickenson is one among many tragedies the movement hopes to prevent in the future.
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Here and Now is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin
Here and Now
One Menominee Nation Family's Story of Tragedy and Advocacy
Clip: Season 2400 Episode 2443 | 6m 1sVideo has Closed Captions
Advocates and family gathered at an annual rally to honor missing and murdered Indigenous women — the murder of Linda Dickenson is one among many tragedies the movement hopes to prevent in the future.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipTim Gruenke, thanks very much.
>> Thank you.
>> Indigenous advocates want the state to provide better tracking of victims and a special office inside the Capitol to address missing and murdered indigenous people, both on and off the reservations.
Here and now.
And I see t reporter Erica Ayisi traveled to Menominee Nation hearing one family's story of tragedy and why they were saying her name at this week's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women's Rally in Madison.
>> She was so cool, down to earth, kind, loving.
>> Rachel Fernandez is holding a picture of her late sister in law, Linda Amy Dickinson.
She was a day care worker who gave nicknames to her preschoolers.
and she loved the children.
>> Fernandez remembers her as a patient listener, committed to family.
>> She treated my kids like her own, you know?
And she just had that caring personality.
>> Dickinson and Fernandez, both of the Menominee Indian Tribe, spent time together as friends and family on the rural reservation north of green Bay.
>> She always had me cracking up.
She always had a joke.
She's very witty.
>> Dickinson eventually relocated from the reservation to green Bay with her new partner.
Fernandez says Dickinson's life with him was private, but the impact of their ten year relationship was public.
>> She would show up to work with with Black eyes.
>> Where did she say she got these Black eyes from?
>> From him.
From him.
And she would.
She wouldn't really talk about it.
>> According to Fernandez, when Dickinson didn't show up for work at the daycare on the morning of February 24th, 2014, her colleagues requested a police welfare check to her home, finding the unthinkable by the door.
>> She was shot through her left cheek in the corner.
Told them that she had died in seconds.
>> Her partner was found dead in the bedroom.
>> He shot himself.
So it was a murder suicide.
>> Leaving Dickinson's three children, Vanessa, Kenny and Warren, motherless.
>> It's tragic all around because he has kids, too.
>> Fernandez says news of the double tragedy spread quickly throughout the tight knit Menominee community.
reservation.
They're both tribal members.
>> She says many indigenous people follow a code of silence in violence and abuse stemming from historical trauma during the federal Indian boarding school era.
>> Because our children were taken from their homes and they were taught in these boarding schools not to talk about what happened to them.
>> Fernandez says she's also a victim of abuse and trafficking, but she's been able to work through her challenges and support other indigenous people through intergenerational suffering.
>> I'm okay to accept forgiveness of myself and so that really birthed the activist and the advocate in me.
>> This empty lot behind me is where Linda Amy Dickinson lived here in Neopit on the Menominee Reservation with her children before moving to green Bay.
She lived in a trailer that's gone now, but Fernandez says her memory is alive forever, and she will say her name.
At the Missing and murdered Indigenous Women's Rally at the Capitol in Madison.
>> Linda Amy Dickinson.
>> Fernandez, says the Wrap the Capitol Red rally is about breaking the code of silence within indigenous communities.
>> You know who was involved in someone being missing?
You know, why aren't you saying anything?
>> Relatives of victims of homicide shared their loved ones names.
>> I want to speak today on behalf of my cousin J.C.
Vijoo, who succumbed to domestic violence.
>> Bad River Ojibwe, Wisconsin.
Angeline Whitebird Sweet murdered February 1989.
Susan Poupart Lac du Flambeau murder, 1992.
Children unsolved.
>> Mentioning family members who never came home.
>> Charlene Couture Bad River missing 2009.
>> Including indigenous men.
>> Levon Frank Lac du Flambeau 1997.
>> Braxton Lee Phillips say his name.
>> And a plea for more justice.
>> My lawmakers here.
Are you listening?
>> Attorney general Josh Kaul says the missing and murdered.
Task force recommends a permanent office inside the Capitol and a report indicating tribal data tracking.
>> That, unfortunately, was not included in the last state budget.
But hopefully we'll see some progress on these ideas once the report is out.
>> He says the state is investing in violence prevention and collaborative efforts between tribal, state and federal law enforcement to effectively respond to incidents.
More than 100 advocates, survivors and families held hands to wrap the Capitol red.
>> No more stolen sisters.
No more stolen brothers.
No more violence.
>> In solidarity that their testimonies will be heard.
>> We demand justice for our relatives.
For those that cannot speak.
>> Reporting from Madison.
I'm Eric Ayisi for Here and I'm Eric Ayisi for Here and
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