Red a reminder of violence at native women

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s Day

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Red dresses hanging in the breeze dotted the central University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire campus to bring awareness to the hundreds of native women who’ve been murdered or just disappeared. The exhibit was sponsored by campus Inter-Tribal Student Council as part of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s Day. “It’s not something that’s talked about a whole lot because a lot of our communities are so remote and recording things and recording statistics and data, it’s just not there,” said Caroline Kernan, council president. The dresses, 30 total, were in various styles and sizes to represent girls and women as young as 10 through adulthood. Messages were chalked on walks. Cracks were filled with red, said Kernan, to represent legal cases that have fallen through cracks in the justice system.

Red Dress Exhibit. The goal of the UW-Eau Claire display is to generate support for resources to protect indigenous girls and women from violence. Image: Ted McGrath

Kernan. President, campus Inter-Tribal Student Council.