Photos | Sen. Berthel, Tribal Nations, Watertown Residents Honor Missing & Murdered Indigenous Persons Recognition Day at Capitol

 State Sen. Eric Berthel (R-Watertown) on May 6 was joined by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, Connecticut’s tribal nation leaders, and Watertown residents to honor Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Recognition Day (MMIP), which is observed each May 5. Sen. Berthel stood with State Sen. Cathy Osten (D-Sprague), Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, and State Sen. Mae Flexer alongside Watertown’s Brandi Sawyer Emmans, Dan Emmans, Maddy Emmans, and Tom Sawyer, who are part of the area’s indigenous Native American community.

The solemn morning of events began with an opening invocation from Mashantucket Yootay Drummers and royalty, and was followed by remarks from the lawmakers with officials from the Mashantucket Pequot, Mohegan, Golden Hill, Paugussett, Schaghticoke, Eastern Pequot, Cherokee, and Wappingers Confederacy Tribal Nations, and Prairie Rose of the Red Sand Project. Led by Prairie Rose, dozens of tribal nation guests and lawmakers then filled the Capitol’s sidewalk cracks with red sand to recognize the 50 million people worldwide who are being trafficked or are living in modern slavery—and are often overlooked.

Finally, Sens. Berthel and Osten, and senate leaders, convened the senate’s May 6 session to present the tribal nation leaders with citations from the General Assembly to recognize their advocacy for MMIP Recognition Day. There is also pending bipartisan legislation to officially designate May 5 as “Red Dress Day” in Connecticut, which awaits the legislature’s final action by May 8. The symbol of the “red dress” is used by advocates to mark the oppression of native women and individuals.

Each year, thousands of Native American people and children go missing or are found murdered in the United States and Canada. Gaps in data make the true scope difficult to estimate, but the murder rate of Native people is more than ten times the national average on some reservations.

Sawyer Emmans first reached out to Sen. Berthel in 2023 in connection with her work at the Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington, Conn. on the Red Dress project installation. After being welcomed to the Capitol shortly after, she connected with lawmakers and tribal nation leaders to build momentum for MMIP awareness and legislative action. This momentum gathered speed on Monday in Hartford.

“Thank you to Brandi, Dan, Maddy, and Tom for their continued advocacy on this tragic issue that impacts far too many of our Indigenous community. This is a time that we’ve set aside to honor missing and murdered indigenous people and learn about this historic social and civil rights tragedy that needs to be addressed. Connecticut is now part of a national effort to combat the MMIP crisis, and today was the first step,” said Sen. Berthel.

Sen. Osten, whose district spans eastern Connecticut, said “It’s about time we addressed the issue of the victimization of Native Americans in Connecticut. I think today was a step in the right direction in addressing that. We’ve passed a lot of pro-Native American bills in the past few years, and we’ve changed some attitudes, but we’ve got a lot left to do.”