‘I gotta stay strong’: the Native American families with a legacy of violent deaths
An untracked number of Indigenous people have more than one relative missing or murdered in unexplained circumstances
When Pauline HighWolf’s son came to her home in Montana three months ago to tell her that her sister was dead, she was overwhelmed by a painful jolt of deja vu.
HighWolf, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, had been helping her 64-year-old sister Laverna Wallowing to transition out of homelessness in California to a senior living apartment in southern Montana. Wallowing had died of a head injury, but HighWolf still doesn’t know how or why.
Related: A well of grief: the relatives of murdered Native women speak out
Related: Women are disappearing and dying in Indian country. We must act | Debra Anne Haaland
It’s hard enough for a family to talk about one case but to have to talk about two, it takes such a huge, deep toll, that a lot of families don’t have the capacity for that
Related: A Native American woman’s brutal murder could lead to a life-saving law
