Kola Bad Bear Helps Leads MMIP Day of Awareness

Two students at MSU, Maleeya Knows His Gun, who is Miss Indian MSU, and “Kola” Bad Bear, a forward on the Bobcat women's basketball team, are working with faculty members from the Native American studies department to recognize Thursday, May 5, as a day to raise awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous people (MMIP), and to call to students to work politically, financially and emotionally to stop systematic attacks on Native people. 

Although President Joe Biden proclaimed the day of awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons to be May 5, Native communities in the Americas have dealt with constant racially charged murder and kidnapping, as well as a systematically unjust rule of law that prevents tribes and individuals from protection and/or justice. The American Indian Council (AIC) will be hosting events for this day of awareness on May 5.

Bad Bear, a junior from the Crow Reservation majoring in community health and minoring in human development, felt her spark of activism, and the process of “finding a voice within [her] own culture” following the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. She described her desire to do more for the people that have already gone missing and the effort to prevent further missing cases when “over two years ago, Selena Not Afraid, a member of my reservation, went missing.” 

Bad Bear and Knows His Gun plan to establish a new MMIP student association. Pending university confirmation over summer break, this association will be open to all students and is currently looking for a treasurer and secretary. The student association will “allow more students to get involved [in MMIP-related activism], implement self defense classes and educate whoever is interested or curious about this topic,” Bad Bear said. 

The official AIC events will go from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and will include a community dance, a talking circle, lunch, a prayer walk, a panel and a self-guided exhibit. The AIC, a student-led association that represents the Native American community on campus, is also sponsoring a booth at Haven’s 5K on May 5.

“MMIP is an issue that affects us all. Across all ethnicities, women specifically. Knowing that you can be kidnapped at any time; you could be at a gas station, or you know, you aren't being super cautious, or don’t have self defense training or tools, like pepper spray, especially within a college or at a university,” Bad Bear said. 

The goal of the AIC, is to make the campus a safe place where voices are heard. “We want to help everyone, while honoring those who have been taken before. Here in Montana, it is important to know that there are reservations here, these are sacred lands, and being aware of the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous people is important,” Bad Bear continued. “Caring about it depends on what type of person you are, and what people you choose to care about.” 

Bad Bear recommended visiting https://linktr.ee/mmiwhoismissing to learn more about MMIP, MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women), and MMIWG (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls) issues.