Stolen Sisters
Stolen Sisters is a human rights movement advocating for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women. In Canada and the U.S., Indigenous women are far more likely to be victims of violence and murder, which this movement aims to bring awareness to and to stop.
the sisters gather year after year
as their siblings, friends, parents,
and strangers, are stolen from them,
shaken from their grips and stabbed
into silence. they press warmth into
their skin to send screams of pleading
out to the universe, begging the
people in power to do something,
anything to save those who remain.
the locals listen, promise to provide
an end to the pain, to the loss dragging
the air into heavy clouds of hurt.
they watch Tina Fontaine’s body,
wrapped in plastic, pulled across
the hot August pavement and thrown
into the red river, tied to rocks to float
her down to the darkest depths of water.
the gentle earth is raked
with force until compliance,
earth’s nutrients used to cover what was
seen in a thick clay that conceals the truth.
she stains the bodies crimson,
taints the mud seeped with
the corruption of those refusing to
reveal what is happening, or
supply substantial funding, or
help the community whose hearts flow sorrow.
they watch as Claudette Osborne,
Sharon Abraham, Tanya Nepinak,
and thousands of others transform
from flesh to ashes, fingernails
found on pig farms and names
written on ribbons in the thick tears
of relatives whose cries have long
been ignored. they watch, and instead
of helping they mask the murders, then
move on like nothing happened.
**See the following CBC link for further information on many of the missing women and their unsolved cases — https://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/
Amanda Conover
Amanda Conover is a recent Creative Writing graduate from Elon University. When she is not writing, she enjoys trying vegan recipes and making YouTube videos. She plans to continue her studies of creative writing in graduate school.
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