After a short rest, they rise wearily and head out to the streets to try to keep women from being hurt. That means approaching those walking alone, to see if they could use some help. That means going from bar to bar, showing predators the community is watching. A candlelight vigil was the first of several events planned during the Alaska Federation of Natives convention week to honor these women and heighten awareness. The effort continues Friday with an evening of poetry, prose and music at Organic Oasis, with proceeds going to an Alaska Native Justice Center reward fund to help solve the murders.
Native women are victims of half the rapes and a quarter of the murders each year in Anchorage.
Many believe the community would have been outraged long ago had the victims been white. At the vigil stood seven portraits representing seven lost lives and seven sets of grieving families and friends that in some cases intersected and intertwined. The vigil was an hour of blessing, honoring, venting, crying, singing and drumming, illuminated by the glow of hand-held candlelight. Melanie Ward, a tiny woman with hardship chiseled into her face, took the microphone to talk about losing someone she loved, someone who helped her years ago when she was a teenage runaway struggling to survive. She walked the streets with me at night.