Nearly 400 people turned out for a 5K run and walk to raise awareness about Alaska’s missing and murdered Indigenous people in Anchorage on Saturday.
The runners and walkers gathered at Goose Lake for the annual “Run for Healing, Run for Justice” event. Organizers say there were two main goals -- to honor the victims and a call to action to end the MMIP crisis.
“It was honestly quite emotional to be there to see that amount of people there for this cause,” Antonia Commack said. “You could just feel the energy.”
Commack, who helped to organize the run, set up an area with more than 40 posters of those who have been lost. She says it’s far complete, but every time a family member asks her to include their loved one, she adds a new face to the collection.
Commack says she took part in the event to remember two friends from Fairbanks that she lost. She says it’s become all too common for Alaskans to know someone who is missing or murdered.
“I think events like this are important,” she said. “Just getting everybody together -- gathering, smudging, saying prayers -- is healing for everybody. And we’re going to continue to do it, year after year, and hope that it grows.” (11 sec).
Commack says she was pleased to see a State Trooper take part in the run, as well as another staffer from the Department of Public Safety.
The event was put on by the Missing and Murdered Women, Girls and Two Spirit Working Group, a coalition of several Indigenous advocacy groups.
