In the locker room, Rosalie Fish puts on her outfit and concentrates on her next race.
As her competitors prepare to return to the track, the athlete draws the imprint of a left hand in red on her mouth.
Red like the spilled blood of abused and murdered Native American women.
“These are our sisters, mothers, daughters and aunts,” as Rosalie Fish calls them.
Since May 2019, the 20-year-old young woman, who runs at the best level in university competitions in the United States, has chosen this means of expression to give voice to all these silenced victims.
Victim of sexual harassment in high school
It is not, however, the first to have used this method of claiming. A month earlier, athlete and activist Jordan Marie Daniel, also of Native American descent (from South Dakota), had also painted a red handprint on her face at the Boston Marathon, along with the letters MMIW
(Editor's note: Missing and murdered ingenious women or Murders and disappearances of indigenous women in French)
on his leg, an acronym also used by Rosalie Fish. “It reminded me of the power of who we are, and who we are as aboriginal people,” Ms. It's a part of my identity that I can't change. It made me realize that I never wanted to feel isolated, alone, and helpless again. "
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Rosalie Fish is originally from Auburn, a metropolis of 80,000 inhabitants in the northwest of the country.
She is part of the Cowlitz, one of the thirty Native American tribes of Washington State, to which a reserve was finally allocated near the town of Longview, almost twenty-five years ago.
His youth was not always rosy.
In high school, off the reserve, Rosalie Fish was the victim, like other young girls, of sexual harassment by boys from the upper classes, never convicted.
She abuses antidepressants to the point of making, in February 2016 at the age of 14, a suicide attempt, the second leading cause of death among young Amerindians.
"Police violence is very present"
Her family also lives in memory of the 2004 disappearance of her Aunt Alice, whose body was discovered fifteen months later.
As often, the investigation, little in-depth (lack of interest and resources) when it comes to natives, did not yield anything, some police services not having a classification for missing natives.
"Police violence is very present, especially in my community," said the young woman one day.
The need to take responsibility for violence against women must be taken seriously.
We must understand that this is a scourge and a genocide.
As a teenager no one has to worry about what I say.
But when I run, people notice me.
"
She offers her medals to murdered Indigenous women
An average student, Rosalie Fish is known above all for her running skills, which she first places at the service of her university, the Iowa central community college, in Fort Dodge. This is where she started running with the red hand on her face, two years ago. That day, she competed in four races (400, 800, 1600, and 3200 meters), won four medals and offered each of them to a missing or murdered Indigenous woman, like her aunt, or Renée Davis, a female pregnant gunned down by police on the Muckleshoot reserve in 2016.
In the United States, the homicide rate among Native American women is up to 10 times the average.
Today, Rosalie Fish runs a hand painted red across her face to warn about this scourge.
And never to forget his missing aunt.
pic.twitter.com/bypTRn3JPE
- Brut FR (@brutofficiel) August 11, 2019
Last January, the young woman joined The Washington Huskies, the sports club at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Before committing, she imposed above all to be accompanied by Dee Brown, her trainer since 2019. “I explained to the director that I had to fight for my right to bear the imprint of my hand during the races, and that my coaches had to be part of that fight.
I asked her if she was ready to take my side.
She let me know that she would support me to talk about aboriginal women.
It is essential that athletes recognize the role they play as leaders.
Whether they like it or not, they are role models and they give a representation of what is acceptable.
It is not political.
It's just being human.
"
Homicide, third cause of death
The US Department of Justice found that one in three Native American women had been raped or had suffered attempted rape. The Urban Indian Health Institute notes that homicide is the third leading cause of death among Indigenous women aged 10 to 24. According to a recent statement from the U.S. Department of the Interior, approximately 1,500 Native Americans and Alaska Natives have been listed with the National Crime Information Center, and approximately 2,700 cases of murder and homicide have been reported. reported.
According to the United States Department of Justice, the rate of abused Indigenous women on some reservations is significantly higher than the rest of the American population, up to ten times higher.
Appointed by Joe Biden, Debra Haaland, Home Secretary and first Indigenous woman in a United States government, announced the creation of a new Missing and Murdered Unit (MMU) within the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
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May 5 will be National Awareness Day for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. On this day, people are encouraged to wear red outside their home or workplace. Red as the dull anger of Rosalie Fish, who, after graduating, wants to work in helping victims of violence in indigenous communities.
