One Book Siouxland is hosting an event April 8 aiming to raise awareness about Missing and Murdered Indigenous people.
Lily Mendoza is based West River and is the founder of the Red Ribbon Skirt Society. She’s covering the history of missing and murdered indigenous people, the current crisis, and traditional healing practices at the event.
Mendoza said although this event has been in the works for months, a recent trip to Sioux Falls highlighted the need for more support and information surrounding the issue.
“Hopefully they will take away first of all knowledge. They'll be more educated about this" said Mendoza.
"And hopefully the non-Native people that are going to be there and the Native people will say, let's figure out how we can do this together to build those relationships and to build allies amongst each other because that has to be done. Everybody needs to be walking that same path so that they can work for justice for that woman and for the families. We're dealing with that right now with the young woman that was, found deceased here near Hill City.”
That woman — Sahela Sangrait — was reported missing in August and found dead last month. The suspect in her murder has pleaded not guilty.
Mendoza’s event is one of a series of events from the Siouxland Library.
Throughout April, they’ll hold discussions surrounding the book “Vanished in Vermillion” by Lou Raguse, which tells the true story of two girls who went missing in 1971 in Vermillion.
Registration is required for each of the events. Learn more and register here.