Mariah High Hawk Family Support

Mariah High Hawk, mother of two, from the Lakota Nation was 20 years old when found beaten and shoved underneath a utility trailer. Law enforcement told the family that she died of hypothermia, but evidence strongly paints that she was violently murdered. She had multiple broken bones throughout her entire body and abrasions to her face, cranium, and body. Prior to her death are multiple and extreme accounts of domestic violence. As of now, her case has been stagnant and the police did not investigate her murder or her murderer. 

Mariah High Hawk is just one of many Missing and Murdered Indigenous People that have been lost to this kind of violence. Every year thousands of Indigenous People are murdered at the rates higher than any other population of people in the United States and never does this epidemic make National News.

Together the family, ALL TRIBES SACRED and MMIWhoismissing are joining together to shed light on the violence that has taken place against missing and murdered Indigenous People and the consequences that follow for their loved ones.

As a family of 6, 3 of them being Children, the High Hawk family is suffering from not only the loss and the murder of Mariah High Hawk but the decline of health to follow from sorrow and heartbreak. 

Delbert, Mariah High Hawk's Father, who is the guardian of Matea, Mariah's now 6-year-old daughter, has been diagnosed with stage 2 Colon Cancer.  As a caretaker of the family, Delbert needs transportation support and reliance to get to and from doctors appointments, running errands for the family and the ability to take the children to ceremony during this difficult time in their lives.  

Arlene, Mariah’s mother and guardian suffers from Asthma and Chronic Lung Disease and has difficulty breathing. Arlene carries the story of her daughter with strength and honors Mariah through her young children.

As advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous people, it is important for us to support and honor the families affected by this violence. When children are left behind, those children are the first to suffer the consequences of having their life givers taken from them. The trauma is one that needs to be nurtured with love and community/tribal support.  The most effective way to reconcile this violence is to honor and protect our babies, our youth and their living guardians and caretakers.   

Matea will be starting Kindergarten and will need ample and loving support through this critical time in her childhood as she grows strong carrying the loss of her mother. 

 

ALL FUNDS WILL GO TO:

Child needs: formula, diapers, clothes and supporting healthy diets.

Transportation: purchasing an affordable and reliable vehicle for the household.

Medical Care: Delbert and Arlene’s quality of health is vital to the survival of this family and as grandparents and guardians of Mariah’s children. A portion of these funds will go to medical expenses.


 “Our Missing and Murdered give us a strength we don’t fully comprehend. They have become an ancestor strength. Just because they were taken from us does not mean that they do not walk with us always.” •
-Sage Trudell