Brut documentary: 300 Miles for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

Brut America

“No more stolen sisters.”  To raise awareness about missing and murdered indigenous women, this Navajo roller derby athlete set out to travel 300 miles across the Navajo Nation … Brut filmmaker Léo Hamelin followed her journey.

Transcript

00:00I felt like re-victimized over again, like they're not going to do anything about it, which they didn't.

00:04They said it was a he said, she said kind of case, and they closed it.

00:12So many women are going missing or show up murdered, and then we just think that they're another statistic.

00:19But no, this is a person, this is an indigenous person who has a family to go home to.

00:27That hurts.

00:30We are doing whatever we can on showing like, hey, we're going to give you guys a voice,

00:45because I know we know that it's been silenced.

00:47But no, we want to make sure that you guys have a voice.

00:49Reports have found that indigenous women are victims of murder about 10 times as much as the national average.

01:05For Brut, I'm taking you to the Navajo Nation where I met with Melissa Keats.

01:09She's a 33-year-old Navajo woman who is rollerblading across the nation to raise awareness for missing and murdered indigenous women.

01:17She's trying to hit 300 miles.

01:29I'm just going to color my hand.

01:31You know, within the indigenous communities, we've just been silenced for a long time.

01:37The hand over our mouth just signifies that no, we are going to be heard.

01:45And we are going to fight and do whatever we can with whatever strength we got and have.

01:50That our ancestors protect us, ancestors guide us.

01:55That we are going to do whatever it takes.

01:58No more stolen sisters.

02:01Today's the day we start our adventure.

02:04This week is going to be challenging. I know it.

02:06I know I'm going to be in pain. I know my feet are going to hurt.

02:09I know I'm going to cry. I know I'm going to get mad.

02:12I know I'm going to be happy.

02:14Now it's time to get on the road and just do it.

02:31This is seriously heaven right here.

02:35Middle of nowhere, heart of everywhere.

02:37Whoa, it's really bumpy.

02:46In the 1860s, the Navajo people were displaced by the U.S. military.

02:50It's called the Long Walk.

02:52The Navajo people had to walk almost 300 miles.

02:55to go to a barren reservation in New Mexico.

02:58Many people lost their lives.

03:01That's why Melissa is trying to hit 300 miles on this route.

03:04So she can honor her ancestors journey and those who lost their lives.

03:12Lunchtime, day one.

03:14How's it going?

03:16I feel like poop.

03:26We're one with the road.

03:28We're one with the road.

03:36Keep going.

03:41I was kind of thinking in the beginning like this is just going to be about the miles.

03:46Like we got to get in our miles today, we got to get in the miles tomorrow.

03:50But no, this is about the awareness.

03:56That was cute.

04:06Whoa, I almost fell over.

04:15That was a far fall.

04:18I can't feel my right foot.

04:21Hi, squid.

04:25What are you doing?

04:29I need a shower.

04:36Oh, look at that.

04:42How are you doing today?

04:44Good, I'm a little sore.

04:46My Achilles actually, I don't know if I can balance on one leg, but it's pretty intense.

04:52Yeah, got some different colored toenails.

04:56It's not nail polish.

04:58Yeah, the struggle is real.

05:02All right, y'all ready?

05:06Let's do this.

05:08Let's do this.

05:09Let's do this.

05:12Oh, another few miles, we got this.

05:16Let's do this.

05:34I think being an indigenous woman, you know, you go through these obstacles in life,

05:39but you still keep powering through and you're stronger.

05:44I actually was a victim of domestic violence years ago.

05:48It was a really hard time in my life.

05:51And, you know, he was an alcoholic.

05:55One thing after the next with, you know, almost being strangled to death.

06:01And that's where he almost killed me.

06:06The after fact was actually the hard part

06:09because they said it was a he said, she said kind of case and they closed it.

06:18And so during that time of the domestic violence, I leaned on my roller derby family.

06:23And I realized that from there, roller skating was my outlet, like therapy.

06:32You can be whatever you want to be in that moment and just feel the breeze on your face and you're just free.

06:40This is my little medicine pouch, just everything cedar.

06:49So the bitter root is just to keep from any bad spirits or evil or helps with any pain, anything like that.

06:58So we call this warrior women paint.

07:02And we just put it on her face to protect us, especially as women.

07:08So just to give us strength.

07:39Yeah, you guys are doing an awesome job.

07:51I don't care what anybody thinks right now.

07:53I'm just like.

08:00All right.

08:03Oh, my God.

08:06All right.

08:07Okay.

08:19I want to keep going, but I can't.

08:37Think about what you're doing now.

08:40Making a difference.

08:50Strong, resilient, indigenous.

09:07100 plus miles.

09:34So this is pretty exciting.

09:36We're still doing it.

09:37The team is still rooting you on.

09:39And then you go to different places and you're like, we know what you're doing.

09:42Thank you so much.

09:47We've reached people from Canada, from New Zealand all over.

09:50So I'm like, this, this is great.

09:53This is awesome.

09:54Yeah, it's like a dream come true.

09:56But scary at the same time.

10:06Being Navajo and Diné, when you're a baby, they take your placenta and your umbilical cord

10:12and they bury it in a very special place.

10:14So you can stay connected with your home.

10:24Feeling the pain on the road, I'm thinking to myself, like, this is what my ancestors went through.

10:29You know, through the long walk.

10:31I haven't reached 300 miles on my skates.

10:35And you realize the strength and how powerful my ancestors, our ancestors were.

10:43And you think, wow.

10:49God, that's so pretty.

11:01Thank you everyone for being here.

11:03Really appreciate it.

11:04The cheering and all that stuff means a lot because we're just, we're like in the moment of just

11:11stress on our bodies and stuff.

11:14And it's just, it's awesome.

11:16Really means a lot.

11:18Yeah.

11:19When you put your feet down on the ground and you wish for those things, you pray for those things,

11:23you talk about those things, it goes into the earth like that mycelium.

11:26And it'll reach somebody else who's also sitting on the earth trying to find their way home.

11:33Although there's an awareness that you're, you're advocating for.

11:36You're still doing something that many people are losing hope.

11:43That it's hard for them to even come home themselves.

11:45Yeah.

11:46So thank you for everything that you're doing.

11:49Every, every stride you take.

11:59Brings people closer together.

12:01And it's reminding them.

12:03Just like the guy that went by.

12:05We're all relatives.

12:06We're all family.

12:07We're right here.

12:09And if we slow down, right, just enough, we might see the people who need us to see them.

12:16I might cry.

12:18I've been emotional through this whole week.

12:22Emotions?

12:23Yeah.

12:24Those tears are healing.

12:26You think about all the people who've gone through here,

12:29who've had to secure their heart and hold on to themselves for so long that it's hardened.

12:36And they don't know how to cry.

12:38Or they don't have enough tears left.

12:40Right?

12:41And all you're doing is bringing it back.

12:43Okay.

12:45I think this is the most I've cried this week.

12:49It's very, very emotional.

12:51Yeah, I really, really, really enjoy that.

12:53And needed to hear it.

12:56Yeah.

13:20I was praying on the way, you know, just for like closure.

13:24Okay, I can't tell where we are.

13:26Oh, there it is.

13:36Where's the tape?

13:39Hey!

13:40New personal PR.

13:48That was amazing what you did.

13:50Takes a special human.

13:53To have a heart as big as yours and muscles to go with it.

13:59It doesn't really hit you, I think, because the only thing you're thinking about is like,

14:03am I going to survive today because I'm so tired?

14:06But then you see this and you realize it's all worth it.

14:14That's like a big smile right there with like, oh my God, this is intense and I'm like ready to die.

14:20Yeah.

14:23It's just, it's surreal.

14:28Getting on the road was hard, but we did it.

14:32And just, I didn't think I was going to finish what I did and set a personal record of 47 and a half miles in one day.

14:40And I'll take that with me forever and spread it and tell it to my grandkids one day.

14:47They probably won't believe me, but whatever.

14:49I have the newspapers to show it.

14:52Yeah.

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