The search for missing and murdered Indigenous relatives is a personal one in this prairie city

REDWOOD FALLS, Minn. – Shantae Dow, her face wet with tears, handed her grandmother the poem she had written about her missing father.

The 18-year-old was only 10 when her father, Mato Dow, disappeared after leaving his sister's apartment in 2017. He remains missing after eight years, with his relatives and loved ones still searching for answers.

In the poem, Shantae Dow wrote about how her father composed poems for her and her sister Avery, and how he had taught them how to bead. But overcome with emotion, she could not read the poem out loud on Monday night.

Her grandmother, Lorna Dow, read her granddaughter's words: "He never gave up on his girls, and I will never give up on him."

In front of them was a crowd of about 90 people gathered in this small town about two hours southwest of the Twin Cities. Their goal was to walk through Redwood Falls and make the public aware of an epidemic of murdered and missing people in the Indigenous community.

Similar demonstrations took place in Duluth and Mahnomen on Monday, the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIW). Marches in the Twin Cities earlier this year drew in hundreds of people.

Though Indigenous people make up just 1% of the state's population, 9% of all girls and women slain from 2010 to 2019 were American Indians, according to a 2019 report from the Minnesota Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) Task Force.

In Redwood Falls, the issue of missing relatives was a personal one for many among the crowd on Monday. Marches for missing relatives have been held there for the past three years.

Mato Dow was 26 when he was last seen leaving his sister's apartment in Redwood Falls, a few miles from the Lower Sioux Indian Community.

Since Dow's disappearance, his relatives and loved ones have stapled posters asking for help finding him on telephone poles and poster boards across the city.

"It doesn't get easier, you guys," his mother, Lorna Dow, told the crowd on Monday. "I want closure, I wish somebody would come forward."

Many among the crowd said they believe people are scared to go to authorities with information.

"Hopefully this leads to some type of lead," said one relative, Karina Cruz, as she marched. "Or some sort of justice."

The marchers waved signs with the names of other missing Indigenous people as they walked through the center of town. They stopped at a park, where Mato Dow's relatives spoke and prayed.

Mato Dow was always making silly dances and giving funny nicknames, his brother, Aaron Northrup, recalled. He said every time he sees his daughter and niece playing together, he's reminded of the childhood he spent playing with his brother.

During the march, Northrup carried a sign of his friend Peter Martin, who was last seen near Fond du Lac Reservation last year.

"This is felt by a lot of Indian Country, this is more than what happens in our community," Northrup said. "From one tribal nation to another, we're all in this together."