Utoo Radio with Other News Sources - May 29, 2024 - Billboards in Montana are raising awareness about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) crisis, with images of Native American women marked with red handprints on their faces.

The billboards, created by Jen Murphy, an enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe, aim to make people stop their cars and raise awareness about the issue.

The MMIP crisis is prevalent across the United States, with Indigenous peoples being murdered at a rate ten times the national average. Native advocates say that the actual number is likely higher.

Murphy, a chaplain and personal trainer, was inspired by the disappearance of 23-year-old Jermaine Charlo in 2018 and decided to use her self-taught photography skills to raise awareness.

She connected with outdoor advertising company Lamar Advertising, which leases more than 360,000 billboards across the United States, providing billboard space at a discount and funding a nationwide digital billboard campaign.

Each billboard is carefully considered and chosen after engaging in prayer, ceremony, and consultations with her loved ones to determine the messages she wants to appear alongside the images.

Today, the billboards are funded entirely by donations and Murphy hopes to someday expand the project to the rest of the U.S. and Canada.

She executive-produced a short film called Not Afraid, directed by Mikaela Bruce, which tells the story of a young Native woman affected by the MMIP crisis in rural Montana. The film won the Windrider Film Showcase 2024 Indigenous Film and Culture Award and Murphy and the team behind the film have ambitions to produce a feature-length film next year.

Murphy hopes the billboards and the film will inspire others to help raise awareness for the MMIP crisis, by whatever means they feel called.