"Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Daniel joins the Runners Alliance ambassador network as an advocate for Indigenous rights. Daniel brought the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement to the attention of the global running community when she ran the 2019 Boston Marathon with a red painted handprint over her mouth to represent the women silenced by violence, and the letters MMIW painted on her body. Every mile, Daniel said a prayer for a different Indigenous woman or girl affected by the MMIW epidemic—26 in all.
In the last year and a half, the Kul Wičasa Lakota runner who is based in Los Angeles has dedicated more than 100 miles to missing or murdered Indigenous women, girls, two spirit, and relatives. [Ed. Note: Two spirit refers to people who occupy an alternative gender status outside of man or woman.] Since Boston, Daniel has also encouraged allies to support organizations dedicated to the cause, and she is creating more educational awareness initiatives. Now Daniel is bringing her expertise to the Runners Alliance.
RUNNER'S WORLD: Why are your advocacy efforts important to you?
DANIEL: Advocating for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, two spirits, and our relatives is important because it's an epidemic happening to every Indigenous community, whether that's on the reservation, urban, or rural. And it's an epidemic and a heartbreak that expands beyond colonial borders and that's happening all over the world.
Advocating for the intersectionality across all of our movements just proves that everything is interconnected. They are all related. You can't have racial justice without climate justice. You can't have social justice without economic justice. Fighting for transformational change and equity; fighting for equality and visibility and respect, it's all connected. It also ensures that those coming from the BIPOC, the two spirit, LGBTQ, and non-binary community are heard and part of these conversations."
