IWMF: What would you like to tell the world about what you are witnessing, learning or hoping for with your reporting?
Brooklyn Brown: There is a continuous outpouring of raw emotion in this work. There is pain, sadness, anger, outrage, hope, renewal, righteousness, love. We are all dealing with so much — all of us as people experiencing this issue. In reporting on this work, we need to take care of ourselves and each other. Our duty to take care of each other is part of what will ignite change for our communities. The burden is heavy, but it does not need to be carried alone.
What type of impact has your MMIWG2T reporting project had so far?
My MMIWG2T project funded by IWMF has been in progress since January. For the last five months, my project has impacted my community by providing a clear and accessible outlet to share stories of our missing and murdered. With the weekly graphics and monthly articles my project produces, families of missing and murdered Cherokee people are able to share their story and advocate for their loved one on their terms. The Cherokee One Feather, which is the media outlet I report for, has become a place to voice community concern for the MMIWG2T on the Qualla Boundary and beyond.
What does it mean to be covering your own tribal nation?
It is humbling to cover my own tribal nation within my MMIWG2T project. I am impassioned to provide a platform for my community, and I am simultaneously reminded of the pain, injustice and tragedy of the MMIWG2T movement within my own community. To know the mothers, sisters, community members, lost to violence, by name and story, is a wholly new thing which is harrowing and inspiring.
When the reporting is done the story continues to live. What have you learned about this being true?
The story lives as a reminder of what has happened and a call to action for the loss of a life in our Cherokee community. Sometimes that call to action is justice, sometimes it is reformation, sometimes it is redemption. The story serves a continual purpose past publishing that provides a steady heartbeat for action.