Missing from Fire Trail Road
The genocide of Native Americans, which began prior to the founding of the United States, but has continued in the two and a half centuries after it, is the original sin of white settlers in this part of the world. Until we collectively reckon with that, we will never start to break away from being a society where white supremacy is a fundamental fact of life. Sabrina Van Tassel’s documentary is one of many in recent years highlighting the United States’s continued marginalization of Native communities, especially when it comes to the disappearance (and murder) of Native women. If the stories continue to be told, it’s because not enough people are paying attention. That doesn’t make each story any less urgent to tell.
“Missing from Fire Trail Road” centers on the story of Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis, who disappeared from the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Washington in 2020. She was last seen walking on Fire Trail Road, but she is remembered, first and foremost, for who she was in life. Her family, and the community, remember who she was, how difficult her life was, and just want answers. Unfortunately, the most likely person to answer those questions- her white husband- has gone to California (far from the tribe’s jurisdiction) and changed his number. We gather the husband was abusive and controlling, but other possibilities more closer to home (like the drug dealers she procured from) do exist, as well. The problem exists simply in that not enough white American law enforcement care. The numbers of missing and murdered Native women are harrowing. We need to be better than this towards the people whose ancestors preceded us on this land.
One of the things that Van Tassel is careful to do is to illustrate the ways in which the disappearances such as Johnson-Davis’s are a continuation of centuries of trauma for these communities. Everything is connected, including the boarding schools in North America that were a way to assimilate Native children into white society, removing their sense of connectedness with their people. Apologies for these atrocities will only go so far; action and empathy from our part- and our government’s part- will be how we can assist in healing the pain caused over the centuries. Telling their stories, making sure their voices are heard, is another way to do so, and Van Tassel’s film is a powerful, angry and sad story that we might learn from, and trigger our emotions towards this community.
