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Rachael Lorenzo (Mescalero Apache/Laguna Pueblo/Xicana) started Indigenous Women Rising in 2014 as a campaign to bring attention to the fact that indigneous women and people who rely on Indian Health Services for healthcare were being denied access to Plan B, a form of emergency contraception. This was a huge issue considering the disproportionately high rates of domestic violence and sexual assault on reservations and the limited capability of tribes to prosecute non-Native offenders.

 

After a few years of strategizing and learning, Rachael began to articulate real ways to intertwine political experiences with her desire to see equity in access to necessary healthcare, always thinking of her family and community members who rely on IHS for healthcare.  She also began to understand how art in all of its forms, research, policy, politics, and community organizing fit together to bring visibility to communities and families of color.

 

Now, Indigenous Women Rising creates the space for us as indigenous people to tell our own stories on our terms as an act of resistance, self love, and love for our ancestors and family.  We reclaim what colonialism and white supremacy have tried to strip from us: idenity, culture, tradition, and language.