In 2018, Charlene Aqpik Apok (Iñupiaq) took part in a rally at the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention. Held in Anchorage, the convening is the largest gathering of Alaska Native people, and where representatives from 177 federally recognized tribes make their voices heard on critical policy issues. It was there that Apok first held a list in her hand of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples (MMIP) from across the state, reading their names out loud in an emotional rally. The handwritten list was the first time Alaska’s rampant MMIP issue had been quantified. As the rally went on, people approached her to add the names of their loved ones.
Today, that list has grown into Data for Indigenous Justice, a nonprofit founded and led by Apok that stewards data around Alaska’s MMIP to drive change in the systems that allow the crisis to flourish.
Apok talked to Native News Online about data sovereignty, decentralizing power through advocacy, and how she takes care of herself amid the emotional toll of her work…