Rachel Fernandez:
Red hand — I know in some tribes, it doesn't represent good, but from what I was taught early on, the red hand over the mouth is about silence. And we had this conversation at our first gathering for MMIP in Arizona, how some tribes and families don't like, like with the blood and everything. So we try to be mindful of that now. The intent wasn't to harm. It was to help and bring awareness, but that's what I was taught and what I was told starting early on, that that red hand meant silence. We are silent no more. Everything is changing, and I feel it and I know it. We just have to keep on, and we have to keep bringing people with us, all of our allies. We need all of the tribes. We need our leadership at the Capitol. We need everyone boots on the ground, because I pray for the day when I don't need to do this anymore and I don't need to pass this down to my kids. We talk about intergenerational trauma — I don't want to pass this down to them, I don't want to leave this to other younger advocates — but that's just our reality right now.