She’s on a Roller-Skating Mission to Honor Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

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It’s always the same dream. Melissa Skeet is roller-skating down an open road, slicing through the arid Arizona desert in the heart of Navajo Nation. A jagged rock formation peers down at her, and the surrounding mesas glow red with the setting sun. She feels free. She feels a sense of healing.

After waking up, the 36-year-old former roller derby player laces up her skates and lives that dream. Skeet is currently on a four-month-long skating journey across the United States to amplify Indigenous voices and raise awareness for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) crisis. “The Great Skate,” as she calls her mission, has taken her to more than a dozen states, through the Pacific Northwest, across the Great Plains, and along the Great Lakes, all the way to Washington D.C.

Everything is documented on her Instagram account, @skeet_fighter, where followers can donate to the cause and help fund her travels. “People all over the world might ask, ‘Why is this crazy roller skater skating this crazy-long distance?’” Skeet says. “I want to cut the ties of generational trauma.”

As an Indigenous woman (Skeet is a citizen of Navajo Nation) and a survivor of domestic violence, this journey is about honoring the past while looking forward to a brighter future. “My ancestors fought really hard so that I could be here today,” she says. “I’m telling my story, but also their story.”

Read More: https://www.elle.com/culture/career-pol ... r-journey/