Agency house on Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation |
I have always been an advocate for unjust things. When I see an injustice, I have a need to help in some way no matter how small.
When I first saw a post on Facebook about missing and
murdered Indigenous women my heart cracked for the women and children who
suffered and their families who never had answers. Before I started writing my
Gabriel Hawke series, I subscribed to the CUJ (Confederated Umatilla Journal)
the newspaper written and put out by the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla. I wanted to know more about
the area where I had imagined my character growing up and where his mother
still lived. It helped me to see him better and to learn more about where he
came from.
Every time I receive one of the newspapers, I read it from
front to back. When the stories about the missing and murder women and the
cause--women speaking out and making noise--I was drawn to the movement. The
more I read and learned how many Indigenous women, children, and men were lost
to their families because of lack of concern by the authorities, my anger rose.
I wanted to help.
The best way I knew was to use my voice—and being a writer,
that meant my writing voice. I decided Hawke would be called to the reservation
by his mother to help find a missing woman. Once the idea took root, I couldn’t
shake it.
And to not only spread the word, I decided that proceeds from
the sale of the book would go to the non-profit organization, Enough Iz Enough.
This organization is on the Umatilla Reservation with classes on how to
protect and watch out for potential dangers, and to give voice to the missing
tribal members.
I was fortunate when I began pulling information together to
write the book to ask the organizer of the program if she would be willing to
help me make sure my portrayal of the situation was accurate as well as
logistics and information about the reservation. She was accepting of my
request. And with good reason. She has lost four family members. Two were found
murdered, the killer never caught and two have never been found. The cause is personal
for her. And hearing her story of loss and futile efforts for answers, the
cause became personal to me.
After reading the finished product, she gave me a lovely
review: “The story was captivating, I couldn’t put it down. So many memories
were brought to surface, so many emotions, like this has been lived before,
because it has, this is a glimpse into our reality in the Reservation. Thank
you for seeing us & helping tell part of the story.” Kola Shippentower-Thompson Enough Iz Enough,
Co-Founder & Director
Is there a cause that you have felt compelled to help? What
made you decide to be part of a solution?
Stolen Butterfly, Book 7 in the Gabriel Hawke Novels
is now available
Excerpt:
“We told
the woman who called in, we have to wait seventy-two hours. These reservation
women get liquored up and forget they have kids at home or decide they’ve had
enough and walk out.”
Hawke
stared at the bald-headed detective in his fifties that he’d been referred to
when he explained why he was there. “Detective Lockland. You are stereotyping
the reservation women. Most have strong motherly instincts and wouldn’t go on a
drunk or walk away from their families. This woman happens to be one of those.
She works at the bank in town, never misses picking her son up from the sitter,
and doesn’t go out partying and drinking.”
“How do
you know that? Her family could be lying to you.” The man wasn’t about to back
down from his stand on what he thought to be the truth.
Ignorance
about his people was something Hawke had fought all his life. “I know because
I’ve been interviewing the people she works with and the people she spends time
with. Something that might help us find her faster if you had done the same
last night when my mother called you.”
The man
leaned back in his chair and smiled. “Now I see. You’re one of them. Does your
superior know you’re here poking around in someone else’s case?”
“Then you
are going to investigate? If this is your case?” Hawke held back the disdain he
felt for the man as the detective stuttered and tried to say it wasn’t a case
until seventy-two hours had passed.
The proceeds from the sale of this book will go to the non-profit
Enough Iz Enough. This is a community outreach organization that advocates for
MMIP on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation.
Stolen Butterfly
Gabriel Hawke Novel #7
Hawke arrives at the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation and learns the single mother of a boy his mom watches would never leave her son. Angered over how the local officials respond to his investigating, Hawke teams up with a security guard at the Indian casino and an FBI agent. Following the leads, they discover the woman was targeted by a human trafficking ring at the Spotted Pony Casino.
Hawke, Dela Alvaro, and FBI Special Agent Quinn Pierce join forces to bring the woman home and close down the trafficking operation before someone else goes missing.
Link for all ebook vendors: https://books2read.com/u/baZEPq
Paty Jager
is an award-winning author of 50 novels, 8 novellas, and numerous anthologies
of murder mystery and western romance. All her work has Western or Native
American elements in them along with hints of humor and engaging characters. Paty and her
husband raise alfalfa hay in rural eastern Oregon. Riding horses and battling
rattlesnakes, she not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives it.
blog / website
/ Facebook / Paty's Posse
/ Goodreads / Twitter /
Pinterest / Bookbub
Hi Paty: This is such a sad situation. I feel for those who have lost loved ones with no explanation. You're so sweet to help, and I'm off to grab a copy. Hugs to you, and many hugs and prayers to your friends!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Julie.
ReplyDelete