Date: October 7, 2021

From: The Campaign to Free Maddesyn George

Contact: freemaddesynevents@gmail.com

Activists will Rally Outside the Federal Courthouse in Spokane on Friday, October 8, 2021 to Demand the Release of Native Sexual and Domestic Violence Survivor Maddesyn George

Supporters say that Maddesyn George, a 27-year-old Native mother from the Colville Reservation in Washington State, acted in self-defense after she was raped and threatened with a gun. Maddesyn has been incarcerated and denied bail since July 2020. She recently accepted a plea deal that includes a minimum of 5 years in federal prison; the prosecution has recommended a 17-year prison term. Those calling for her release say that Maddesyn should have never been charged in the first place and demand that the charges be dropped before her scheduled sentencing hearing in the Eastern District of Washington Federal Court on October 20.

This Friday, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Washington and the Campaign to Free Maddesyn George are holding a public march and rally in solidarity with Maddesyn and all those affected by the endemic colonial violence that targets Native women, girls, and 2 spirit relatives (#MMIWG2S). 

Activists will gather at Childhood Express "Red Wagon," Centennial Trail in Spokane at 5pm PT. The event will begin with a land acknowledgement, opening prayer and song, and introductory remarks by Colville tribal member and director of MMIW WA Earth-Feather Sovereign and Colville tribal elder Yvonne Swan. The march will proceed for a half mile to Thomas S. Foley Courthouse where Maddesyn’s mother, Jody George, and Earth-Feather Sovereign will address the crowd and lead the call for Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard Barker and Alison Gregoire to drop the charges.

This event will take place mere days before Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Indigenous Peoples’ Day was officially declared in Spokane in 2016 yet state and settler violence against Native women like Maddesyn has continued unabated. Maddesyn’s supporters call on the Department of Justice to honor Indigenous peoples by freeing Maddesyn from jail, dropping the charges against her and allowing her to return home to her daughter, her family, and her community. 

#FreeMaddesynGeorge 

#SurvivedAndPunished 

#ViolenceAgainstIndigenousWomen 

#MMIWG2S