Brighton trucker offers a message and sanctuary for Indigenous women
You might see Elizabeth Johnson’s semi-tractor trailer traveling the U.S. interstate highways, especially between Colorado and Nebraska.
And if you do see it, there’s no way you can miss Johnson’s message. The entire trailer carries the simple direct message: “Invisible No More.”
It’s a message meant to bring attention to the plight of missing and murdered Indigenous women whose cases are unsolved.
Johnson — a member of the Ho-Chunk Tribal Nation of Nebraska — has been spreading the message since 2017.
“My message as a woman is, if any woman sees this semi-truck and needs help, me and my dog Delilah will help you to safety,” Johnson said. “Knock on my semi-truck door.”
There are an estimated 506 cases of missing or murdered indigenous women across the country. And that’s likely an undercount due to bad data, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute. Of that number, 128 of the women are considered missing, while 280 were known murdered. Another 98 are cases of unknown status, according to the Urban Indian Health Institute.
The group surveyed 71 police stations and one state agency and found 5,712 missing and murdered Indigenous cases were reported in 2016. But of those, only 116 were logged in a Justice Department database.
According to the National Institute of Justice, as of May 2023, 84.3% more than 1.5 million American Indian and Alaskan Native women experience violence in their lifetime. Victimization of American Indian and Native woman is 1.2 times higher than white women.
Johnson and her family moved to Winnebago in Nebraska when she was five, and she was raised as a tribal member of the Nebraska Ho-Chunk tribe and given the name Rainbow Woman.
She left home when she was in her preteens and has kept moving.
“I don’t know if God would bless me to go further in my trucking industry or this is the end of my travels, but when I see family, I want to make an apple pie,” Johnson said.
Nebraska is always her home, she said, but so is Colorado because her son and grandchildren live in Brighton. She spends half her time with them.
Johnson started her mission because she was a victim of abuse herself. It was a two-way abusive situation, she said: He was abusive to her, but she fought back.
“He would put me on his lap with a knife at my throat,” Johnson said. “It was a toxic relationship. I left, and I was done. As soon that door closed, God, or wherever you want to believe, started to open other doors for me.”
She had worked as a construction driver in the summer and fall. She was laid off in the winter but guaranteed to return in the summer. Even so, she said she needed a more consistent job, and she needed reliable transportation to do that. She found a pick-up truck she liked and approached a bank looking for a loan.
“They never wanted to give me a loan, but I told them if you don’t give me a loan, I’m going to go somewhere else,” she said. “This is income that comes to your bank and comes back out. They gave me the loan, and I purchased a brand-new Silverado. When I purchased the truck, that was when I left the man. I thought I was going to die leaving him and was heartbroken, but I left.”
Johnson said she drove the Silverado for a while, and although it was nice to drive a cute truck, she was still broke.
“I went back to the bank and asked for a loan to trade off the Silverado for a used semi to make money,” she said. “I told the banker it was a win-win. I could make money at the same cost Silverado. The woman sat across from me and said, ‘I’m going do it for you’. Usually, they didn’t give business loans.”
That opened a door for Johnson, and she started her trucking company, Ho-Chunk Trucking, in 2017. After a couple of years, she was able to upgrade and buy a new semi-truck. Then, after a couple’s years of hauling other companies’ trailers, she took out another loan and purchased her own trailer in 2020.
“I wanted my own trailer because women in the industry are treated badly. It’s a whole other story,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that once she had a trailer, she started thinking about it as a platform for other Native American women.
“I went through hell and back. What is the message I wanted to say to the world?” she said.
Johnson decided to do a custom wrap on her trailer with a message about Indigenous women. She also included pictures of her family dressed in regalia and a friend dancing pow-pow and included information about 500 gone missing or murdered women.
One photo, showing a woman with a red hand over her mouth, is her niece Jalisa Horn who was left for dead from abuse and had to crawl to get help. Horn agreed to add her photo to draw attention to the message.
Gov. Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 22-150, a law requiring official reports of missing indigenous people within eight hours. Missing children must be reported to law enforcement within two, under the law.
The act also requires the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to work on investigating missing or murdered indigenous persons and also work with federal, state, and local law enforcement to effectively investigate the cases.
In addition, an alert system and an agency called Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives are responsible for reporting and improving the investigation of missing and murdered Indigenous women and addressing injustice in the criminal justice system.
This story was previously published by Colorado Community Media and is being republished from AP StoryShare.
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Small-Town Newspaper Readers Are More Open to New Revenue Ideas Than Publishers
There’s a conflict between what weekly newspaper publishers think are the most likely ways their businesses will generate money in the future and what their readers are most willing to pay for, according to a study conducted in four states in the northern Great Plains.
The research – which focused on weekly papers in Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota – found that publishers were more likely to bank on traditional sources of revenue like advertising and subscriptions. Readers, on the other hand, were more likely than publishers to say they were willing to pay for less traditional products and services such as events, memberships, and newsletters.
The study concludes that there is “a clear disconnect between what revenue streams publishers are willing to implement and what revenue streams readers are potentially willing to endorse.”
The research, written by scholars at public universities in Kansas, Colorado, and Missouri, has implications for small-town and rural media that are negotiating major changes in the news-industry economy.
In the last 20 years more than 500 rural newspapers have closed or merged, but little of the research on the journalism economy has focused on small-market media, said the study’s lead, Teri Finneman, associate professor at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas. Dozens of papers closed during the pandemic alone, Finneman said.
“It really made me start thinking, ‘why is it that we don't yet have a solution for this business model problem?’ And frankly, I saw this as a failure of academia, like why in the last 20 years has there not been a solution found for the industry? And so this really motivated me to try to look into some solutions to this very serious problem.”
Together with two colleagues, Finneman researched the possible revenue streams, speakng with publishers and readers in the Heartland states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas.
Not surprisingly, the publishers picked the model that has been around for hundreds of years: advertising and legal notices.
“They very much pitch the current model, which is concerning, because we know that legal notices are under attack at legislatures across the country,” said Finneman, publisher of The Eudora Times, a nationally recognized news desert publication that she runs with journalism students. “And so at any point, newspapers could see that revenue disappear, which is why we are arguing why it is so important to be proactive instead of reactive, so that there are more financial resources coming in.”
For readers, however, the study found that the top response for an additional revenue stream was events.
“The most common phrase in rural areas is there's nothing to do. So it makes a lot of sense that events would be very popular because they're looking for things to do,” said Finneman, who grew up and spent a large part of her life in rural North Dakota.
Another top option for readers was memberships, which was defined as a perk beyond subscription.
“We left it simple like that, because there's different ways to do membership programs,” she said. “And this was something that readers said that they were really interested in.”
Other myths that were busted about rural America include that older adults care more about the news and consuming it. The study found that residents ages 18 to 54 were more willing to financially help their newspaper than those over age 55.
“The industry has got to get past this myth that their older readers are the only base that they have to serve because they have a lot of younger people who would be willing to support them if they were given an opportunity,” Finneman said.
Still, for all the myth busting and hardships for rural news, Finneman believes there are a lot of good things happening.
“Rural journalism has more of a stability to it, when they aren't run through Wall Street, and when they care more about their communities and not just making money for shareholders,” she said. “So there are a lot of positives for rural journalism. And I emphasize that to my students a lot about how many opportunities that there really are in this field.”
When a gunman entered a west Omaha Super Target in late January, he carried 13 loaded rifle magazines and a weapon that has gained symbolic stature in the national debate over guns: the AR-15.
Initially created for war, the AR-15’s popularity among firearm owners has skyrocketed in the past two decades, thanks largely to marketing by the gun industry, the sleek American aesthetics of the weapon and other factors that have contributed to an overall jump in firearm ownership.
Nearly 19 million AR-style rifles have been produced in the U.S. since 1990, according to one industry group. The NRA has touted the AR-15 as “America’s Rifle.”
But its use in more than half of the deadliest mass shootings of the past decade – from Uvalde, Texas, to Parkland, Florida – has made it a source of fear and outrage from many Americans, even as a majority of gun deaths involve handguns. Earlier this week a gunman armed with an AR-15-style rifle killed five people at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky.
Only one person died in the January 31 incident at the Omaha Target: the gunman, Joseph Jones. The 32-year-old suburban Omaha man fired multiple rounds from an AR-15-style rifle inside Target but did not hit any of the estimated 250 people in the store that day, according to the Omaha Police Department.
Eight minutes after Jones fired his first shot, a responding Omaha police officer shot him dead.
Joseph Jones fired multiple shots from an AR-15-style rifle inside an Omaha Super Target on January 31. The only person shot that day was Jones. The 32-year-old suburban Omaha man was fatally shot by a responding Omaha police officer. (Photo courtesy of the Omaha Police Department)
For Nebraska gun owners like Patricia Harrold, the Target shooting illustrated the importance of firearm ownership. Many gun owners “see themselves now as the first responder because society is changing,” said Harrold, president of the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association and an AR-15 owner. Law enforcement made initial contact with Jones six minutes after the first 911 call came in. “That is a long time to wait,” Harrold said.
Melody Vaccaro sees the speed that law enforcement responded with as a clear indication that the police view the AR-15 as a dangerous weapon. Omaha police previously said the officer who fired the fatal shot had a 15-second encounter with Jones, during which he made multiple commands to drop the weapon, before killing him.
“We are living in two realities,” said Vaccaro, executive director of Nebraskans Against Gun Violence, a gun violence prevention advocacy group.
Made for the Battlefield
Before becoming a top selling firearm for civilians, the AR-15 was created to give America’s military an advantage. Designed in the 1950s by Eugene Stoner of ArmaLite Inc. and licensed to the Colt company, the rifle was an alternative to heavier battlefield rifles at the time. The ArmaLite is where the “AR” in AR-15 comes from.
The U.S. Air Force adopted the weapon in 1962, the Department of Defense designated it the M-16 and it was viewed as the standard U.S. military rifle by the late 1960s.
Colt marketed a semi-automatic version – meaning each pull of the trigger fires one bullet and automatically reloads another one – of the weapon to civilians and law enforcement as the AR-15. In the 1970s as patents expired, other companies did as well, making their own versions of the rifle.
By the Numbers
Today, AR-style rifles are among the most manufactured firearms. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearm industry, estimates that more than 18.9 million AR-style rifles were produced in the U.S. between 1990 and 2020.
Timothy D. Lytton, a law professor at Georgia State University whose research focuses on gun violence, noted that perceptions of the AR-15 seemed to change starting in the 1990s. For years, firearm advertising focused on traditional hunting rifles.
“Before that time, I think it was considered by many firearms owners to be more of an exotic weapon. Most people basically either had a handgun for self-defense or a long gun for sporting purposes,” Lytton told the Flatwater Free Press. “If you look at an NRA magazine from the 1990s, you see a picture of a person in red plaid with a hunting rifle or someone at a range with a pistol.”
The gun industry had a problem: It manufactured a product that, unlike cars or dishwashers, didn’t wear out if properly maintained. A well-maintained firearm can last the lifetime of an owner.
That’s a good thing for the consumer, Lytton said, but a tough spot for a gun manufacturer.
“There is a need to either develop new markets and find ways to get people who are not current firearm owners to purchase them,” Lytton said. “Or … get current firearms owners to buy new types of weapons.”
Manufacturers emphasized the tactical nature of the weapon in ads, giving people the thrill of combat without ever actually going to war. A popular phrase in the advertising: “Consider your man card reissued.”
“It’s sort of part of the general marketing strategy. I think many people who sell products are looking to sell, not just a product, but an experience,” said Lytton.
That experience seemingly became more in demand beginning in 2002 – two years before the expiration of a federal ban blocking the manufacturing of some semi-automatic rifles – when production started steadily picking up. Since 2003, at least 107,000 AR-style rifles have been produced each year, according to the trade association’s estimates. Production jumped again in 2009 to 692,000.
Then came 2020, a year defined by the COVID-19 pandemic and a summer of racial unrest following the murder of George Floyd by police. Production of AR-style rifles that year reached nearly 2.5 million – the highest estimated total in 30 years.
“The firearm industry responds to market demand and this shows that during the elevated period of firearm sales that began in 2020, this particular style of rifle is the top choice for law-abiding citizens for hunting, recreational shooting and self-defense,” said Joe Bartozzi, the trade association’s president and CEO, in a press release.
More Americans became gun owners in 2020 for the first time, according to a survey conducted as part of a research study at Northeastern University and Harvard Injury Control Research Center. The survey estimated 2.9% of U.S. adults became new gun owners between Jan. 1, 2019, and April 26, 2021. Approximately half of all new gun owners were female, 20% were Black and 20% were Hispanic, according to the study.
Beyond surveys, specific data on sales and ownership are hard to come by. That’s because a federal law bans the bulk collection and compiling of gun sale data by the federal government.
Nebraska’s population shares many of the same dominant demographic characteristics of AR-15 owners based on a poll conducted by the Washington Post and Ipsos. That poll, which surveyed 400 AR-15 owners, found that they are significantly more likely to be white, male, Republican and between the ages 40 and 65 when compared with Americans as a whole. AR-15 owners also are more likely to have higher incomes and a background of military service and live in states won by Donald Trump in 2020, the Post reported.
Nebraska’s population is nearly 88% white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The state overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020.
Census data estimates that veterans account for nearly 6% of Nebraska’s overall population.
Appeal vs. Fear
A major part of the appeal of the AR-15 is that it can be purchased in various sizes and be modified for the owner’s particular needs, said Harrold, the gun rights advocate. Women are a big market. Traditional hunting rifles tend to be long-barreled and very heavy, which she said can be intimidating.
“What I particularly like about the AR is that I can have a much more compact frame, which allows me to operate it far more safely, far more confidently,” she said.
The various rails on the AR-15 allow accessories to be attached to it. A flash suppressor. Flashlights. Other accessories that manage the weight and the recoil.
“There’s all these accessories that seem to grab people’s attention, that make the firearm appear to someone who is unfamiliar with it as, quote-unquote, a weapon of war, when none of us would take it to war,” Harrold said. “None of us would configure it that way for war. That doesn’t make any sense.”
Harrold said she uses the AR-15 for hunting – she has coyotes on her property and the AR-15 is easier to use than a traditional hunting rifle. In the American South it is used to hunt wild boars. Many say they use it for home defense.
“ARs are not unwieldy. (They) tuck into your shoulder. They stick out a foot and a half,” she said. “It’s a very close-quarter-capable frame.”
But for many non-gun-owning Americans, their familiarity with the AR-15 is directly linked to mass slayings.
That includes the 2017 shooting at a Las Vegas music festival that killed 60 people, making it the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. Others identified in the Post analysis include the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary (27 dead); the 2017 shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas (25 dead); the Uvalde school shooting in 2022 (21 dead); and the 2018 Parkland school shooting in Florida (17 dead). Those five are among the 10 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, according to the online news outlet Axios.
In Nebraska, the deadliest mass shooting on record involved a different style of semi-automatic rifle: the AK-47. Robert Hawkins used an AK-47-style rifle to kill eight people at the Westroads Von Maur in Omaha on Dec. 5, 2007.
Police recovered this AR-15-style rifle from an Omaha Super Target on Jan. 31. Along with the rifle, police said the gunman had 13 loaded rifle magazines. (Photo courtesy of the Omaha Police Department)
Despite their use in mass shootings, neither AR-style rifles nor AK-47s are used in a majority of homicides involving guns, according to data compiled by the FBI. Those figures, based on information voluntarily submitted by law enforcement, show that handguns were used in nearly two-thirds of homicides involving a firearm in 2019. By comparison, rifles were used in less than 4% of those homicides.
AR-style rifles still can cast an intimidating presence.
In 2020, an estimated 400 protestors flooded the Nebraska Capitol to oppose a pair of gun control proposals. Some of them openly carried guns down the Capitol’s limestone hallways and crowded into meeting rooms. In one case, a young man carried an AR-15 and wore an Army helmet, vest and a Hawain patterned T-shirt associated with a far-right anti-government movement. Carrying a concealed weapon is prohibited at the Nebraska Capitol. There is no such prohibition on openly carrying a firearm.
“It was terrifying,” said Vaccaro, who was there representing Nebraskans Against Gun Violence. “It was really scary to see multiple people, with loaded assault weapons, that could literally kill you in a moment before you could even think about running. Because we had to be that close to each other.”
Vaccaro wasn’t the only one with those views at the time. In remarks to her colleagues, State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha said she was traumatized by the events at the Capitol that day.
“It was clearly the intent to intimidate this body. I won’t assume to speak for others in this Legislature, but for myself, I was intimidated. I was scared. I was worried about how someone might react to my bill and what I had to say might trigger a dangerous reaction,” she said, before taking issue with the characterization of the AR-15 as a weapon primarily used for self defense.
“I cannot recall a single news story referencing an AR-15 being used for anything beyond mass shootings. I cannot find a single news story about it being used for self-defense,” she said.
In response, Sen. Tom Brewer, a veteran who has advocated for eliminating some firearm regulations in Nebraska, acknowledged “some people are afraid of guns” and said he didn’t believe there was a need for anyone to bring a gun into the Capitol.
“But it is their right to do that. Now, if you want to write rules and prohibit that, have at it, but understand that that 400 can turn into 800 pretty quick because this is an issue people will stand their ground on,” he said. “They know that once they lose their Second Amendment, they lose their First Amendment.”
The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraska’s first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.
