2026 okc women's march guest speakers

Melanie Fish is a Muscogee (Creek) Nation citizen and Mississippi Choctaw as well as an outreach coordinator, and grassroots advocate focused on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) awareness, prevention, and family-centered advocacy. 

She is the President of the MMIP OKC Chapter, where she leads community education, outreach initiatives, and support efforts for families impacted by violence, disappearance, and systemic neglect.  Her work is grounded in Indigenous sovereignty, cultural responsibility, and lived experience, including navigating justice and child welfare systems that disproportionately harm Indigenous families.

Melanie’s advocacy is rooted in accountability, historical truth, and the belief that protecting Indigenous lives requires community-led solutions. She continues to work—often without compensation—to ensure that Indigenous people are not erased, ignored, or forgotten. 

 I believe that the people of Oklahoma need to be aware of the negative effects of our extremely high incarceration of women. The majority of these women have children who are being traumatized, which will lead to another generation facing high incarceration.

Our sentences lengths are far longer than in most states, and we lock up people for offenses other states place on probation.  It is costly to lock these women up, both in direct costs and indirect costs of lost labor and parenting.

Oklahoma, we can do better than this.  

Statement & photo will be added soon!

 Women’s healthcare is too often treated as optional or secondary, when it is foundational to the health of families and entire communities. I chose this focus because I see firsthand how gaps in access, education, and support impact real people every day.

Giving my time and energy to this work is about helping close those gaps and making sure women are seen, heard, and prioritized in the systems meant to serve them. When women have access to quality care, the outcomes ripple far beyond the individual. This is about equity, dignity, and building healthier communities for all of us. 

Shedding light on wage gap economics is necessary because it is important to understand how earnings compared to men affect women, people of color, and gender minorities.

 If equal pay were a reality in Oklahoma, the poverty rate for working women in the state would be reduced isby almost half. Everyone deserves equal pay for equal work!

Mvto (Thank you)

 The SAVE Act, if passed, seeks to permanently curtail the expansion of voting rights to women and people of color. Its goal is to return the country to the misogynistic, racist version of the original Constitution that gives voting rights only to white males, erasing all the progress that “We the people” have demanded. 

 It was an honor to speak at the 2026 OKC Women's March because survivors deserve to be seen, heard, and believed; silence only allows the cycle to continue. As someone deeply impacted by domestic violence and the justice system, I understand the power of one voice to create space for others.

Domestic violence is not a private issue; it is a community crisis that affects families, children, and entire systems. Advocacy and awareness can lead to meaningful change, from stronger protections to greater support for survivors. Showing up was my way of standing in that gap and helping move the conversation forward. 

Statement & photo will be added soon!

 I am donating my time and effort to build the OKC Women’s March because embedded sexism in Oklahoma continues to shape every outcome women face from safety to healthcare to justice.

Reproductive laws are not just policy decisions; they are active forces that strip women of autonomy and control over their own bodies. When a state can force a woman to carry a pregnancy but cannot guarantee her safety, care, or dignity, that is not protection; it is control.

This work is necessary because too many women in Oklahoma are being harmed by systems that were never designed to fully protect them.