Ku Stevens leads the way during the Remembrance Run, produced by Jason Bean for Reno Gazette Journal

Kutoven Stevens was joined by many others  to complete a 50 mile trek last weekend from Stewart Indian School near Carson City to Yerington Paiute Tribal Lands in Mason Valley, Nevada. Some ran, others walked, struggling to put one foot in front of the next through the heat, smoke, sand, and barbed wire fences. They ran to remember: to remember 8 year old Frank “Togo” Quinn who took this lonely route  3 separate times under the cover of darkness with his intense longing to be with his mother and father. They ran to remember the other native children across North America forcibly taken from the safety of their families, some children never to be seen again.

Ironically, Kutoven’s own father is a highly respected community member in Mason Valley where he works in a career to protect vulnerable Nevada children. Kutoven and his parents, Misty and Delmar Stevens, have gracefully shared their own family’s history to bring cultural awareness to the past and to foster understanding for the plights of many peoples in the present.

This video, “Ku Stevens leads the way during the Remembrance Run” was produced by Jason Bean for the Reno Gazette Journal RGJ.  Executive Editor Brian Duggan for the RGJ gave Pizen Switch Times permission to share on pizenswitchtimes.com   .