Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, PA
Dear Coalition,
Because you are on our mailing list, we know you know about one of the most painful parts of our history...the Boarding School Era.
On Tuesday, July 30, the Department of the Interior and Secretary Deb Haaland released a report on the Boarding School era. This research by the Department of the Interior on the role of the US Government finds nearly 1000 Native children died in these schools. They suspect there are many more.
From the early 1800s through the late1960s, Christian churches collaborated with the federal government to create some 408 boarding schools in 37 states or territories. Each school was intent on stripping Native children of their Indigenous identities, beliefs, and languages to "kill the Indian, save the man."
From the work of Paula Palmer, (a Quaker who researched the involvement of Quakers) : "More than 100,000 Native children suffered the direct consequences of the federal government’s policy of forced assimilation by means of Indian boarding schools during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."
Palmer continues: "Their bereft parents, grandparents, siblings, and entire communities also suffered. As adults, when the former boarding school students had children, their children suffered, too. Now, through painful testimony and scientific research, we know how trauma can be passed from generation to generation. The multigenerational trauma of the boarding school experience is an open wound in Native communities today."
Secretary Haaland's report shared that the Government spent 25 billion dollars in today's dollars on the Boarding Schools. It suggests that the Government should spent the equivalency to begin healing this damage.The report suggests a variety of programs including language restoration, a National Monument, a formal apology and programs to educate the public.
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSPERSON AND SENATOR TO SUPPORT THE TWO BILLS PROPOSED BY SEC.DEB HAALAND TO INVESTIGATE AND BEGIN TO BRING HEALING TO NATIVE AMERICANS ADVERSELY TRAUMATIZED BY THE BOARDING SCHOOL ERA.
If you would like to be part of educating the public, please consider hosting our film NATIVE WOMEN AND ALLIES SPEAK: What You Weren't Taught in School
FILM TRAILER
PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SCHEDULING OUR FILM WITH A FOLLOW UP DISCUSSION.
Comments