American Indians Aren't Waiting for Apology from US Government for Abuse at Schools

 “We are going to heal and we are going to take our voice back, never to have our voice taken away again. We are taking our voice back so our children will have a voice and be able to stand tall.”

Similar to the Canadian and Australian policies and practices, the US government sought to eradicate Indian culture by subjecting tens of thousands of children to militaristic control, hard labor, severe punishment and sometimes even sexual abuse at the hands of corrupt administrators and teachers at the schools, according to documented reports. While most of these practices had ended by the 1950s, some survivors say abuses continued at some of the remaining schools through the 1980s.

And whatever the timeframe, countless people can testify that the abuse followed the children back home.

After 20 years of working with Indian people to heal, Coyhis is convinced that the anger, guilt, shame and fear underlying the plagues in Indian communities are the curses left by the boarding school legacy.

The Way Home Tour will focus on breaking the schools’ curse of intergenerational trauma through education, acknowledgment, grieving and forgiveness, said Laverne Beech, (Shoshone-Bannock) a member of the White Bison Board of Directors who is helping coordinate the tour.

Indian people still carry the trauma of the schools because tribes were outlawed from conducting traditional ceremonies that would have helped survivors and their families to process their grief, said Dr. Brave Heart.

Planned are workshops, facilitated talking circles and traditional Indian ceremonies at selected school site on the routes. A documentary on the boarding school experience is also scheduled for release during the tour. State and national politicians will be invited to weigh in at the level they deem meaningful.

The coast-to-coast journey is intended to send the message that Indian people can heal from the boarding school era without waiting for a formal apology or monetary settlement from the US government for what happened.

“We need to make this ride to talk to the people about forgiveness.  There is a story whose point is this: if you have resentment, it is like you are taking a poison pill and hoping the other person dies. It doesn’t work that way. As we make this ride and make this decision to forgive, it’s not about suing, it’s not about bringing lawsuits – it’s about healing,” said Coyhis.

Something’s Moving 

A proliferation of information on the Internet about the Indian boarding school experience and effects is evidence to many that the nation is ready to light its own collective sage to heal from the pain carried from the schools.

At least three documentaries and one full-length movie on the US Indian boarding school experience are in the works. Organizations like the Boarding School Healing Project are working to raise public awareness and promote healing. National Public Radio aired a two-part special in May and TNT’s 2005 miniseries “Into the West” featured a moving segment about Lakota children being sent to the Carlisle school.

The Ancient Ways of Knowing Foundation is slated to release a documentary during the ride on the boarding schools from a historical perspective, through the sharing of personal stories and an examination of intergenerational trauma and its effects on the social fabric of Indian communities, said Freita F. Keluche, head of the foundation.

Gover, who is now director of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC, is featured in one upcoming documentary on the schools entitled, “Something’s Moving.” While heading up the BIA in 2000, Gover apologized for the century of wrongs committed by the agency, including brutalizing Indian children "emotionally, psychologically, physically and spiritually" in boarding schools. While not officially backed by the US government, Gover’s heartfelt apology spoke directly to Indian people and the love-hate relationship they have long felt for their “trustee.”

Apology Long Overdue 

 1  |  2  |  3  |  4