Second part of Indian Boarding School report released by DOI
It will take me a few days to go through the whole report.
Today, the final volume of the DOI’s three-year investigation into Indian boarding schools. The second volume expanded on the first report by:
Native News Online- Today’s second volume of the investigation adds to previously-reported figures to paint an increasingly clearer picture of the Indian boarding school system: Between 1871 and 1969, the federal government paid more than $23.3 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars to fund the federal Indian boarding school system as well as other similar institutions. Of the 417 boarding schools across 37 states identified in the investigation, about half were run by a religious institution, and most “used the manual labor of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children to compensate for the poor conditions of school facilities and lack of financial support from the U.S. Government.”
At those schools, the investigation identified at least 18,624 students entered the system, and at least 973 students died while at school. The investigation also found that at least 74 school burial sites were associated with these institutions, though DOI expects that the number of students, student deaths, burial sites, and funds spent on the schools to be “far greater."
The DOI also identified more than 1,000 federal and non-federal institutions that didn’t fall under its definition of “federal Indian boarding school” but advanced the policy of assimilation. Those institutions — including Indian day schools, sanitariums, asylums, orphanages, and stand-alone dormitories — worked similarly to assimilate Native youth into white society.
“Make no mistake, this was a concerted attempt to eradicate 'the Indian problem,' — to either assimilate or destroy Native peoples altogether,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo) said in a press briefing on Tuesday. “Thankfully, the federal government failed. It failed to annihilate our languages, our traditions, our life ways. It failed to destroy us, because we are still here."
"My aunt said after we all left, after the planes came and we all left, she said the village was so quiet because there was no children. No children in the village," another student from Alaska told a panel convened to hear from boarding students and their families.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
While this is the final report from the Department of Interior on their investigation, the overall investigations will not conclude here. The next leg of the federal investigations would be Bill S1723, which I spoke about a few days ago here:
S1723 is now on the Senate Floor
This week, S1723 hit the Senate floor; now is the time to contact your senators and tell them to vote “yes” on The Truth & Healing Commission on the U.S. Indian Boarding School Policies Act.
I am still processing my emotions about all of this. My Grandmother was a boarding school survivor, and my father, Bob Sam, who does repatriation work for our tribe, was consulting on the Lost Alaskans project, which investigated Morningside Hospital, one of the “1000 other” institutions the report cites that carried out federal policy. I went to Oregon to help with a repatriation ceremony a few months ago.
Oregon Trip
I took the weekend off to let my brain wind down after the travel. I’ve been going through the videos and photos, and it’s unfortunate how much of my audio was ruined by the wind. I did talk to my dad today. He was making pancakes while we spoke on the phone, and he was pleased to hear how many folks are supporting videos.
My main ask from folks is to contact your senators to support S1723. If you would like I set up a resist bot to make it fast and easy to share:
Also, September is coming up. I am planning to see my dad and am currently making arrangements to visit Sitka.
Folks who would like to support that trip can here:
Patreon - Cashapp - Venmo - Kofi
Thank you to all who are supporting my work.