How many white Americans are aware of the Indian Boarding School genocide?

[Bobbieo]

For nearly a century, American Indian children suffered at the hands of Government sanctioned Boarding Schools on Indian Reservations. Run by various religious denominations, American Indian children became the victims of a silent, but deliberate genocide. Nevertheless, they stood strong and courageous while facing adversity head-on – and, against all odds – they retained what their captors could not forciby remove. . .their indomitable will and spirit.

Native Unity - HEARTSONG

http://nativeunity.blogspot.com

[Kutjara]

1. Indeed so. And how many Americans of any color...

...are aware of the cultural genocide that's going on around the world this very moment at the hands of American (and other) missionaries, who are destroying the self reliance and independence of indigenous peoples and indoctrinating them with Christian propaganda? In exchange for a few square meals, a handful of shiny trinkets, and the inevitable Bible, entire cultures are being destroyed.

The more things change, as they say, the more they stay the same.

[flashl]

10. Agree. Nothing changed but terms describing horrors since the day America was 'discovered'. nt

[Bono Ritchards]

14. I try to educate people about this

I just get shouted down everytime I try to educate people about this kind of stuff.

[stellanoir]

2. I've seen and heard several reports of it on PBS & NPR over the years.

". . .their indomitable will and spirit" is evidenced by stuff like this.

http://www.sedonadigitalarts.com/html/video_previews.html

[izzie]

3. I know they just took children away in Alaska.

Now they build schools in a village but that is not how they always did it.

[Bobbieo]

4. It was done all over the country. First Nation Canadian tribes are

trying to get the government to account for some 50,000 lost Indian children who were in boarding schools.

[izzie]

11. I can believe it. Weak is not a good place to be.

Hard to think of treating people so but it has been done over and over.

[leftofcool]

5. Another Blight on Amercian History

NA genocide, witch trials, slavery, the Trail of Tears, the Long Walk, Wounded Knee 1 and 2. None can be undone. We go forward, but remember.

Left of Cool

[fed-up]

6. I leaned in a class I took at SF State 20 years ago-"History of Native Americans in the US" nt

[texshelters]

13. I might have been in your class

I took Native Studies at SFSU as well about 20 years ago.

I also grew up in Ann Arbor, MI. In the liberal 70s, in a liberal town, we read about the Genocide and other offenses against Natives. I had great HS teachers.

Thanks for posting.

Tex Shelters

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. Yes. I've met some Choctaw

who were sent away. Their culture was destroyed, and they were forced to convert to Christianity. Interestingly enough, some are going back to older ways--sadly, not of their tribe, but of the Dakota, where they have been adopted so that they can perform Dakota ceremony. Every year on the rez in OK, Choctaws now perform Sun Dance. Ho Metaquiatsun!

[wellstone dem]

8. I've talked with Anishinabe (Chippewa) in Minnesota

about the impact on their culture, and how some who were in those schools are now elders, the experience has affected the wisdom they share.

[elfin]

9. I knew -- it was horrible

with lasting negative effects.

One interesting positive side effect was that due to several tribes being forced together in those schools - friendships were formed by the kids over tribal traditions, which, in turn, helped form the pan-Indian movement.

[Brewman_Jax]

12. Not many

but too much of American history has been sanitized. A lot of the not-so-good stuff gets left out, or reserved for college-level courses.

[turtlelowe]

15. I attended an Indian boarding school...

It was the same one my mother attended. However, it is substantially different now than it was when she attended. When my mother was there it was ran by the BIA and she was taught how to not be NDN anymore. By the time I went there it had been taken over by the tribe in an attempt to "reverse" decades of assimilation and cultural genocide.

I also went to Haskell Indian Nations University. Haskell was initially created as an "orphanage" for NDN kids. However, the "orphans" that went to school there were most often taken from their families and their communities under protest. Horrible things happened in Haskell's early years. There is a cemetery there where many of the first students are buried. Many more are buried in the wetlands on the southern end of the campus. Fortunately, Haskell shares the same type of history as Sequoyah, the high school I went to, and now focuses on attempting to reverse decades of cultural genocide.

If you have a chance check out the documentary "Our Spirits Don't Speak English: Indian Boarding School" by Rich Heape. This is a powerful documentary that came out earlier this year and covers much of the history and effects of NDN boarding schools. Check out the interview with Andrew WindyBoy. It is painful to watch but very accurate. http://www.richheape.com/boarding-school.htm

Tammy