Indian Boarding Schools: Ways it has caused trauma and affected communities

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“Pueblo of San Felipe Seal.” Pueblo of San Felipe, https://sfpueblo.com/  Accessed Sept. 13,2024 

 “Sharing One Skin: The Okanagan Community” - Jeanette Armstrong

 In the article, “Sharing one skin,” by Jeanette Armstrong is going to talk about four differences and where she comes from and how she takes part in her community. Armstrong is from Okanagan, a part of British Columbia which is kind of like California in climate. Her mother is a river indian from Kettle Falls. Her father comes from the mountain people. When Armstrong introduces herself to people she tells them what her responsibilities and goals are which means how she contributes to her community. The first difference is how the Okanagan people speak about themselves and how they identify themselves with the four main capacities  that operate together:The physical self, The emotional self, The thinking-intellectual self, and The spiritual self. The second difference is talking about what they do with their community and family. Each of the Okanagan people are born into a family and community, there is not one person who is not in a community. They use the word “our one skin” that means “we share more than a place”. We share a physical tie that is uniquely human. It also means that the bond of community and family includes the history of the many who came before us and the many ahead of us who share our flesh. The third difference is talking of the perception of Okanagan self and dominant culture that has to do with “us”. Their land has taught them their language as they think their language is the same as the land which means they are very connected to their land. They have survived because of their land which offered them the language and it teaches them. They also say “we also refer to the land and our bodies with the same root syllable”. Which means the flesh in their body are the pieces from the land. Their most essential responsibility is the bond between them and their land. The fourth difference is about how the Okanagan people are the keepers of Earth “we are the earth. We are the old earth”. This means that all life forces are one spirit and everything they see are spirits from their people that have been here long before them on Earth.  

"How place names impact the way we see landscape" - Toastie B.

Memories and stories are connected to our land as described by B.Toastie in the article, “ How place names impact the way we see landscape”. These landscapes are sacred to us Native because of the meaning they have and how they taught the people a long time ago. Each community has their own sacred lands with their own meaning and tradition. When the colonials take the land they disrupt the purpose of the site. Example: the pipe lining, the dam making, and the towns. White people only care about themselves and not about other cultures. It only matters how powerful they are and how much money they have. they(white people) think it is okay to take our land and build their own things but it is not because the land is where Natives call their home, it’s just not a place you could just take away and use for something else. 

"And I went to school" - Joseph Suina

The history of Joe Suina and his family from Cochiti Pueblo. Mr. Suina talks a lot about his grandma and the ways of tradition. Suina’s grandma was very traditional and was an important lady of the village. She taught Suina how to speak the language. They lived without running water and electricity. They were limited in transportation. His grandmother told a lot of stories from the past. Everyone loved to read comic books and role play. Mainly being “cowboys” rather than Indians because cowboys were mean! Slowly they began to lose interest in gathering and more white men ways. At the age of six when school began for all Cochiti kids it was hard for them to get used to the school. It was also different because they weren’t allowed to talk in their native language. He was no longer himself which he questioned himself. If he was to talk in his native language he would get discipline. This school has undone him from his culture and taken away from him. At that young age he was ashamed of who he was. He had to leave his village to attend a BIA boarding school that was thirty miles away. Suina has to adjust the ways of a white man. Suinia went home for break and it felt different to 

“American Indian History” - Brad Brooks 

“American Indian History” reported by Brad Brooks of Lubbock, Texas, acknowledges Deb Haaland who is the first Native American cabinet member to announce the investigation last year and also talks about the trauma. Haaland talks about many things that happened to the children in the boarding schools and what they did to their parents. The federal policies tried to take away their native identity, language, and culture. They used education as a weapon to change their culture so they could take their tribal land from the Natives. Researchers have located records on 408 schools that received federal funding from 1819 to 1969. They had also found that “half the schools were run for the government by or supported by churches of various denominations”. The children that attended these schools were abused or found dead. Haaland mentions she is going to have a year-long “road to healing” tour to meet and list those survivors of the boarding school system. Haaland's next goal is to estimate the number of students who went to these schools and to find more burial sites to identify how much money went to churches that took part in the schools system. Deborah Parker said “Our children had their own regalia, prayers and religion before indian boarding schools violently took them away” meaning they were still with their families embracing their culture and traditions without having to worry about getting discipline. Another meaning is getting to speak their native language as well. These schools resembled military academics by strictness and emphasizing vocational skills. The police were helping to force families to send their children to school. Another way was denying them food. 

https://www.history.com/news/how-boarding-schools-tried-to-kill-the-indian-through-assimilation. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

“How Boarding Schools Tried to ‘Kill the Indian’ Through Assimilation” - Becky Little 

These boarding schools wanted to “kill the Indian in him, and save the man” which was the mindset for the US government to force tens of thousands of Native American children to attend these schools which will assimilate them in the late 19th century. In 1879-1918 nearly 200 children were buried in the same cemetery as the Arapaho boys. In 1830 Carisle and other boarding schools were part of the long history of attempts to either kill, remove, or assimilate Native Americans, the children were given new Anglo-American names, clothes, and haircuts. After all this happened it was surprising to know they wanted Navajo Code Talkers to help win World War II. by helping them talk in their Navajo language. Once the children returned home they struggled to relate to their families after being “taught that it was wrong to speak their language or practice their religion”. The schools were meant to “breaking bonds to culture, they [broke bonds to one another” which they wanted the children to lose their Native identity. Students who survived were marked by trauma. Keil went to the school and said “the boarding school experience helps explain why many Indigenous languages are now endangered, or even dead”. 

“The dark legacy of Canada’s residential schools, where thousands of children died” - 60 minutes(video) 

In this video they are giving information about what was happening in the late 1800s and much of the 20th century. They were called residential schools where the children were forcibly taken from their parents/communities by the government. Many children were physically and sexually abused and thousands of children never made it back home. The boys with long hair had their hair shaved off. The nuns weren't just physically. They showed a room where they would take young girls and the priest would do unforgivable things. They gave them a new name which was “number 65”. Which is when the trauma begins and also spiritual abuse, psychological abuse. From this the students who survived grew up to be mean. In 2008 after thousands of school survivors they filed lawsuits and the Canadian government formally apologized for its policies. They also set up a 1.9 billion dollar compensation fund and established a truth and reconciliation that the chief little child helped lead. One survivor mentioned that they would put under water, slapping, hitting, and punching her.