(RNS) — For many families, September is back-to-school season. Teachers return to the classrooms, parents breathe a sigh of relief and kids head back to school. For Native American communities, though, the start of a new school year can also bring up memories of separation, pain and heartache inflicted on Indigenous children and families through what were called Indian boarding schools.
From the early 1800s through the 1960s, thousands of Native American children were forcefully removed from their families and placed in boarding schools, often hundreds of miles away from their communities. These schools were part of a systematic effort by the federal government, in collaboration with Christian churches, to extinguish Native culture. The conditions at these institutions were horrific, and many children died. They were stripped of their traditional languages, dress and spiritual practices. They were forced to assimilate to white Christian culture. Communication with their families was cut off, and some children simply never returned.
As a parent, I cannot imagine what these children and families went through and how it was justified by our government and Christian churches for so long.
Last August, the Department of the Interior, led by Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Indigenous member of the cabinet, issued a second report from its ongoing investigation into the history of Indian boarding schools. It identified 18,600 Native American children who attended federally funded schools and confirmed that at least 973 died there. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, the leading Native group researching the subject, has found that the true number of students in the schools is more than 60,000 and estimates thousands perished.
My own faith tradition, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), was complicit in this cultural genocide. Recently, we have been learning more about our own history with the Indian boarding school system and grappling with what we can do now to try to atone. Historian Paula Palmer has documented at least 30 boarding schools run by Quakers, and some Native children were sent to work for Quaker families during the summer. This is not an easy part of our faith community’s history to confront, but we have a responsibility to do so. After all, the testimonies of Quakerism call us to speak the truth, act for justice and live with integrity.
While research by both the federal government and NABS continues to seek the full truth, legislation to establish a national Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies has been slowly making its way through Congress. This bipartisan legislation would create a federal commission to fully investigate this tragic past, collect testimonies from survivors and formulate recommendations to support the long journey of healing for Native American communities and our country.
A makeshift memorial for the dozens of Indigenous children who died more than a century ago while attending a boarding school that was once located nearby is displayed under a tree at a public park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on July 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)
Congress should make passing this legislation a priority this fall, in conjunction with Sept. 30 — Orange Shirt Day. This day is a time of remembrance for the thousands of Indigenous children who were taken from their families and forcibly assimilated. Sept. 30 was chosen because this was the time of year when children were taken as a new school year began.
But right now, this year, we can make this a time of action for truth, healing and justice.
This year, Congress should pass the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (H.R. 7227, S.1723). It already had broad bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, passing both their respective subcommittees. However, with elections approaching, time is running out for the bill to clear both chambers before Congress goes home for good.
After centuries of suffering from the abuses and trauma of the Indian boarding school system, Native American communities should not be asked to wait any longer.
For Native American communities, passage of this legislation would offer one small step toward recognition and healing and the intergenerational trauma that still affects their communities. For faith communities that were involved in Indian boarding schools, like mine, actively supporting this legislation is the least we can do to be accountable for the harms we inflicted. For our entire country and all our children, passing this bill is a vital step in acknowledging the truths of our past and finding ways to heal our future together.
Bridget Moix. (Photo courtesy FCNL)
No legislation or commission can undo the harm and atrocities committed against the peoples of Turtle Island (North America), but we can take this small step on the long journey toward truth and healing that we all need.
(Bridget Moix is general secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation and its associated Quaker hospitality center, Friends Place on Capitol Hill. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)