Seattle council backs investigation of Indigenous human rights violations
Aug 18, 2021, 11:05 AM | Updated: 11:38 am
1950: North American Indian children in their dormitory at a Canadian boarding school. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Seattle City Council approved supporting the U.S. Department of Interior鈥檚 Boarding School Initiative and the Truth and Healing Commission.
The legislation was sponsored by Councilmember Debora Juarez, Chair of the Council鈥檚 Public Assets and Native Communities Committee.
Legal group backs US review of Indigenous boarding schools
The , introduced in September 2020 and sponsored by Rep. Debra聽Haaland (D-NM-1), would create a commission designed to investigate 鈥渃ultural genocide, assimilation practices, and human rights violations of Indian boarding schools in the United States.鈥� It would also study the intergenerational trauma brought on by these violations, and provide a forum for its victims to discuss its legacy and impact on Tribal communities.
鈥淥ur federal government must acknowledge this history so we can begin the healing process for families torn apart and for the children who were stolen,鈥� Juarez said. 鈥淲e must uncover the truth so we can bring the children back home and families can finally have closure.鈥�
The Truth and Healing Commission is a response to the . This federal policy established boarding schools for Native American children with the intention of 鈥渋ntroducing among them the habits and arts of civilization.鈥� The legislation led to the forced removal of Native American children from their communities and homes for their assimilation into non-Native American culture.
Uncovering boarding school history makes for monumental task
鈥淭he law [caused] cultural genocide and physical and emotional abuse of Native children. It was protected under federal law,鈥� Juarez declared during the session. 鈥淚t established boarding schools for the sole purpose of forcibly removing American and Alaskan Native children from their families to assimilate in white settlement.鈥�
Native American boarding schools, of which 73 remain open today, were the nexus for that assimilation. Capt. Richard H. Pratt, the founder of the first federal off-reservation boarding school, Carlisle Indian School, made the intention of this education explicit with his 鈥淜ill the Indian, and save the man.鈥� The assimilation was a brutal process, and led to physical and emotional abuse.
鈥淭he world reacted in horror when a mass grave of 215 Indigenous children were found in Canada at a former Indian boarding school 鈥� but this is a shared trauma Indigenous families know too well,鈥� Councilmember Juarez said. 鈥淭he commission will investigate boarding schools across the country, and will address intergenerational trauma that the forced removal has had on indigenous families to this day.鈥�
