The White Buffalo Prophecy tells of a time when a white buffalo calf would be born, and that birth would signal a time of Great Healing for All Nations. That white buffalo calf - the first of many - was born in Janesville, Wisconsin in 1994. Her name was Miracle.
It is in the spirit of the White Bison Prophecy, that we call upon all peoples to join us in signing this petition supporting a US apology and healing for the widespread abuse of Native American children at the nearly 500 schools funded by the US government to assimilate Native American people.
There is a growing body of evidence that the trauma Native American children carried home with them from the schools is an underlying cause of the suicides and substance abuse-related deaths that are killing young Native people today in alarming numbers.
This petition will be hand delivered to Washington, D.C., following a 6,800-mile, cross-country journey by White Bison to 23 present and former Indian school sites (http://www.wellbrietyjourney.org/). The vision is to promote awareness, dialogue and forgiveness for what happened at the schools so that we can collectively heal from this tragic chapter in United States history.
This petition calls upon the President of the United States to issue a formal apology for what the US government allowed to happen to Native American children at the schools and for the intergenerational trauma that is still negatively affecting Native individuals, families & communities to this day.
White Bison, Inc., is a non-profit organization that for the last 20 years has provided culturally-relevant assistance and resources to Native American communities in healing (http://www.whitebison.org/)
The White Buffalo Prophecy tells of a time when a white buffalo calf would be born, and that birth would signal a time of Great Healing for All Nations. That white buffalo calf - the first of many - was born in Janesville, Wisconsin in 1994. Her name was Miracle.
It is in the spirit of the White Bison Prophecy, that we call upon all peoples to join us in signing this petition supporting a US apology and healing for the widespread abuse of Native American children at the nearly 500 schools funded by the US government to assimilate Native American people.
There is a growing body of evidence that the trauma Native American children carried home with them from the schools is an underlying cause of the suicides and substance abuse-related deaths that are killing young Native people today in alarming numbers.
This petition will be hand delivered to Washington, D.C., following a 6,800-mile, cross-country journey by White Bison to 23 present and former Indian school sites (http://www.wellbrietyjourney.org/). The vision is to promote awareness, dialogue and forgiveness for what happened at the schools so that we can collectively heal from this tragic chapter in United States history.
This petition calls upon the President of the United States to issue a formal apology for what the US government allowed to happen to Native American children at the schools and for the intergenerational trauma that is still negatively affecting Native individuals, families & communities to this day.
White Bison, Inc., is a non-profit organization that for the last 20 years has provided culturally-relevant assistance and resources to Native American communities in healing (http://www.whitebison.org/)
denied our culture,language,traditions,customs.etc.
See above.
U.S. Indian Schools have affected all beings, as all communities are connected. What hurts one hurts all.
the schools have forced people to become violent. these people became violent because it is what was shown to them. there is nothing they could do to control it. things were forced apon them and they did not deserve that. no one does! they obviously don't see the genocide they were trying. they obviously don't realize that the original words of extermination means genocide. instead they chose these schools which in my eyes were no better. your honor lies in my heart forever, and sores as high as the eagle.
How have US Indian schools impacted you, your family, your community, or the nation?
My grandmother is a boarding school survivor of Flandreau Indian School. The instructors taught her to sew and how to live a civilized life. The personnel at the school stripped them of their pride, language and native traditions. When she had her own children she was unable to nurture her children. She became an alcoholic at a young age. Alcoholism is a direct effect of board school survivors. These survivors need an apology to rectify their thoughts and feeling toward the government as many probably are hurt by the actions of the school personnel.
How have US Indian schools impacted you, your family, your community, or the nation?
My Father told me a story not too long ago about his chidhood, which was very uncharacteristic of him. He told me about his Mother trying to keep his brothers and sisters from being taken from her, so the government could take them to the boarding schools! She would work in the woods cutting pulp for any extra money, so she could hide them and pay the feds off! How sad! I can't even imagine as a mother, to give your chidren away, not to mention the thought of trying to change their culture and their heritage. This, I believe, was actually stolen from these poor innocent children! My Father never spoke too much of his childhood, but now I know why! He had tears in his eyes as he told me this horrible memory!
I am polyglot white, and married a Cherokee 32 years ago when we met when I was in residency training at Duke. As I came to meet and gradually get to know personally many of my wife's older relatives, I began to learn of the boarding school history. For instance it took years for my wife's grandmother to open up to me to give a small porition of her experiences as a child. My mother-in-law never has been able to to do so and is now in her 80's. Their generation was scarred irreparably and as a psychiatrist, and my wife as a psychiatric social worker psychotherapist gradually realized her mother's experiences with losses and the boarding school experience had made her the distant person she is.
some of my family was abuse and it affected all of us i was abuse and have forgiven my stepfather whom also try to raise me as white.
How have US Indian schools impacted you, your family, your community, or the nation?
Keeping our country as a whole from benfiting from the goodness and talent and culture of the Indian people among us. We have always made a point of our children remembering that Sacajewea married Charbonneau and their son was a noble man. Our grandson is partially decended from the Cherokee Indians who escaped the Trail of Tears and took refuge in the southern mountains. In turn, they gave refuge to the slaves who escaped and reached them, among them some of my grandson's other ancestors.
The elders in my family told me as a child of how three great grandfathers was a scout on the Trail of Tears,and 400 years ago that my 16th great grandmother was a cousin to Pocahontas of the Powahatan tribe in Virginia.I was born in southern West Virginia,where are all my fellow human beings?
My brother and I were dropped off at Concho, Oklahoma by a babysitter who was drinking and had two daughters with many problems also in his care. We escaped three days later. We suffered and saw much suffering there and it haunted me for years. NdN boarding schools decimated many people but I will never forget the girls who helped us escape. Many of us celebrated when Concho was closed forever.
How have US Indian schools impacted you, your family, your community, or the nation?
I have always been sadened by how these children were treated
My mother's experience at the Chemawa Indian school in Salem Oregon has left a lifelong scar on her identity as an Native American woman. It has affected her ability to parent her children in the ways of her elders and her ancestors. It has affected her ability to teach her grandchildren the ways of her people. It will affect the next seven generations to come unless we first forgive. On behalf of my mother and my family we forgive for the sake of our children's future and their children to come. Ho.
The Indian school movement affected our family back in the late 1800's and early 1900's. My great great grandmother Henrietta Mills had a large farm in Wheaton Wisconsin. One day she saw 2 Indian boys running across one of the fields, one boy was obviously very ill. He later died a few years later from TB. She offered to help them. The boys lived with her and my great grandpa Harry Mills for many years. They helped her farm and she helped them and their families.They must have lived near Wheaton because the boys went home several times to visit their families, but could never stay too long. Anthony the oldest boy lived on the farm until Henrietta passed away.Anthony and my great grandpa were great friends and called themselves brothers. After her death Anthony moved back to the reservation. My grandma had many great memories of her family going to visit Anthony and his family and Anthony and his family visiting them. Anthony passed away in 1957 as far as I remember. Given the times it was a very brave thing for a woman to do, especially given that her husband was either hospitalized or away looking for gold in the Dakota's. My grandma said that the boys were from the "ojibwa" tribe.
Not sure what happened t the school as it was never talked about in my family. I just know my mother and her siblings were sent to a catholic school to avoid the Native schools.
This atrocity has left my father with a great emptiness and without an identity of who he is or exactly where he comes from. I see the overwhelming sadness in his eyes of not knowing what has happened to his family. It has left him with a sense of abandonment.
All four of my grandparents and both of my parents,aunties, uncles and oldest brother were boarding school "products". When it came time for me and my youngest to start school, my father volunteered (WWII) and my mother moved off the reservation and struggled so we younger ones could attend a public school system. Even there we learned of racisim, but we remain proud LAKOTA!