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/)
I am not a Native American but I believe deeply that they had right attitudes about everything. Where we have our Ten Commandments they had their Seven Agreements. Number 2;To Preserve and Promote the beauties of Nature. No other religion states such a belief as these beautiful people and look what we did to them! Shame on our government.
I am a Boriken Taino. The US gov't removed a number of my ancestors from Boriken (the new world name is Puerto Rico - as a Taino I do not acknowledge a name imposed upon us), took them away to the same schools our Northern Brothers and Sisters were removed to, away from loved ones, our ways and community. We continue to mourn our loss.
My family is in the third generation since my grandmother was in the boarding school. The break down of the native american traditional family and the attempt at assimillation has done great injury to all of the native families for the last three generations. These people are searching for a way to find their role, respect and identity. The health statistics and substance abuse statistics prove this.
I met and interviewed three elderly ladies who used our clinic. They would express their experience at the Genoa School and it brought tears to their eyes, still. The year was 1986 and they were in there 80's, my heart broke for them and I as a white woman felt guilty. Guilty not for doing anything to them, but guilty for the treatment of the native americans by my own people.
In my life time we were made to feel ashamed of who we were. Our land, language and idenity were taken away through the boarding schools and assimilation programs. Some of our women were stelized in government funded clinics.
The atrocity of the cultural stripping of the native peoples is a huge energetic burden on the ability of the US to be effective as a leader in human rights on the global stage. I have personally seen the devastation of families and their culture during my time with the Navajo people in Arizona and New Mexico. The native people are being held hostage in poverty and deprivation.
My Grandfather was one who made it (the abuse) not pass on as bad as other children--by the time he talked to me he didn't have a bad thing to say about the he was treated. The way he said it was the only thing I didn't like was having to put on those cowboy boots without socks.
My grandmother grew up in a time where it was against the law to say you were Cherokee. Until she died she never would admit she was. That is not a way to live, not be able to admit your own culture. Life should not be like that. All acts of Love and Pleasure are my Rituals Live Well - Laugh Often - Love Much FaerieDragon
How have US Indian schools impacted you, your family, your community, or the nation?
It has brought many issues to my community, we watch the drug and alcohol destoy our family loved ones, because of the boarding school ere, we are fighting to restore our once rich culture and identy.
How have US Indian schools impacted you, your family, your community, or the nation?
I lived, worked and taught on the Navajo Reservation for three years. Until that time, I had never heard of these boarding schools. I was never told of them in my white schools, never read of them in my conservative history books or talked of them in my college classes. On the reservation, I wept as I learned how children were taken away from their parents as they tended sheep in the fields, put into wagons and hauled off to these schools where they were treated worse then the same sheep they had just left. They were often hosed down, scrubbed with disenfectant, deloused, their sacred hair shaved and/or cut short, their language forbidden to be spoken and they were beaten if they tried to run away. This I learned from their oft drunken mouths. This I learned from their guilt-filled Mothers, this I learned from their broken sisters.
The loss of culture and stability within Native American tribes is a loss for all of the residents of the United States. The continued lack of adequate and even handed funding to tribes and their members in the areas of education, health and welfare continues to foster lack of access to mainstream social, educational and professional opportunities which would greatly benefit from participation of people who have an inherent understanding of the relationship between all things and a drive toward balance and harmony among all beings. The mainstream society has lost many opportunities to learn from the Native population. Further, the ignorance of the vast majority of Americans regarding the plight of Native Americans serves as a continued shameful blindness to exploitation and oppression. In South Africa, apartheid ended not with an election but with the famous strategy of demanding accountability for heinous crimes on the part of the previous ruling class and fostering forgiveness from those victimized by those crimes. Again, the United States was a vocal opponent of apartheid (granted after supporting or ignoring it for many too many years) and yet, in many ways, continues to engage in its own brand of apartheid in the treatment of Native Americans, witness the remarkable response of surprise and defensiveness as Native Americans have turned capitalism to the benefit of their peoples. The government is surprised and appalled that Native peoples would expect to be recompensed for years of government supported rape of mineral rights; grazing rights; etc through the BIA's management on behalf of tribes. The government eyes the funds generated through casino activity on Native lands with an increasing desire to take that money after refusing to share the wealth equitably for so many generations. The United States underfunds treatment services to Native Americans for the continued health impacts such as alcoholism; domestic violence; sexual abuse which arose from the forced separation of Native chidren from their families and the placement of those precious children with depraved and personality disordered persons who could whip a child for speaking their native tongue and feel entitled to molest that same child. The United States needs to work its own 12 step program in coming to terms with the addiction to wealth and power over others that continues to plague our country today.
What would have happend if the government would have not tried to take away the native peoples' culture and make them adopt the white mans' ways? By doing this we have disgraced the spirit of real freedom that this country is suppose to be about.
Come hanno influito US scuole indiane voi, la vostra famiglia, la vostra comunità, o la nazione?