Ta, Dok. This is long overdue, and very welcome. The Lakota say Mitakuye Oyasin, all my relatives, which means we are all related. Thank you, President Biden.
The Albuquerque Indian School records are housed with the National Archives in the Denver repository. The student records are there too. I know this because both my great grandfather and grandfather grew up at AIS and I found their records.
I am so proud Joe Biden is our president. His compassion, decency, and love for the people of our country have made him one of the finest presidents, if not the greatest. This apology is long overdue. May we never forget the horrors we forced on the First Nations people. May we continue to make amends for our wrongs. May their ancestors know peace.
My father went to residential school. He was so abused that when I was born he didn't register me with the Tribe. They literally beat the Native out of him. Needless to say, that abuse was also applied to me. Generational trauma is real and terrible.
As a gen-u-ine Indigenous Wonkette reader I come into the comments with teeth-gritted to work the usual comments checklist: the I Never Knew This And Now I Am Sad! (check), the I Knew This And I Was ALWAYS Against It (check), the Obligatory Diversion To Sports Teams Names (check), the 23&Me I Think I Might Be Native! (actually didn't see any of those). All this by way of saying, in my irritable way, I appreciate the thoroughness of Dr Zoom article. And I would ask people to recognize that this history isn't just the story of something that somehow happened to the Indigenous people of this land, like an act of god, it's also the story of weaponized Whiteness, and the reason you aren't hearing about it until now is ALSO a perfect example of weaponized Whiteness. And the purpose of learning about this now isn't to give you a sad or attack you, it's to remove the lens of passive Whiteness you've benefited from. Also, kudos to the commenter below who recommended some Native authors to read on the topic, because what's super helpful is reading Own Voices writers, and practically every Indigenous author touches on the lasting damage of residential schools because the experience is pretty ubiquitous across tribes.
Also, it's a day of mixed emotions for many Indigenous people because the acknowledgement was welcome, but so overdue. My mom was a residential school survivor, and sadly she and her siblings have passed away before hearing any kind of acknowledgement. But several of my elderly cousins still survive and I know this has great meaning for them. But Indigenous people have solidarity globally with other Indigenous communities, and understandably intense feelings about genocide, so for many there is a stain on the Biden Administration. So we take the good , albeit overdue, thing and continue to strive to end the other.
The Stewart School, in the Washoe Stewart Colony is about a mile from me. The small museum there did an exhibit recently around a Navajo style loom that was donated to them.
I knew about the school, and figured Washoe and area Shoshone and Paiute sent there, but no it was dozen of different tribes. She said that, for whatever reason, there was more leniency about Navajo language and culture - hence the loom.
Dok doesn't mention MAGA reactions to this. I'm sure they'll howl. And then in the very next breathe scream at the top of their lungs about how "woke" schools are attacking the rights of parents to be abusive and cruel to their trans kids. No contradiction at all, apparently.
.The policy of "Manifest Destiny" was every part as evil as the Nazi's "Final Solution". People are upset about statues and monuments that honor Confederate Generals who defended the right to enslave African people, but what about those of Union Generals who went on to participate in the genocide of Native people? Take them down too!
If the system was anything like what happened here in Canada ... and I'm sure it was ... then these schools ALSO buried kids in unmarked graves and never bothered to tell their families that they had passed away either.
A couple of years ago there was a rash of stories about finding and repatriating these unmarked graves from around the schools that hadn't been plowed under over time ... and so many more that HAD been torn down and had the land redeveloped with nary a thought to the children buried there.
It is a gross chapter in North America's shared history, and yet another blight on the Catholic Church's reputation.
I sent a copy of the Washington Post article to the Mild Jrs yesterday. Mrs Mild Jr teaches a unit on Native Americans in November, just before another problematic holiday.
I think she'll need to tone down the article for her 5th graders.
I had a good friend in college who was Native American. I went home with him for several weeks over summer break and spent some time on the "Res" Took a while for some of his older relatives to warm up to his "hippie" friend, but once they did, they were amazing people. I learned a lot from them. His great uncle had spent two years at the Indian School in the 1920s. The stories he told me were beyond horrible. After 50 years he still had scars from the canings, but they never managed to beat the pride out of him. What shocked me even more was the level of control BIA still had over their lives
Ta, Dok. This is long overdue, and very welcome. The Lakota say Mitakuye Oyasin, all my relatives, which means we are all related. Thank you, President Biden.
The Albuquerque Indian School records are housed with the National Archives in the Denver repository. The student records are there too. I know this because both my great grandfather and grandfather grew up at AIS and I found their records.
I am so proud Joe Biden is our president. His compassion, decency, and love for the people of our country have made him one of the finest presidents, if not the greatest. This apology is long overdue. May we never forget the horrors we forced on the First Nations people. May we continue to make amends for our wrongs. May their ancestors know peace.
My father went to residential school. He was so abused that when I was born he didn't register me with the Tribe. They literally beat the Native out of him. Needless to say, that abuse was also applied to me. Generational trauma is real and terrible.
I am so sorry.
As a gen-u-ine Indigenous Wonkette reader I come into the comments with teeth-gritted to work the usual comments checklist: the I Never Knew This And Now I Am Sad! (check), the I Knew This And I Was ALWAYS Against It (check), the Obligatory Diversion To Sports Teams Names (check), the 23&Me I Think I Might Be Native! (actually didn't see any of those). All this by way of saying, in my irritable way, I appreciate the thoroughness of Dr Zoom article. And I would ask people to recognize that this history isn't just the story of something that somehow happened to the Indigenous people of this land, like an act of god, it's also the story of weaponized Whiteness, and the reason you aren't hearing about it until now is ALSO a perfect example of weaponized Whiteness. And the purpose of learning about this now isn't to give you a sad or attack you, it's to remove the lens of passive Whiteness you've benefited from. Also, kudos to the commenter below who recommended some Native authors to read on the topic, because what's super helpful is reading Own Voices writers, and practically every Indigenous author touches on the lasting damage of residential schools because the experience is pretty ubiquitous across tribes.
Also, it's a day of mixed emotions for many Indigenous people because the acknowledgement was welcome, but so overdue. My mom was a residential school survivor, and sadly she and her siblings have passed away before hearing any kind of acknowledgement. But several of my elderly cousins still survive and I know this has great meaning for them. But Indigenous people have solidarity globally with other Indigenous communities, and understandably intense feelings about genocide, so for many there is a stain on the Biden Administration. So we take the good , albeit overdue, thing and continue to strive to end the other.
The Stewart School, in the Washoe Stewart Colony is about a mile from me. The small museum there did an exhibit recently around a Navajo style loom that was donated to them.
I knew about the school, and figured Washoe and area Shoshone and Paiute sent there, but no it was dozen of different tribes. She said that, for whatever reason, there was more leniency about Navajo language and culture - hence the loom.
Dok doesn't mention MAGA reactions to this. I'm sure they'll howl. And then in the very next breathe scream at the top of their lungs about how "woke" schools are attacking the rights of parents to be abusive and cruel to their trans kids. No contradiction at all, apparently.
.The policy of "Manifest Destiny" was every part as evil as the Nazi's "Final Solution". People are upset about statues and monuments that honor Confederate Generals who defended the right to enslave African people, but what about those of Union Generals who went on to participate in the genocide of Native people? Take them down too!
If the system was anything like what happened here in Canada ... and I'm sure it was ... then these schools ALSO buried kids in unmarked graves and never bothered to tell their families that they had passed away either.
A couple of years ago there was a rash of stories about finding and repatriating these unmarked graves from around the schools that hadn't been plowed under over time ... and so many more that HAD been torn down and had the land redeveloped with nary a thought to the children buried there.
It is a gross chapter in North America's shared history, and yet another blight on the Catholic Church's reputation.
Some of the "Greatness" Trump wants to return to.
We have the 'Stolen Generation'. Children taken from their families and handed on to what turned out to be psychopaths.
I sent a copy of the Washington Post article to the Mild Jrs yesterday. Mrs Mild Jr teaches a unit on Native Americans in November, just before another problematic holiday.
I think she'll need to tone down the article for her 5th graders.
I cannot wait for a Harris victory to set OHJB loose. It will be something to see. ‘Specially what with immunity and all.
namaste.
OHJB once more doing the right thing.
This is horrific, and I had no idea until now. It's all bad, but taking their names and giving them numbers is the worst.
I had a good friend in college who was Native American. I went home with him for several weeks over summer break and spent some time on the "Res" Took a while for some of his older relatives to warm up to his "hippie" friend, but once they did, they were amazing people. I learned a lot from them. His great uncle had spent two years at the Indian School in the 1920s. The stories he told me were beyond horrible. After 50 years he still had scars from the canings, but they never managed to beat the pride out of him. What shocked me even more was the level of control BIA still had over their lives
Thoughts, prayers, apologies. Not nothing, yet nothing.