SDPB DOCUMENTARIES
Lost Bird of Wounded Knee
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a blog for and by American Indian and First Nations adoptees who are called a STOLEN GENERATION #WhoTellsTheStoryMatters #WhyICWAMatters
“Imagine you’re about to have a little one, the love that you have for that little one… and then imagine somebody outside of your family you don’t even know making claims on your little one. They don’t like the way you live and they’re going to take your little one by force. Imagine what the loss is when this is not just your family, but your entire community loses its children.” — gkisedtanamoogk, Truth and Reconciliation Commission member in the documentary film First Light
“When we tell these stories, we feel it in our bodies and our hearts. But I believe we can get to the point where it has less power over us. This was a perfect example of the readiness, that it’s time.” —Sandy White Hawk, TRC Commissioner.
“On paper, we’ve literally disappeared into the American landscape,” says Trace Lara Hentz, 59, a Greenfield, Mass., adoptee who shared her story with SFR. For decades, she’s been trying to get her birth certificate from the state of Minnesota, but to no avail, and now she worries about how the Real ID Act will make her life harder without the document.
“It’s criminal neglect in my mind,” Hentz claims, “how certain states would refuse us these documents and that the federal government would write an act that wouldn’t even consider us.”
We remember the anniversary of the official apology to Stolen Generations #Apology2016 More:https://t.co/R4A1vaqLZy pic.twitter.com/P8jaGYupjK
— Australian Red Cross (@RedCrossAU) February 13, 2016
February 11, 2016 | Gemma Najem | SOURCE
A
survivor says the trauma of the Stolen Generations is being transferred
to younger generations in a cycle that needs to be broken, ahead of the
eighth anniversary of Australia's apology.
Sharing stories and
bonding with other Stolen Generation members has proved to be one of the
best ways to help men and women heal, a new report from The Healing
Foundation says.
Survivor Aunty Lorraine Peeters says children are
still being affected by the older generation's loss of culture, family
and community.
"If you grow up in a household where you've got
traumatised people that have all these issues, they are being
transferred down to the next one," she told reporters at the launch of
the report at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence (NCIE) in
Sydney.
The launch included performances from musician Archie Roach and a gathering of survivors who shared their stories.
Aunty
Lorraine, 77, who was taken from her parents and trained as a maid, has
called on the federal government to take up the report's
recommendations for more indigenous-led programs.
"(The trauma) will continue if it's not broken and ... collective healing is one way of getting through that," she said.
An
analysis of 31 projects involving 3676 Stolen Generations members has
shown the western model of counselling doesn't help victims, The Healing
Foundation says.
They need trauma-informed services with
knowledge of the Stolen Generations, says the foundation, which is a
national organisation focused on supporting members of the Stolen
Generations and their children.
Recommendations to the government
include greater access to "collective healing" opportunities, such as
yarning circles, trips and family reunions.
Originally published as Trauma of Stolen Generations 'passed down'
Photo essay: The stories of Australia's stolen generations https://t.co/8brs6f19KP pic.twitter.com/lg8z8B6AAN— Roland Bleiker (@rbleiker) February 13, 2016
Starting today @CDUni with breakfast to acknowledge anniversary tomorrow of National Apology to Stolen Generations pic.twitter.com/RXnyR9m67R
— CDU Vice-Chancellor (@CDUni_VC) February 11, 2016
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That's me on the right with my adoptive family |
AP Photo/James MacPherson A stuffed bear is placed on a white picket fence on Monday, Nov. 19, 2012 in New Town, N.D. |
Almost 7000 bodies found and not one member of the church has been arrested. The names are out there. The church must be held accountable. #NeverForget#EveryChildMatters
— Wambli Ska Wicasa 🦅🪶 (@LakotaWambli) August 30, 2021
The Justice Department is protecting the names of many perpetrators of abuse of Indigenous children.
— Charlie Angus NDP (@CharlieAngusNDP) July 8, 2021
We need a special independent prosecutor who can force the government and church to turn over the documents.
There can be no reconciliation without justice.@MumilaaqQaqqaq pic.twitter.com/5TL6OxKM5O
This is a map of every residential "school" site in Canada.
— Mumilaaq Qaqqaq (@MumilaaqQaqqaq) June 24, 2021
Every dot is a crime scene.
Only a few have been investigated so far.
Canada, do not get used to these numbers.
Do not let them become statistics.
Put yourselves in the shoes of these children in the ground. pic.twitter.com/5XJS1w1ka2
We conclude this series & continue the conversation by naming that adoption is genocide. This naming refers to the process of genocide that breaks kinship ties through adoption & other forms of family separation & policing 🧵#NAAM2022 #AdoptionIsTraumaAND #AdopteeTwitter #FFY 1/6 pic.twitter.com/46v0mWISZ1
— Adoptee Futures CIC (@AdopteeFutures) November 29, 2022
Detailed discussion of the Bering Strait theory and other scientific theories about the population of the modern-day Americas is beyond the scope of this essay. However, it should be noted that Indian people have expressed suspicion that DNA analysis is a tool that scientists will use to support theories about the origins of tribal people that contradict tribal oral histories and origin stories. Perhaps more important,the alternative origin stories of scientists are seen as intending to weaken tribal land and other legal claims (and even diminish a history of colonialism?) that are supported in U.S. federal and tribal law. As genetic evidence has already been used to resolve land conflicts in Asian and Eastern European countries, this is not an unfounded fear.