| January 9, 2025 
Homegoings By Elodie Reed,James Stewart
Photo: Beverly Little Thunder
Graphic: Elodie Reed
“They kept talking about healing, they kept using that word ‘heal.’ But I wondered — I thought I knew what it meant, but I don’t think I know what it means. Because how do you heal from something like that?” - Beverly Little Thunder
In this episode, Vermont Public reporter Elodie Reed joins Huntington, Vermont resident and Lakota elder Beverly Little Thunder and her daughter, Lushanya Echeverria, at the movies. Together they watch the documentary Sugarcane, about the horrific history and intergenerational trauma of residential or boarding schools.
This is the latest episode of Homegoings, a podcast that features fearless conversations about race, and YOU are welcome here. Follow the series here.
Homegoings is a show that doesn’t shy away from difficult conversations. We’ve tackled stories of abuse, self-harm, racism and the lingering trauma of slavery. In this episode we dive into another skeleton in our country’s closet: the systemic erasure of Indigenous culture and communities.
The United States has a long history of policies and practices that forcibly removed Indigenous children from their families. One way this happened was through adoption, until the U.S. passed the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA, in 1978. This episode begins with our associate producer James Stewart telling the story of his grandfather, John Stewart.
Photo: James Stewart/Courtesy
From what James pieced together from his grandfather, John Stewart was taken from his Native American parents as an infant and adopted by a white family in Louisiana.