The Return: Remains of Indigenous children at Carlisle laid to rest

 

Remains of Indigenous children who died at assimilation school returned to tribe, laid to rest

'It's a shame that something this horrific has to occur for people to realize the truth.' 

After over a 100 yrs the children who died at Carlisle Indian Boarding School are laid to rest by the youth of this generation. Wrapped in buffalo robes and back to the comfort of Grandmother Earth in their ancestral Lakota lands.

 

Phil West |IRL Published Jul 19, 2021

Click to expand

A heart-wrenching video shows a group of Indigenous people laying the bodies of children to rest, said to be those found buried at Carlisle Indian Reform School in Pennsylvania.

The video, posted to the r/PublicFreakout subreddit, shows a somber ceremony with tribe members gathered in a field. Some of them are waiting to receive and bury the children, while others are in a line saluting the procession.

The Reddit post identifies the people as Lakota; the video shows the flag of the Rosebud Sioux, one of seven Lakota nations, flying alongside the American flag during the ceremony.

According to an ABC News report that ran Saturday, “The remains of nine Native American children who died more than a century ago while attending a government-run school in Pennsylvania meant to assimilate them into white culture have been returned to their South Dakota tribe for burial on its reservation.” Tribe officials told the outlet that some children would be laid to rest in a veterans’ cemetery, while others would be buried in family graveyards.

The retrieval of the children’s bodies, interred on the school grounds for more than a century, was the culmination of a six-year effort. A caravan of young Lakota adults took the bodies from the site of the former school for Native Americans, about 20 miles west of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to South Dakota.

In the article, Christopher Eagle Bear, a 23-year-old member of the youth council responsible for returning the remains, said, “On this day, it is an honor to be Lakota. Hopefully, what we do here can inspire another youth group to move the road further than what we have started.”

Carlisle was one of a number of boarding schools where, in the words of U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Native American children were subject to “forced assimilation practices.” Haaland, the first Indigenous cabinet member in U.S. history, announced last month there would be a nationwide investigation into the boarding schools and the practices there.

Many of the Redditors who saw the ceremony on the website were moved by it, including one who said, “Even without killing children, Indian boarding schools facilitated native assimilation. The death of their culture, their language, and their way of life superseded their literal death. It’s a shame that something this horrific has to occur for people to realize the truth.”

Canada Blamed for ‘Genocide’ Against Indigenous Women

An inquiry concluded that high rates of violence against indigenous women in Canada amount to a genocide fueled by government abuses

 

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Mr. Trudeau has said the relationship between the Canadian government and indigenous people needs to be rebuilt and the process will likely take decades.

Monday’s report isn’t the first time Canada’s treatment of indigenous people has been labeled a genocide. A separate inquiry released in 2015 found Canada’s centurylong practice of forcibly removing indigenous children from their homes and educating them at government-funded residential schools was a “cultural genocide.” (We call this the 60s Scoop but it was before and after the 1960s)

Matthew Fletcher, who directs the indigenous law and policy center at Michigan State University, said Native Americans have faced similar wrongs in the U.S., including the forced removal of children from Native American families. He said Canada has done more in recent years to recognize the problem publicly.


READ: Canada Blamed for ‘Genocide’ Against Indigenous Women - WSJ

Democracy Now on 6-4-19

Stephanie Woodard: The Police Killings Noone is Talking About

Native Americans killed by police (L to R) from top: Marcus Lee, Lance McIntire, Daniel Covarrubias, Raymond Eacret, Jessie Lee Rose, Jacqueline Salyers, Mah-hi-vist Goodblanket, Richard Estrada, Jeanetta Riley, Larry Kobuk, Jamie Lee Brave Heart, Loreal Tsingine, Corey Kanosh, Allen Locke, Sarah Lee Circle Bear

Hi Readers,
You may recall Stephanie Woodard for her excellent writing in the anthology TWO WORLDS.
She has reported on adoptees many times.

This new report is just as disturbing. Please read. 

"The Police Killings No One Is Talking About": Native Americans Most Likely to be Killed by Cops

A new investigation by In These Times explodes myths about who is most likely to die at the hands of police by revealing that, compared to their percentage of the U.S. ... Read More →

You may recall I wrote about Alan Locke (above), who is a relative in my Lakota Tiyóspaye. Read about him and The Phone Call here.

Democracy Now: TRC findings

aired June 3, 2015