- Details
- By Jenna Kunze
Arizona House Democrats have signed onto a bill asking the Department of the Interior take a closer look at former Indian boarding school grounds in their state.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jennifer Jermaine, notes that Arizona has been home to the second-most Indian boarding school facilities in the nation at 51, second only to Oklahoma at 83.
Those boarding school numbers are based on preliminary research conducted over the past ten years by the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. Representatives from the coalition say that the Department of the Interior’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative is likely to find more schools and with that, more cemeteries holding childrens’ remains.
Want more Native News? Get the free daily newsletter today.
The primary goal of the initiative, announced in June by Secretary Deb Haaland in an effort to shed light on the dark history of the Indian Boarding School System, is to identify boarding school sites; the location of known and possible student burial sites located at or near school facilities; and the identities and tribal affiliations of children interred at such locations, via a report due to be released in April.
It is unclear how exactly the Department of the Interior will engage with each state’s tribal populations after the report is released. By taking action now, Jermaine and the Arizona House Democrats aren’t willing to wait to see what and how the federal initiative will include them.
Jermaine told Native News Online via email that, outside of the federal investigation, an investigation into former boarding school grounds in the state “is an issue we have been talking about and working on for four years,” she wrote. “We have done legislative proclamations for the last three years and a formal request to DOI this year.”
“We have not received updates on the federal investigation or the proposed timeline for the 51 Arizona based campuses,” Jermaine said. “Many of our MMIP (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples) cold cases date back to the boarding school era and families believe there are ties to their missing loved ones.”
Tell Us What You Think
More Stories Like This
Native News Weekly (April 28, 2024): D.C. BriefsChickasaw Children’s Village Celebrates 20 Years of Nurturing First American Students
Oregon Governor Visits Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Water Rights Agreement with Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona Signed
Biden Nominates Salish & Kootenai Tribal Attorney Danna Jackson for Federal Bench
Native Perspective. Native Voices. Native News.
We launched Native News Online because the mainstream media often overlooks news that is important is Native people. We believe that everyone in Indian Country deserves equal access to news and commentary pertaining to them, their relatives and their communities. That's why the story you’ve just finished was free — and we want to keep it that way, for all readers. We hope you'll consider making a donation to support our efforts so that we can continue publishing more stories that make a difference to Native people, whether they live on or off the reservation. Your donation will help us keep producing quality journalism and elevating Indigenous voices. Any contribution of any amount — big or small — gives us a better, stronger future and allows us to remain a force for change. Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous-centered journalism. Thank you.
