- Details
- By Native News Online Staff
The proclamation recognizes that “for over 150 years, the United States pursued, embraced, or permitted a policy of forced assimilation of American Indians, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian people through the federal Indian boarding school system,” including 23 Indian boarding schools in the state of Minnesota.
“Today, we honor the Native children who never returned home from U.S. Indian boarding schools in Minnesota and across the country,” Gov. Walz wrote on Twitter. “We must recognize the history and ongoing legacy of these schools to move forward with better strategies to support and protect Native communities.”
On the National Day of Remembrance, the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) hosted a candlelight vigil at the Minnesota State capitol. The event featured prayers, dances and songs that honored boarding school survivors and the Native children that never made it home to their families.
“Today’s proclamation from Governor Tim Walz is an act of truth, justice, and healing. We appreciate the Governor and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan for their leadership,” Deborah Parker (Tulalip), Chief Executive Officer of NABS, said in a statement. “The irreparable harm cannot be undone, but we as a country can begin to formally acknowledge the truth about what happened to hundreds of thousands of our Native people. That is the foundation for a future of healing that our boarding school survivors and their descendants deserve.”
Tell Us What You Think
More Stories Like This
State-Funded Charter School Says Native 1st-Grader's Traditional Hair Violates Dress CodeRep. Peltola, Sen. Mullin Introduce Legislation to Protect 2nd Amendment Rights of Native Americans
Navajo Nation Mourns Loss of Former President Ben Shelly
Native American Church Chapter Sues Bank for Racial and Religious Discrimination
Legislature Moves to Name Highway after Blackfeet Chief
12 years of Native News
This month, we celebrate our 12th year of delivering Native News to readers throughout Indian Country and beyond. For the past dozen years, we’ve covered the most important news stories that are usually overlooked by other media. From the protests at Standing Rock and the rise of the American Indian Movement (AIM), to the ongoing epidemic of Murdered and Missing Indigenous People (MMIP) and the past-due reckoning related to assimilation, cultural genocide and Indian Boarding Schools.
Our news is free for everyone to read, but it is not free to produce. That’s why we’re asking you to make a donation this month to help support our efforts. Any contribution — big or small — helps. If you’re in a position to do so, we ask you to consider making a recurring donation of $12 per month to help us remain a force for change in Indian Country and to tell the stories that are so often ignored, erased or overlooked.
Donate to Native News Online today and support independent Indigenous journalism. Thank you.
