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- By Native News Online Staff
Tune in this Friday as Levi Rickert, publisher and editor of Native News Online, interviews Shawnee Tribe Chief Ben Barnes on the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report - Vol. II.
The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) last week released its second — and final — report following a three-year investigation into the “traumatic and violent” legacy of Indian Boarding Schools that the U.S. government operated for a century and a half.
The 105-page report, penned by Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Bryan Newland (Bay Mills Indian Community), builds on the first volume of the Interior’s Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, published May 11, 2022.
Barnes is a member of The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, who made testimony at the first Road to Healing tour listening session in Anadarko, Oklahoma.
Chief Barnes passionately advocates for truth, accountability, reconciliation, justice, education, and human rights. His work, however, extends beyond service to his nation, bringing together truths and traditions in framing and crafting tribal policy and law. Most recently, Barnes co-edited the book Replanting Cultures: Community-Engaged Scholarship in Indian Country.
Being a member of his people’s traditional religious community at White Oak, Okla., has framed Chief Barnes’ efforts to find redress to the harm traditional communities suffered from Indian boarding schools and reeducation centers. Looking through this lens has shaped Chief Barnes’ and the Shawnee Tribe’s efforts to find legislative activism at local, state and national levels, as well as a voice for Indigenous peoples at the United Nations.
On this episode of Native Bidaské, Chief Barnes gives his assessment of the final report and discusses its recommendations.
Tune into Native Bidaské LIVE this Friday, May 10th at Noon ET on Native News Online's Facebook, X (Twitter), or //www.youtube.com/@NativeNewsOnline/streams" style="text-decoration: none;">YouTube channel to be inspired.
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Following the release of the U.S. Department of the Interior's final report, we at Native News Online took a moment to reflect on our extensive three-year effort to highlight the traumatic legacy of Indian boarding schools. By covering all 12 Road to Healing events and publishing over 250 articles, we have amplified survivors' voices and illuminated the lasting impact on Indigenous communities. Our work continues. Please consider donating to help fund our ongoing coverage of Indian boarding schools.
