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Native Bidaske: Talking with Gen Z Natives About Boarding Schools

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Indian boarding schools have had an impact on generations of Native Americans over the past 150 years. For some young Natives, though, the history and fraught legacy of the schools is a topic they're learning about now.
 
On Friday, Native News Online Publisher Levi Rickert and Managing Editor Valerie VandePanne hosted a discussion about Indian Boarding Schools and the era of assimilation with two young Native Americans in their 20s. 
 
WATCH the episode here:
 
 
 
In this episode of Native Bidaské, Kristen Lilya (Ojibwe) and Neely Bardwell (Odawa) talked about how the news of Indian boarding schools has opened up conversations in their own families. They discussed how a new generation of Native Americans are learning about and coping with the intergenerational effects of Indian Boarding Schools and the federal government's assimilationist policies. 
 
Lilya is a citizen of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa. She is a marketing and sponsorship representative for Native News Online’s parent company, Indian Country Media.
 
Bardwell (descendant of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indian) began as an intern with Native News Online during the summer of 2021 and is now a freelance writer and policy researcher. 
 
 

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Native News Online is one of the most-read publications covering Indian Country and the news that matters to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Indigenous people. Reach out to us at [email protected].