The pain of one is the pain of all
Willie Wolf M.P.A
Training and consultation to help your organization go from good to great
Today marks the day of remembrance for all the boarding school survivors from Native American boarding schools in the United States and Canada. This was a systemic approach by the federal government and the leading churches in the country to destroy the Native American family structure and to take away our culture. The level of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse is unimaginable. Dr. Maria Braveheart says that the source of all our dysfunctional behavior in Indian country comes from what is known as the boarding school syndrome. Generations of Native American children went to boarding school far away from home from the time they were 6 until they were and adult. This was true for my mother and my grandmother. My mother did not want my brother and I to go to boarding school because she had such a negative experience.
In Canada this is a national holiday. Here in the United States we have not reached that level of awareness. I have worked with boarding school survivors over the past 25 years and I have heard many painful stories of the trauma they endured while they were there. Even though there was a concerted effort to destroy our culture and way of life they were not successful. Our elders retained the language and our ceremonies and have passed them down to the current generation.
In the wellbriety movement of which I am a part we learn to forgive the unforgiveable. I forgive but I do not forget. We much continue to all do our part of help heal the soul wound that has caused so much trauma to our people. There is a national task force that is conducting an inquiry to all the unidentified marked graves at boarding schools around the country and that will be completed by next April. It is better to know than not know. We still need the U.S. government to formally apologize for what they did to our beautiful children over a number of generations. This would be a big step in the right direction. And the churches that had boarding schools for our people need to do the same thing If you think that the churches were more benevolent and caring than the BIA boarding schools you would be wrong. The healing journey continues and now it is time to mend the sacred hoop.
Mitakuye Oyasin- All My Relations
Booher Dynamics, Training and Management Consultant
3 年Dear Mr. Wolf, This is such a moving storing that should be shared on a larger scale. I live in the Dallas Texas area. It the past year the new Hunan Rights and Holocaust Museum has opened. I would encourage you to contact them and discuss the potential of telling this moving story in the museum. Dallas has a very strong inter-tribal council that might be a good resource as well. Keep telling these stories so that this happens again. Thank you for sharing your wisdom. Steve Booher
Procurement Agent
3 年https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/mar/03
Oneida Nation | Tribal Advisor | Corporate Board Member | Trustee | Former C-Suite Executive
3 年Thank you for posting this so we all can share accurate history. The souls of our people were taken at the boarding schools. Photo from Carlisle Industrial Indian Boarding School.
Managing Director - The Piripi Group Limited | Waikato, Ngāti Maniapoto me Taranaki
3 年E te rangatira, Willie, tēnā koe! Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui! Be strong, be brave, be steadfast!