Call to Action
The Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery (Dismantling Coalition), JustFaith Ministries’ partner on The Land Is Not Our Own, is asking advocates for Indigenous justice to join Indigenous organizers from the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) in supporting this important truthtelling legislation on the history of Indian boarding schools. As this bill (S.1723/H.R. 7227: TRUTH AND HEALING COMMISSION ON INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL POLICIES ACT) makes its way to the floor in both the House and Senate in the coming weeks, now is the time to contact your representatives!
See this advocacy toolkit for resources such as email templates and phone scripts from the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, and a search tool to find your legislators.
Summary of the Bill
Over the course of a century, hundreds of thousands of Native children were taken or coerced away from their families and Tribes and forced to attend government-sanctioned Indian boarding schools. These schools were tools of assimilation and cultural genocide, resulting in the loss of language and culture and the permanent separation of children from their families.
To date, there has never been an accounting of:
- the number of children forced to attend these schools
- the number of children who were abused, died, or went missing while at these schools
- and the long-term impacts on the children and the families of children forced to attend Indian boarding schools.
We have a limited amount of time to hear directly from survivors and record their stories. A Congressional Commission is needed to locate and analyze the records from the 523 known Indian boarding schools that operated in the United States. A federal commission would also bring together boarding school survivors with a broad cross-section of tribal representatives and experts in education, health, and children and families to fully express and understand the impacts of this federal policy of Indian child removal.
How can you learn more about how to advocate?
You are invited to attend the next Repair Network Quarterly Call hosted by the Coalition to Dismantle the Doctrine of Discovery. We will be specifically focused on learning more about this legislation, and we will also likely hear from a representative from NABS.
Quarterly Repair Network Call: Tuesday, October 8 4-6pm PT / 6-8pm CT / 7-9pm ET
Zoom registration link here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqc-Grrz4sE9GqIoEJWkvKhd1Ugb21CrX3#/registration
Register for the One Year Anniversary Celebration on Wednesday, October 16 at 12:30pm PT/3:30pm PT