News and Events: Boarding schools, treaty rights, the importance of Aunties, and more

In this post:

• Webinar Thursday: Two Spirit and LGBTQ+ Resilience: The Legacy and Impacts of Indian Boarding Schools
• Webinar July 20: Tribal Treaty Rights and Energy Infrastructure, July 20
• All My Relations Art presents Noojimo (She Heals) celebrating the importance of Aunties in Indigenous spaces, opens July 19
• Minnesota Chippewa Tribe to vote on blood quantum enrollment rules this summer
• New quarter will honor Wilma Mankiller, Cherokee Nation’s first female principal chief

Federal legislation moves on Boarding School accountability, Tribal Civics Guide released, and more

In this post:

• Federal bill pushes for Indian Boarding School accountability; testimony from survivors sought
• Tribal Civics Guide released
• Finding language that affirms kinship with the natural world
• State court in India makes ‘Rights of Nature’ ruling

News and Events: Pope Francis apologizes to Canadian First Nations; Washington State launches MMIW alert and more

In this post:

• Pope Francis apologizes to Canadian First Nations for residential schools
• Washington States launches first-in-the-country statewide MMIR alerts
• Webinar: Building Relations with the Plant Nation
• Boarding School survivors tell their stories in new Healing Voices Video Project

Momentum is building for truth telling and healing around the cultural genocide that took place in Indian Boarding Schools and the trauma that continues today

First in a two-part series.

The Minnesota Council of Churches (MCC) is moving into a decade-long commitment to truth telling, education, and repair with Native American and African communities. Those communities suffered deeply from America’s original sins: Slavery and Native American genocide. Those sins have never been fully acknowledged or addressed, let alone healed or repaired.

Christine Diindissi McCleave, CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, gave one of two keynote addresses at MCC’s inaugural event, “Minnesota’s Racial Legacy: Finally Telling the Truth,” Sept. 24-25 at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis.

McCleave (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe) put the work ahead in stark terms: “Why don’t we tell the truth about genocide in this country?” she asked. “Because people have things they will lose. It’s tied to Empire and control and money and land.”

At the same time, there’s a tremendous amount of healing that can happen and actions that could put this nation and its religious institutions on a more solid moral foundation.

MN Council of Church’s inaugural ‘truth telling’ event is Sept. 24-25, first step in reparations work

Last fall, the Minnesota Council of Churches announced a multi-year effort at truth telling, education, and repair with both African American and Native American communities.

“With partners, this work will include naming and addressing the unjust and ongoing systems and structures that “have made Minnesota rank as a state with some of the highest racial disparities in the nation,” it said.

The first truth telling event will be held Friday evening and Saturday morning, Sept. 24-25 at Plymouth Congregational Church, 1900 Nicolette Ave., Minneapolis.

Haaland, Dept. of Interior, launch review of ‘troubled legacy’ of U.S. Indian boarding schools

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced this week she has ordered a comprehensive review of the troubled legacy of federal Indian boarding schools, which operated for much of the 19th and 20th centuries with the primary goal of assimilating Indian children into European culture.

Haaland is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and the first Native American person to hold a cabinet level position. She has directed her staff to research historical boarding school records, with an emphasis on cemeteries or potential burial sites, and publish a report, according to a Department media release.

The Twin Cities-based Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) applauded the news.

“NABS believes this investigation will provide critical resources to address the ongoing historical trauma of Indian boarding schools,” the organization said in a media release. “Our organization has been pursuing truth, justice, and healing for boarding school survivors, descendants, and tribal communities.”

‘Healing in these traumatic times’ essay, ‘This is Dakota Land’ yard signs, and more

In this blog:

• ‘Healing for these traumatic times’ essay
• “This is Dakota land” lawn signs available
• Line 3 update: Beltrami County Sheriff seeks reimbursement for weapons under the guise of personal protective equipment
• DAPL decision delayed

Indigenous organization seeks church partners for truth telling, healing, around Indian boarding school trauma

Part of an ongoing series on healing and reparations

Can you remember when you were 8 years old, somewhere around third grade? Put yourself in that frame of mind.

Imagine adults you don’t know come to your door. They grab you and take you away from your family. Your parents are distraught, weeping and seem powerless. You don’t know what’s going on.

You are taken to a place you have never been before. Nothing is familiar. You are immediately scrubbed with lye soap as some aggressive adult snaps about “filthy savages” to no one in particular.