Truth, Healing and Accountability for Indigenous Boarding Schools
In 2003, the United Church of Christ’s General Synod passed a resolution addressing the UCC’s role in supporting the shameful history of Indian Boarding Schools. These schools have their ideological roots in the Doctrine of Discovery, and institutionally began in 1869 with President Grant’s establishment of a “Board of Indian Commissioners” to distribute Indian territories to various Christian denominations for the purposes of building boarding schools (including Congregationalists, Christians, and the American Board of Foreign Missions). These schools which were ostensibly for education but had the dual intention of evangelization (to “kill the Indian and save the man”) and assimilation, that ultimately resulted in cultural genocide.
The 2003 resolution called on the UCC to: “be the first church denomination to acknowledge, confess, and accept its historic participation and accountability for the harm done through the establishment of boarding schools in the United States…”
It is time for us as a church, and a nation, to acknowledge and confess this dark history and support reparations for the cultural, psychological, theological, and physical damage done.
Recently, Senator Warren and Representative Davids introduced legislation that would establish a truth and reconciliation processes which would go a long way toward that goal. The “Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act” (S. 2907/H.R. 5444) would establish a formal commission to investigate and document the history of Indian Boarding Schools and the ethnocide and violations of human rights that occurred as a result. The commission would, among other things, hold public hearings for victims and survivors to share their trauma and the ongoing impact of these schools, and ultimately offer recommendations to the government for further action.
This week, as we recognize Indigenous People’s Day, let us go beyond acknowledgement and call on Congress to create a Truth and Healing Commission to not only confess past sins but move our nation toward a restored future.
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