In 2021, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (the first Indigenous American to serve as a Cabinet Secretary in the US) called for an investigation into the Federal Native American Boarding School System. In May of this year, the first report was made from the investigation—it was the first acknowledgment by the US government that between 1819 and 1969 (150 years!), the United States operated or supported 408 boarding schools across 37 states (or then-territories), including 21 schools in Alaska and 7 schools in Hawaii. The report finds that indigenous children (American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian) were forcibly removed from their homes and suffered abuse, malnourishment, and even death in the boarding schools. So far, 53 burial sites for children have been found across the school system. Native Nations scholars estimate that as many as 40,000 children died. Many survivors live today and even shared their testimonies at a Congressional hearing earlier this year. This American history has been hidden for so long, but is now coming into the light. How ought we receive it? What can we do? How can we be used to advance justice, mercy, and light in what has been so dark? Let’s not look away from this history, but look toward it, toward these precious image bearers who were lost and those who have descended from them. This history is near—both in time and place. Let’s cry out to the God of all nations for healing.

The following links provided background for this episode:

‘It is a history that we must learn from if we are to heal': U.S. reckons with role in Native American boarding schools

Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report

Investigations Into Abuse At Native American Boarding Schools Going Back To 19th Century

Colorado begins review of former Indian boarding school at Fort Lewis College

H.R.5444 - Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act

S.2907 — 117th Congress

State-Sponsored Abuse in Canada

Report outlines federal 'abuse' of Native children at boarding schools