11/14/2024
On Friday, October 25th, U.S. President Joe Biden gave a speech in the Gila River Indian Community offering an apology on behalf of the U.S. Government to all boarding school survivors and their families.
We are calling on boarding school survivors, Tribes, organizations, and individuals who believe that healing and solutions are possible to sign onto our letter and collectively demand that President Biden take these FIVE actionable steps toward accountability:
1) Administer historical funding for Indigenous language revitalization schools and programs: like the NACA Inspired Schools Network, Oceti Sakowin Community Academy, and the Keres Children's Learning Center that teach traditional practices, lifeways, and languages. Vital cultural practices were illegal and prohibited during the boarding that teach traditional practices, lifeways, and languages. Vital cultural practices were illegal and prohibited during the boarding school era and enforced under campaigns such as the “Save the man, kill the Indian.”
2) Rescind the medals of honor from the Massacre at Wounded Knee: During the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890, 300 unarmed Lakota people – mostly women and children – were slaughtered. For decades, this massacre was called a battle, even though the people who were killed relinquished their weapons, and U.S. soldiers were awarded medals of honor for their “bravery and valor”. Those medals of honor must be rescinded, there is no honor in enacting a racist, genocidal agenda that has lasting impacts to this day. Read about the Wounded Knee massacre here: ‘Voices From Wounded Knee’ book
3) Free Leonard Peltier, a boarding school survivor: Elder Leonard Peltier is the longest-serving political prisoner at 80 years old and his health is declining with each passing day. Learn more about our fight for executive clemency and the campaign here.
4) Passing the U.S. Truth & Healing Commission Bill to ensure continued funding and support for the relatives who survived boarding schools. The Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act will establish a formal commission to investigate and document these policies. This includes the federal government’s attempted termination of cultures, religions, and languages of Indigenous peoples, forced assimilation practices, and human rights violations that occurred as a result of Indian Boarding School Policies. The commission is intended to develop recommendations for the federal government to acknowledge and heal the ongoing historical and intergenerational trauma passed down in Native families and communities and provide a forum for survivors to speak about these human rights violations.
5) Instruct the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) to conduct a full-scale investigation into the Tuba City Boarding School’s failure to address egregious misconduct and support the nationwide reforms being demanded by parents and students to protect children at BIE run schools
While these aren’t the only solutions, we believe these are critical steps toward accountability and community healing due to the historic and ongoing harm inflicted on Indigenous peoples due to colonization, the boarding school era, and forced relocation by the U.S. government.
*By adding your/organization's information to the following sign-on letter you indicate that you are in support of and demand President Biden to take actionable steps toward accountability. Please submit your response no later than November 5th, 2024. Once finalized we will share the signed letter with the media, community leaders, and relevant stakeholders to ensure our demands are heard and addressed. If you are an organization that would like to be added as a co-sponsor on this sign-on letter please email [email protected] with the subject line: [No Apology without action] and include in the email body 1) the organization’s name, 2) your name, 3) company logo, and/or 4) your organizations' Action Network name.
Thank you for taking action, collectively, we will hold the U.S. Government and all those responsible for this harm accountable. We remain committed to ending the legacy and ongoing violence of Settler Colonialism everywhere, for the liberation and healing of all Peoples and Mother Earth.
We hope you’ll join us and encourage your community to sign on too!
In Solidarity,
NDN Collective
