American Indian Boarding School in the 1800’s
Boarders
A string of stolen children,
scared, confused, snake,
capped with flying penguins.
Led to stools, stripped, dusted,
and shaved, paving the way:
institutional erasure.
Sacked, sad, desked, rapped,
slapped -- and worse.
So much worse. Unwilling
orphans cry for parents.
Unheard pleas echo lifetimes.
From the Law Librarians of Congress website:
In 2021, Canada passed legislation to create the federal statutory holiday called the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Indigenous communities had been celebrating Orange Shirt Day in Canada for several years prior to the government’s holiday. The day commemorates the Indigenous children that were traditionally forced to return to boarding schools on September 30, and their families as well.
From the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition website:
Along with our relatives in Canada, we will be honoring September 30 as a National Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools. We must acknowledge the ongoing trauma of the Federal Indian Boarding School Policies so that we can heal. We are encouraging Native communities, as well as non-Native allies, to hold healing-informed events honoring boarding school survivors and call for accountability of the Federal Indian Boarding School policies.
How could I be so behind the times and not know about the Canadian and U.S. Days Acknowledging the Horror of the reality of the attempted extinguishment of a race/culture of people. Sounds inadequate to say it but I am sorry for being a citizen of a place that would do such things.
The kind of atrocities we heap on fellow beings is not just shocking but so deplorable.
Thanks for sharing this, Li.
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Punam, indisputable. You are welcome.
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So sad.. such a travesty. I see just one possible smile..the boy in the exact middle.
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Thanks for taking the time to look at each child’s face. Maybe the boy liked the photographer?
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I did not know about that, Lisa, a sad piece of history. The phrase ‘string of stolen children’ on its own is horrific, but then to be ‘stripped, dusted, and shaved’, and erased… Those poor children.
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Kim, in some places, the schools were still running in 1996!!!!! EVERY member of EVERY tribe has been affected by these practices. It will take generations to heal :(
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Dreadful!
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Lisa this is a great poem. What happened to Indigenous Peoples in these places was horrific. In Australia there is the Stolen Generation where Indigenous children were taken from their families and forced into these homes. It was truly horrific and as you point out causes intergenerational trauma. I too feel so uncomfortable being a citizen of a country that does not adequately acknowledge their own past atrocities.
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Di, I’m not sure I realized these practices were also taking place in Australia. My heart goes out to every child and family who has been subjected to and affected by what I will call “hate crimes against humanity.”
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An educational poem
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For sure, Roberta. It needs to be included in history classes.
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Yes 🙏💚
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It’s standard practice unfortunately. Conquerors have always tried to stamp out the indigenous culture. It’s one of the particularly nasty human characteristics. People are deplorable.
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I’m tired of Man’s Way. Let’s give women a chance. Not saying we are perfect, but I KNOW we can do better than the current standard practice.
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Women should do better, since they are oppressed by men to a greater or lesser degree. But often they go along with it. Like turkeys voting for Christmas.
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This is the answer
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No words today, Lisa. This is too powerful for my 2¢.
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<3
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Several years ago I spent a couple of nights in a former Indian School in Pierre, SD. It was chilling to know what had gone on inside those walls. Thanks for bringing this to people’s attention.
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Your strings of action words are very haunting. Powerful writing.
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Heather, thank you. Their voices need to be heard. I watched a webinar not all that long ago where some of the speakers had been children in the boarding schools. They are broken by trauma, and they need to be heard.
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Absolutely, it is the path to reconciliation.
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<3
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Brutal and powerful. Your words snap at me like a whip.
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Katie, thank you. There is no pulling back with this reality. It’s been a dirty little not-so-secret for a very long time :(
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Thank you for writing about this terrible injustice inflicted on these children. Here is the US this too was an issue. So many missing children now discovered in graves at boarding schools. Breaks my heart.
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Truedessa it breaks my heart too. I know there was a school in, ironically, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, not so far from here.
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I had heard about the boarding schools but did not know about the days of memory… to erase a culture you always start with the children. It still happens…
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:(
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New Zealand is not without guilt as well. Presently there is a huge investigation going on for acknowledgement of harm done to the many children, both Māori and Pakeha, who were in State care, over many decades. :[
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Carol that makes my heart feel so sad.
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A difficult and traumatic time — talking about it is a step toward healing.
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Yes.
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So incredibly heartbreaking. And well told, Lisa.
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<3
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History is full of such atrocities and they mustn’t be forgotten. Unfortunately, atrocities on children continue today all over the world, including our own countries.
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Dora, how we treat our most vulnerable members judges us as a species (paraphrase from someone I don’t remember who.) Children, economically disadvantaged, the elderly, the physically and emotionally fragile, the disenfranchised for various reasons, and the outright discriminated against for various reasons, all are objectified fodder for the greedy overlords.
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History is full of such atrocities and they mustn’t be forgotten. Unfortunately, atrocities on children continue today all over the world, including our own countries.
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Great poem Lisa well done love it
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Thanks so much, Carol Anne.
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Such a sad atrocity!
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IT MAKES ME SICK TO THINK OF IT. How can we ever hope to make it right?
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:<(
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Unspeakably shocking.
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Between the boarding schools, the Magdalene Laundries, slavery, and insane asylums, it does not speak well of patriarchy.
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It certainly does not. One can hardly believe it. Nonetheless, thank goodness for men like William Wilberforce, who dedicated his life to ending the slave trade.
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Thank you for raising awareness with your powerful poem.
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Lesley, you are welcome.
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It’s a pretty dark chapter of history. And, yes, similar to the Holocaust it’s very important to remember, hoping people will learn from it!
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Christian, from what I’ve seen of humans, my hopes aren’t high. Go towards the light is my best advice, regardless.
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A real stain on those “Heritage Americans” JD Vance like so much. There is no way to atone, but we can at least acknowledge and remember. (K)
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<3
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Any thriving white nation has these skeletons in its closet. That is not equivocation, that is shame and injustice. The day to recognise that is the very least that can be expected. The very least. Change, reparations and advancement of rights so NEVER AGAIN means what it says is the moral minimum.
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Thank you for your thoughtful and insightful comment.
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