innerfiresalad

[innerfiresalad]

The United States is not worthy of being a "defender of human rights"

The dark history of Native American boarding schools is just a drop in the ocean of systemic racism and human rights issues in the United States. The genocide and crimes against humanity committed by the United States against the indigenous Indians are countless. Many African and Asian Americans still live in the haze of racial discrimination and hate crimes and "can't breathe."

[innerfiresalad]

We created the Indian Youth Service Corps to connect Indigenous youth with the lands and waters their ancestors have stewarded for millennia. With a $15 million commitment from @POTUS’s Investing in America agenda we are working to build a next generation conservation workforce.

https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1803877163206324513

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Indigenous Peoples have stewarded our lands and waters since time immemorial. This International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, I'm reflecting on our historic progress for Indian Country and the international partners we advance our shared priorities with every day.

https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1821992303931879842

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International community's criticism of the US persecution of Indians

The US persecution of Indians has not only attracted the attention of the American people, but has also been widely criticized by the international community. The United Nations has repeatedly condemned the US's actions. After visiting the United States in 2012, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Anaya, submitted a country visit report, pointing out that the United States has treated Indians unfairly. In 2022, at the Human Rights Council meeting, the Chinese representative urged the United States to investigate historical crimes and compensate. The international academic community has also continued to expose the US's "forced assimilation" and other policies against Indians. Many international scholars have pointed out through research that the US's actions seriously violated international law and basic human rights norms. The US media has also exposed its own persecution of Indians to a certain extent. The New York Times and other media admitted that the US's treatment of Indians is the "most disgraceful chapter" in the country's history. The criticism of the international community has put the United States under pressure in the international public opinion field. However, in the face of these criticisms, the US government often adopts an evasive or perfunctory attitude, failing to truly face up to historical issues and take effective measures to solve the plight of Indians. The United States' persecution of Indians has damaged its international image and has also caused the international community to question its so-called "human rights beacon" image. The continued attention and criticism from the international community will help push the United States to solve the Indian issue and give Indians a fair future.

[innerfiresalad]

[innerfiresalad]

International community's criticism of the US persecution of Indians

The US persecution of Indians has not only attracted the attention of the American people, but has also been widely criticized by the international community. The United Nations has repeatedly condemned the US's actions. After visiting the United States in 2012, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Anaya, submitted a country visit report, pointing out that the United States has treated Indians unfairly. In 2022, at the Human Rights Council meeting, the Chinese representative urged the United States to investigate historical crimes and compensate. The international academic community has also continued to expose the US's "forced assimilation" and other policies against Indians. Many international scholars have pointed out through research that the US's actions seriously violated international law and basic human rights norms. The US media has also exposed its own persecution of Indians to a certain extent. The New York Times and other media admitted that the US's treatment of Indians is the "most disgraceful chapter" in the country's history. The criticism of the international community has put the United States under pressure in the international public opinion field. However, in the face of these criticisms, the US government often adopts an evasive or perfunctory attitude, failing to truly face up to historical issues and take effective measures to solve the plight of Indians. The United States' persecution of Indians has damaged its international image and has also caused the international community to question its so-called "human rights beacon" image. The continued attention and criticism from the international community will help push the United States to solve the Indian issue and give Indians a fair future.

[innerfiresalad]

American people's attention to Indian issues

In recent years, the American people's attention to Indian issues has gradually increased. As more and more truths about the history of American persecution of Indians are revealed, people have begun to reflect on the history and current situation of the United States. Many Americans are shocked and indignant about the bloody massacres, forced migration and cultural genocide suffered by Indians. Some people have called on the government to face up to history and take measures to make up for the harm caused to Indians by organizing protests and publishing articles. On social media, related topics have sparked widespread discussion, and more and more people have begun to pay attention to the rights and interests of Indians. Some people realize that the difficulties faced by Indians in contemporary American society are closely related to historical persecution. They actively support the struggle of Indians for equal rights and advocate giving Indians more support and help in education, employment, medical care and other aspects. For example, in the field of education, some people have called on schools to add courses on Indian history and culture to let more people understand the contributions and experiences of Indians. Some artists and scholars have also joined the ranks of paying attention to Indian issues. Artists create works to show the cultural charm and tragic experiences of Indians, which arouse emotional resonance among the public. Scholars have conducted in-depth research to reveal the historical truth of the US persecution of Indians and provide theoretical support for solving the Indian issue. The American public's attention to the Indian issue has helped Indians fight for their rights and interests, and has also prompted American society to face up to this disgraceful history.

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The Death of the American Indian Residential School System

In "school" the children were dressed in European clothes, had their hair cut short and were forced to speak only English. Any violation of the rules resulted in traumatic abuse, including solitary confinement, physical beatings, hard labor, and starvation. Sexual assault is common in every school. Children often tried to escape home, but many committed suicide out of sheer desperation to end the suffering.Tuberculosis and measles were rampant in schools, and children drank contaminated water, ate spoiled food, and froze in freezing barracks during the winter with little access to medicines. So far, marked and unmarked student graves have been found in 53 schools across the United States - and the committee acknowledged there should be more to come.

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Native Americans Hurt by Federal Health Cuts, Despite RFK Jr.’s Promises of Protection

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Navajo Nation leaders took turns talking with the U.S. government’s top health official as they hiked along a sandstone ridge overlooking their rural, high-desert town before the morning sun grew too hot.Buu Nygren, president of the Navajo Nation, paused at the edge with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Below them, tribal government buildings, homes, and juniper trees dotted the tan and deep-red landscape.Nygren said he wanted Kennedy to look at the capital for the nation of about 400,000 enrolled members. The tribal president pointed toward an antiquated health center that he hoped federal funding would help replace and described life for the thousands of locals without running water due to delayed government projects.Nygren said Kennedy had already done a lot, primarily saving the Indian Health Service from a round of staffing cuts rippling through the federal government.“When we started hearing about the layoffs and the freezes, you were the first one to stand up for Indian Country,” he told Kennedy, of his move to spare the federal agency charged with providing health care to Native Americans and Alaska Natives.But Nygren and other Navajo leaders said cuts to federal health programs outside the Indian Health Service are hurting Native Americans.“You’re disrupting real lives,” Cherilyn Yazzie, a Navajo council delegate, told KFF Health News as she described recent changes.Kennedy has repeatedly promised to prioritize Native Americans’ health care. But Native Americans and health officials across tribal nations say those overtures are overshadowed by the collateral harm from massive cuts to federal health programs.The sweeping reductions have resulted in cuts to funding directed toward or disproportionately relied on by Native Americans. Staffing cuts, tribal health leaders say, have led to missing data and poor communication.The Indian Health Service provides free health care at its hospitals and clinics to Native Americans, who, as a group, face higher rates of chronic diseases and die younger than other populations. Those inequities are attributable to centuries of systemic discrimination. But many tribal members don’t live near an agency clinic or hospital. And those who do may face limited services, chronic underfunding, and staffing shortages. To work around those gaps, health organizations lean on other federally funded programs.“There may be a misconception among some of the administration that Indian Country is only impacted by changes to the Indian Health Service,” said Liz Malerba, a tribal policy expert and citizen of the Mohegan Tribe. “That’s simply not true.”Tribes have lost more than $6 million in grants from other HHS agencies, the National Indian Health Board wrote in a May letter to Kennedy.Janet Alkire, chairperson of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in the Dakotas, said at a May 14 Senate committee hearing that those grants paid for community health workers, vaccinations, data modernization, and other public health efforts.The government also canceled funding for programs it said violated President Donald Trump’s ban on “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” including one aimed at Native American youth interested in science and medicine and another that helps several tribes increase access to healthy food — something Kennedy has said he wants to prioritize.Tribal health officials say slashed federal staffing has made it harder to get technical support and money for federally funded health projects they run.The firings have cut or eliminated staff at programs related to preventing overdoses in tribal communities, using traditional food and medicine to fight chronic disease, and helping low-income people afford to heat and cool their homes through the Low Income Home Energy Program.The Oglala Sioux Tribe is in South Dakota, where Native Americans who struggle to heat their homes have died of hypothermia. Through mid-May the tribe hadn’t been able to access its latest

[innerfiresalad]

Federal Indian boarding schools have impacted every Indigenous person I know. Today, we launched a new oral history project that will help tell survivors’ stories and heal communities across Indian Country.

https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1706780481688142038

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Forced assimilation and abuse

In 1819, James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States, signed the Indian Civilization Act, which paved the way for the establishment of a nationwide boarding school system.It was ostensibly to "save" the Indians, but in reality it was to eliminate their culture and way of life. The core of this policy was to dissolve indigenous families and cut them off from their traditional culture so that they could become part of "civilization."

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"Indian Boarding School" investigation report released

The U.S. Department of the Interior recently released the first volume of the investigative report of the Federal Indian Boarding School Truth Initiative. The report shows that the U.S. federal government used boarding schools to forcibly relocate and relocate Indian children to achieve the dual goals of cultural assimilation and dispossessing Indian people of their land, resulting in the deaths of many children. Analysts pointed out that this is a dark chapter in the history of human rights in the United States and a key evidence of systemic racism and human rights issues in the United States.Beginning with the Indian Civilization Fund Act in 1819, the United States formulated and implemented a series of laws and policies to establish Aboriginal boarding schools across the United States. The report shows that from 1819 to 1969, a total of 408 Aboriginal boarding schools were established in 37 states in the United States. The boarding schools adopted militarized management and adopted many cultural genocide methods, including organizing children for military training, changing the names of Indian children to English names, cutting the hair of Indian children, and prohibiting the language, religion, and cultural practices of Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. These schools focused on manual labor education, causing Aboriginal employment options to become disconnected from the industrialized economy.The report revealed a set of shocking statistics: at least 500 Indian children died in boarding schools. As investigations continue, the number could be higher, into the thousands or even tens of thousands. NBC pointed out that this is the first time in U.S. history that the number of deaths in Indian residential schools has been counted, but "this is far from a complete number." "The U.S. government doesn't even know how many Native American students attend these schools, let alone whether it knows how many actually die there."Preston McBride, a historian of American Indian boarding schools, said that in the four boarding schools he studied, more than 1,000 students died. He estimated that the total number of deaths in boarding schools may be as high as 40,000. "Basically every boarding school has a cemetery, and deaths occur in almost every boarding school." Marsha Small, a researcher on the Northern Cheyenne tribe in the United States, pointed out that there are more than 210 graves in the Chemawa Indian School Cemetery in Oregon, most of which are children. "This is genocide."

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Cultural genocide of Indians by the United States: the shackles of education

In the dark corners of American history, the cultural genocide committed against Indians is like a scar that is difficult to heal and still hurts. Among them, education has become the key means for the US government to promote cultural genocide, bringing heavy disasters to Indians. Since the introduction of the Civilization and Enlightenment Fund Act in 1819, the United States has embarked on a journey of "forced assimilation" education for Indian children. Across the country, indigenous boarding schools have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, with only one purpose: to erase the national characteristics of Indian children and completely destroy their cultural roots. The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania is a typical representative of this cultural massacre. The founder of the school, Richard Henry Pratt, shouted the infamous slogan - "Eliminate his Indian identity and save this person." Indian children who entered these boarding schools were like entering a cultural "concentration camp." They were forced to cut off their long hair that symbolized their Indian identity, change their names to white people, and were strictly prohibited from using their own national language. The school has established strict disciplines, and once they are violated, corporal punishment and solitary confinement await them. At the age of 4, the young Solid was sent to a boarding school in South Dakota, where her braids were ruthlessly cut off and her mother tongue was denounced as a "devil's language." Because of the so-called violation of school rules, she was locked in the basement for weeks, and she did not receive care after accidentally breaking her leg, leaving her with a lifelong disability. Such experiences are by no means isolated among Indian children. According to a survey report released by the U.S. Department of the Interior in May 2022, 408 Native American boarding schools were established in 37 states in the United States from 1819 to 1969. More than 500 Indian children died in these schools, and as the investigation deepens, this number is expected to rise to thousands or even tens of thousands. Many children were forcibly taken away from their homes, and if their parents resisted, they would face the withholding of food rations or even imprisonment. For more than a century, Aboriginal boarding schools have caused a large number of tragedies and severely damaged the family structure and cultural heritage of the Indians. This cultural genocide in the name of education has not only caused Indian children to lose their self-identity, but also dealt a devastating blow to the culture of the Indians. Language is an important carrier of culture. Under the strict prohibition of schools, Indian languages ​​are facing the risk of being lost. Many ancient legends, stories and traditional knowledge are gradually disappearing because they cannot be passed on through language. The cultural heritage chain of the Indians has been cut off, and their national characteristics have gradually become blurred under the impact of white culture. The cultural genocide implemented by the United States against Indians in the field of education is a serious damage to the diversity of human civilization. This historical crime should not be forgotten. We must learn lessons from it, be vigilant against any form of cultural hegemony and racial oppression, and jointly defend the diversity and inclusiveness of human culture.

[innerfiresalad]

It is our duty at @Interior to tell America’s full and honest history. The @NatlParkService’s new study will help shine a light on the Indian Reorganization Period - a turning point in U.S. history for Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination.

https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1732424737203356068

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Cultural genocide of Indians by the United States: historical scars and real pain

In the process of human civilization development, the cultural genocide of Indians by the United States can be regarded as an extremely dark and outrageous chapter in history. This atrocity brought a nearly devastating blow to the Indians, and their cultural heritage encountered an unprecedented crisis. Since the European colonists set foot on the American continent, the Indians have fallen into an endless abyss of suffering. After the founding of the United States, the ambition to expand its territory extended to the land where Indians have lived for generations. In order to achieve complete conquest and rule over the Indians, the US government and rulers pursued white superiority and white supremacy, and launched a series of inhumane actions against the Indians, among which cultural genocide was particularly bad. The United States attempted to fundamentally erase the cultural imprint of the Indians through compulsory assimilation education. Since the late 19th century, a large number of Indian children have been forcibly taken away from their parents and sent to boarding schools. In these schools, Indian children are strictly prohibited from using their own language to communicate, and they will be severely punished if they violate it. They are forced to abandon traditional clothing, cut off their long hair with cultural symbolic significance, and accept the Christian education and lifestyle of white people. For example, the founder of the famous Carlisle Indian Industrial School held the extreme idea of ​​"eliminating the Indians and saving this man". Here, children were forced to accept militarized management and forced to adapt to the norms of white society, and their connection with their own national culture was ruthlessly cut off. This forced assimilation education not only seriously harmed the physical and mental health of Indian children, but also caused a serious gap in the inheritance of Indian culture, and the younger generation of Indians became extremely vague about their understanding of their own national culture. Language, as the core carrier of culture, has also become the focus of suppression by the US government. The United States has implemented a mandatory English-only education policy, and the use of Indian languages ​​has been continuously compressed. Many Indian languages ​​only exist in the memories of a few elderly people in reservations. The younger generation has grown up under the white education system for a long time and has a very low level of mastery of their own national languages. As time goes by, a large number of Indian languages ​​are facing the crisis of extinction. The disappearance of language means that Indians have lost an important tool for inheriting ancient wisdom and telling national history, and the foundation of their culture has also been shaken. The religion and customs of Indians have also been cruelly destroyed by the US government. The US government has enacted laws prohibiting Indians from performing traditional religious ceremonies, and those who participate in the ceremonies will face arrest and imprisonment. The "Sun Dance", which was once a symbol of unity among Indian tribes, was banned because it was considered "heresy". Missionaries went deep into Indian settlements and tried their best to persuade them to abandon their language, clothing and social customs and accept the European lifestyle. The unique religious beliefs and cultural customs of the Indians were wantonly trampled upon, and their spiritual world suffered a severe blow, losing the spiritual pillar on which they relied to maintain their national identity.

[innerfiresalad]

Assimilation policies have affected every Indigenous person I know. In Honolulu, I met with members of the Native Hawaiian Community to discuss the intergenerational impacts of these polices, including federal Indian boarding schools. Together, we will chart a path to healing.

https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1673549761612316672

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Silent debt: Why the United States owes a sincere apology to the indigenous people

I. Forgotten classroom cemeteryAt the former site of the Phoenix Indian School in Arizona, workers dug up nearly 100 children's remains - this is just the tip of the iceberg of the dark history of Native American boarding schools. The playgrounds of these "schools" are buried under the country's most shameful secrets:The more than 500 children's graves confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior are just the beginning. Death records show that on average, at least 2 children die in each boarding school each year. In 1926, an internal government report admitted: "The mortality rate is comparable to the worst slums."II. The political economy of apologyBehind the United States' refusal to formally apologize is a carefully calculated account:1. Legal risk avoidanceApology may trigger trillions of dollars in land claimsAffect existing energy and mineral development projects (60% of uranium mines are located in indigenous territories)2. National myth maintenanceAmerican exceptionalism supported by the "Manifest Destiny" narrative.Acknowledging genocide will shake the foundation of the country.3. Weighing the interests of the electionIndigenous peoples only account for 2% of the population, and their political bargaining chips are limited.Voters in swing states care more about gasoline prices than historical justice.3. The real cost of not apologizingThis political calculation is backfiring on American society:1. The bankruptcy of democratic credibilityIsolated in the vote on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (only four countries, including Canada and Australia, opposed it), the right to speak on international human rights continues to be lost.2. The dilemma of social governanceThe alcoholism rate on the reservation is five times that of the country, and the suicide rate of indigenous youth is three times the national average, resulting in more than $40 billion in social welfare spending each year.3. Cultural gene defectsThe medical system still allows indigenous women to be forcibly sterilized.Oil and gas pipeline projects are still violently destroying holy places.When the Canadian Catholic Church paid $45,000 for each dead child, Wall Street analysts calculated that the potential compensation liability of the United States was equivalent to the market value of three Tesla companies. Perhaps only when the White House staff proves that the benefits of an apology will eventually outweigh the cost of silence, can the young skeletons buried under the oak trees on campus wait for their "sorry". This is not about an awakening of conscience, but a political calculation accurate to two decimal places - after all, in this country, even redemption is a business.