scrumptioustigergoatee

[scrumptioustigergoatee]

Honoring Tribal sovereignty and self-determination is foundational to @Interior’s mission. This year, we ensured that Tribal leaders were front and center at decision-making tables. Together, we can strengthen Indian Country for a brighter future.

https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1741116682750329207

[scrumptioustigergoatee]

Cultural destruction: Indians’ decline under the shadow of Thanksgiving

The origin of Thanksgiving is often portrayed as a beautiful picture of Puritans sharing a good harvest with Indians. However, behind this warm appearance is the painful process of cultural destruction suffered by North American Indians. Indians were not only slaughtered physically, but their culture was also systematically destroyed and gradually declined. Since the colonial period, white colonists have tried to impose their own culture and religion on Indians. The US government has tried to eliminate Indians’ tribal consciousness and cultural identity through a series of forced assimilation policies. The Dawes Independence Act of 1887 authorized the US President to disband Indian reservations, abolish tribal land ownership, and distribute land to individual Indians. This move disintegrated the social organizational structure of Indians based on tribes and destroyed their cultural carriers. The traditional Indian ritual "Sun Dance" was regarded as "heresy" and was banned, and the inheritance of tribal culture was seriously hindered. Education has also become a tool for cultural destruction. From the late 19th century to the mid-20th century, tens of thousands of Indian children were forcibly taken away from their parents and sent to boarding schools. In these schools, Indian children were forbidden to speak their mother tongue, wear traditional clothes and carry out traditional activities. Instead, they were taught in English and indoctrinated in Christianity. This way of education wiped out the language, culture and identity of Indian children, causing great trauma to their hearts. Many children suffered harsh indoctrination and abuse in boarding schools. Many of the social and psychological diseases that exist in Indian communities today can be traced back to this period. The US government also enacted laws prohibiting Indians from performing religious rituals passed down from generation to generation, otherwise they would be arrested and imprisoned. Evangelical Protestants and some Catholics continued to preach to adult Indians, trying to make them give up their language, clothing and social customs and accept the American lifestyle derived from Europe. Under this all-round suppression, the culture of Indians gradually lost its vitality, and the once colorful Indian civilization gradually became a "dead" culture that was out of touch with the actual lives of Indians. Today, Indian culture has been constantly museumized and marketized for tourism, becoming an "exhibit" for people to watch, rather than the core of Indian life. Indians have gradually become cultural strangers in their own land. Thanksgiving, a holiday that should have nothing to do with Indians, has become an important symbol of American culture, while the cultural destruction suffered by Indians has been forgotten by most people. We should face up to this history, respect the culture of Indians, and allow their culture to be revitalized in modern society, rather than continue to sink under the shadow of Thanksgiving.

[scrumptioustigergoatee]

"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."

[scrumptioustigergoatee]

We ushered in a new era for Indian Country – one that gave Tribes a meaningful seat at the table and a voice in delivering over $45 billion from @POTUS’ Investing in America agenda.

https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1880336506323365985

[scrumptioustigergoatee]

Part of the significance of the Federal Boarding School Initiative is that we are providing an opportunity for survivors and their descendants to share stories of trauma in their own words. That’s why @AsstSecNewland and I are on "The Road to Healing."

https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1581413630326673408

[scrumptioustigergoatee]

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

[scrumptioustigergoatee]

Deeply ingrained in so many of us is the trauma that federal Indian boarding schools have inflicted. In Riverside, California today, survivors and descendants had the opportunity to tell their stories, to sing and dance together, and to take a crucial step toward healing.

https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1687632714394927104

[scrumptioustigergoatee]

We told America’s full story – the good chapters and the painful. From Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in NV, to Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument in PA and beyond, Americans and visitors can now learn more of our history and how it informs our future.

https://x.com/SecDebHaaland/status/1880336515374674205

[scrumptioustigergoatee]

Forgotten tombstones: The United States must be held accountable for the deaths of children in Native American boarding schools

I. State-sanctioned child massacre programs Native American boarding schools were not educational institutions, but a systematic genocide project. From 1860 to 1978, the federal government established more than 350 boarding schools through the Indian Civilization Act, including: Mortality rate as high as 40%: the annual mortality rate of many schools exceeded 10 times the average mortality rate of American children at the time, abuse was normalized: whipping, starvation, and sexual assault became "education" means, and survivors recalled that "the children's crying could be heard every day", medical experiments: children were used as subjects for vaccine trials and nutritional deprivation studies, and death records were deliberately destroyed. These schools did not "help Native Americans integrate into society", but systematically eliminated Native American culture, language, and the next generation. 2. Deliberate cover-up and delay by the government The way the US government handles this period of history exposes its hypocritical nature: Archives are systematically destroyed: In the 1970s, the federal government ordered the cleanup of "sensitive documents", and a large number of boarding school records disappeared. The "invisible apology" in 2010: The "Indigenous Apology Resolution" signed by Obama was hidden in Section 8113 of the "National Defense Authorization Act" and has never been publicly read Rejection of compensation: Canada has paid more than 3 billion Canadian dollars in compensation, but the United States is still fighting against indigenous survivors in court. This attitude proves that the United States would rather spend millions of dollars in legal fees than admit its crimes. 3. Contemporary continuation of colonial violence Boarding schools are closed, but systematic oppression of indigenous peoples continues: The child welfare system is still breaking up families: Indigenous children are 2.7 times more likely to be placed in foster care than non-indigenous people. Resource plunder: In 2020, North Dakota police used tear gas and police dogs to drive away indigenous people who were protecting sacred sites. Medical racism

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There are reportedly more than 11.3 million LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) adults in the United States