Still here 17 years later... #NAAM2021 #Adoptee

This post was written in 2014 - now UPDATED in 2021 for National Adoption Awareness Month (#NAAM2021)

By Trace L Hentz (formerly DeMeyer)

If you had asked me in 2004 what I had planned for myself, I would have not said “writing” about adoption and child trafficking. I had just left my editor’s job at the Pequot Times in Connecticut in August and by September I was married, my second time. I have always known adoptees. It's like some (╋) magic radar that we seem to find each other... (which has always been life-saving for me.)

When I first started writing the article GENERATION AFTER GENERATION WE ARE COMING HOME in 2004, finally written and published in 2005 by American Indian Community House in New York City then in News From Indian Country, it was like a door opened.  That door is still open and I am still learning (and blogging here and covering news). I am not in Higher Ed nor do I wish to be. 

I write for adoptees like me. I am not a leader of adoptees/Lost Birds/SplitFeathers. I am an adoptee, someone who gathers stories who happens to be trained as a journalist (aka blogger.)

Second, I do help adoptees (Native and non-Native) connect with one another. There are plenty of adoptees with leadership skills, like my friend Levi EagleFeather and Sandy WhiteHawk, both are Lakota. If adoptees need ceremony, they are the people to approach. I am a bridge and can help you reach them.

Third, I am an adoptee myself so I know what I went through. And I write about it in great detail but that doesn't make me an expert. I do feel like I have an advanced degree in adoption after 17+ years of reading and writing on this topic. (And I'm 65 so it's a lived experience too.)

To me it doesn’t seem possible that those years went so fast – I didn't have any idea my skills would be put to use in this way. I am deeply humbled and deeply grateful to Great Spirit...Wakan Tanka.

Since I started American Indian Adoptees in late 2009, I met and know many bloggers on the topic of adoption (and many are good friends to me). We had hoped we’d made a strong and lasting impact by now.  

We all knew:

The adoptee voice was missing. 

Chapters of history were blank. The changes I worked for: giving voice to adoptees and writing that chapter, and I did what I could. There are four books in the Lost Children Book Series. That was the history few had ever documented...I had saved one article from Canada when I was working as a journalist at NFIC from 1996-1999. One!

 
Changing adoption? I had that dream myself.  I am not sure we can actually gauge or measure how worldviews of adoption have changed. States still have adoption files sealed tight. Are they hiding something? Are they afraid of a massive uprising of adoptees? (There are an estimated 10 million of us, maybe more!) Are they afraid we'll find out adoption agencies and churches were trafficking in children? For a profit?

The governments of Canada and America have much to fear.

Other changes? If books on Amazon are an indication, adoptee memoirs are still climbing the ranks over all the propaganda books about how to adopt a baby.

If the statistics on adoption are any indication, the number of babies adopted by Americans are dropping each and every year. There is definitely a demand for infants (primarily because of rising infertility since the 1950s) but there is still a short supply of newborn flesh to adopt.  (I do believe the adoption traffickers are constantly reinventing new ways to grab a fresh supply of infants. Think of what new poor countries or communities they will invade as the demand increases!! Propaganda will change.)

Will there be more adoptees? Sadly yes.

A happy ending in the media erases the very real structural realities of the adoption industrial complex, one that orchestrates the exchange of babies for money. - Alexa Strabuk

What hasn’t changed much since 2004 are adoption laws, sealed adoption files or the old archaic views of promised secrecy and confidentiality for first mothers.

Haven’t we moved past shaming women for unwed pregnancies? Yes, but not enough, apparently.  Lawmakers are still being wined and dined by adoption agency lobbyists so I don’t expect to see much change in the laws – but I hope I am wrong.

What I’d hoped would change faster is the perception of adoption, that it’s not as great and wonderful for adoptees as the public was made to believe. (In fact, vocal adoptees have changed everything in that regard.) 

As much as I’ve read in these past 17+ years, blogs and books changed me beyond recognition!  

Many times I have emailed legislators (like in New Jersey and Illinois) and offered my memoir (as a free book) hoping they would see the light and change existing adoption laws. Maybe it helped?

The big question: Open Adoption--when adoption is necessary--is also an indication that times are changing! But we have a long way to go…This is a quote I saved about open adoption:

…ignored by the adoption agencies is the reality of “open adoption.” Only 22 of fifty states in America (in 2014) recognize open adoption agreements, but failure of the adoptive parents to comply with the agreement is not legally enforceable by the surrendering mother.  (It is failing from many accounts I have read.)

There are many excellent writers making profound statements too.

A quote by adoptee-author-blogger Elle Cuardaigh: 

And adoption certainly is “worked.” When supply of newborns decreased in the 1970s, the adoption industry had to put a new spin on relinquishment  to stay in business. Since women could not be so easily shamed by single motherhood, they changed tactics. Potential suppliers (pregnant women) are now encouraged to “make an adoption plan.” She reads the “Dear Birthmother” letters and interviews hopeful adoptive parents. She is provided with medical care and possibly even housing.  She is promised this is her choice, and that she can have ongoing contact with her child in an open adoption. It would seem she has all the power, but she is being systematically conditioned to accept her role, her place. She doesn’t want to hurt the baby’s “real parents,” feels indebted to them, emotionally invested. She is soon convinced they are better than she is. She becomes “their birthmother.” It almost guarantees relinquishment.  READ Elle’s blog and new book THE TANGLED RED THREAD.  Or visit: http://ellecuardaigh.com

Read any and all posts at THE LIFE OF VON. (Von has since passed.)  Powerful WRITING!

In Blogland,  when your topic is adoption, you can never be free of trolls, extremists, zealots, fundamentalists, missionaries, the blinkered and the closed-minded. - (adoptee) Elizabeth Von Hughes

The number of excellent powerful blogs by adoptees and first parents (and even some APs) exploded in the past 15 years but there are far fewer now.

Helping to writing and publish four books about the Indian Adoption Projects and Programs and contributing to books like ADOPTIONLAND certainly changed me. And the Vance twins are doing a new anthology on Adoptionland and I have contributed (in 2021).

Back in 2014, #FliptheScript in November was brand new and really moved people - tweets and comments were flying everywhere, some good, some not so good. Discussion is still needed and the people who need to hear adoptees out are the ones we don't reach that well: ADOPTIVE PARENTS. They have their own fog to lift.

Last but not least: I am happily shocked this blog AMERICAN INDIAN ADOPTEES reached over 1,600,000 million hits with 1800+ posts!  If that is any indication, times really are a changin’.  Thanks to all the people who comment and read and subscribe!

There are thousands of Lost Children/Adoptees who are Native American. They are still out there. I do hope they find this blog and reach out and contact me!

There are two things I hope to see for Lost Bird Adoptees: A class action lawsuit in the USA on behalf of those children who were taken from their tribes because of the gov't programs (IAP and ARENA) and admitting PUBLICLY it happened with a declaration of this FACT. 

(Canada is now doing this for the 60s Scoop adoptees.)

I never would have guessed my life would move in the direction it did. I want to thank those hundreds of adoptees and families who have inspired me so much over past 17+ years.

So what will the next 17 years be like? I don’t have a clue.

November Adoption (beware) Awareness Month

 

Facts About Adoption You Won’t Hear from Adoption Professionals

Every November we post accuracy about the effects of adoption on the adoptee and mother.  

Check the Blog Archive ⬇ (below the posts) and read prior years.

 

Adoptees United Inc. Upcoming Events

 Join Us for Two Upcoming Events

We're excited to announce two upcoming events in November: November 9: Adoptee Rights: A Legislative Overview; November 29: Who Do We Mean by "We?": The Voices of Adoptees The November 9 event will review what legislatively developments around adoptee rights in 2021, what bills still remain active, and what you can do now and in the coming year to help move the legislative needle toward equality for all adopted people.

https://adopteesunited.org/adoptee-rights-legislative-overview/

Registration: Legislative Overview

Native American Heritage Month Statement 2021

In November, National Native American Heritage Month raises awareness about our history, our present-day struggles and our hope for the future 

Submitted by StrongHearts Native Helpline

Through colonization Native American cultures, languages, lands and lives were all systematically and forcibly taken. The histories of Native peoples should never be forgotten and that’s why it’s vital that we remember and share our histories not only in November but also all year.

Beginning in 1990, U.S. presidents have issued executive orders declaring November as National Native American Heritage Month. Proclamations have called for governments, groups, organizations and people across the country to observe the month with appropriate programs, ceremonies and activities.

National Native American Heritage Month provides Native peoples the opportunity to celebrate their diverse and rich cultures and traditions as well as educate non-Natives about their nations, raise awareness about the unique history of the United States and Native peoples, and acknowledge the strength and resiliency of Native survival. The special commemoration is a platform for American Indians and Alaska Natives to share their cultures through the performing and visual arts, history programs and food.

In 2021, there was a positive movement toward more inclusion of Native peoples in positions of influence on the federal level. A record number of six Native Americans were elected to Congress and began serving in 2021; and with the Biden administration came a renewed openness and willingness to include more Native voices in the national conversation. Most significantly, we celebrated the appointment of Deb Haaland  (Pueblo of Laguna) as the first Native American Secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior. Haaland swore in Bryan Newland (Bay Mills Indian Community) as Assistant Secretary on September 8, 2021. In October, President Biden announced the restoration of protection to Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. Bears Ears is sacred to many of the region’s Indigenous nations.

Throughout the year, Native peoples across Turtle Island have continued to protest fossil fuel extraction, mining activities, oil pipelines and other actions that cut through fragile territories and threaten Mother Earth and Indigenous lifeways. Public awareness was increased through heightened mainstream media coverage of important issues, including missing and murdered Indigenous relatives (MMIR) and the abuse of Indigenous students who were forced to attend Native boarding schools.

Generations of Native Americans have been persecuted by European settlers leading to historical trauma and high rates of domestic and sexual violence. Domestic violence isn’t a Native American tradition; it was introduced through colonization. Today, there is ample evidence that colonization still occurs through the inhumane conditions on reservations and the jurisdictional issues that prevent the prosecution of non-Native perpetrators on tribal lands.

“It’s important that we always remember to honor the resilience, love and strength of our ancestors who brought us to this point in time and to our elders and all of our relatives who continue to be courageous and committed to practicing our sacred traditions through song and prayer,” says StrongHearts Native Helpline Director Lori Jump (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians).

Observing National Native American Heritage Month is an acknowledgment that Native peoples live on and are ever more resilient despite historical trauma and continued oppression. American Indians and Alaska Natives continue to create solutions and programs to address their unique issues. Through StrongHearts Native Helpline, Native Americans who have experienced domestic, dating and sexual violence can now get culturally-appropriate support. When our relatives are hurting, we are here to answer the call.

“National Native American Heritage Month gives us a chance to reflect on our peoples’ shared existence on this continent and to share our accomplishments as well as our continuing challenges — this includes the need to confront violence in our communities and raise awareness of the work that needs to be done to eradicate it,” says Jump. “With the collective strength of all our relatives we can work toward our vision of safety for our relatives and restoration of sacredness in communities free from violence.”

At this Indigenous Elders’ literacy circle, survivors find healing

 

'We’re not going to be walking around in the dark anymore,' says founder, Cowichan Tribes Elder and survivor Linda Jack.

The first day in The Literacy Circle, a new Indigenous Elders’ literacy program at Vancouver Island University, meant a new experience for Elder student ‘U’nihi-ya (Catherine) Jim: For the first time, she felt encouraged to pursue her education.

“[Years ago] I went back to school and did some upgrading, and when I was doing that, the instructor told me that he didn’t think I was ever going to amount to anything except being a housekeeper. And that discouraged me, so I quit,” she says.

“I’ve always been discouraged by the words that people have said to me when I did try to go back [to school]. And right here, it’s like, ‘We’re here to support you.’ Wow. I’ve never heard that,” says Jim, who is a day school survivor from Cowichan Tribes and is currently undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.

GOOD READ: At this Indigenous Elders' literacy circle, survivors find healing

This story shares information about residential “schools.” The Indian Residential School Survivor Society’s Crisis Line can be reached any time at 1-866-925-4419.

After an early forced adoption, an Indigenous man rediscovers his identity #60sScoop

Eric Wardell, an Indigenous man from Canada’s Northwest Territories, was taken from his parents at just three weeks old, in what is known in Canada as the “sixties scoop.” In this first-person story, Wardell explores his identity — what it means to discover who you are, and how your past can shape your future. This story is part of the ‘Turning Points’ series: stories told by Indigenous people from Yellowknife, Canada in partnership with the Global Reporting Centre.  Transcript Audio

WATCH 

Turning Points

Eight short films about alcohol use, addiction, and healing in Yellowknife, directed by the storytellers themselves. WATCH

 

Survivors see a link between Indigenous boarding schools’ harsh discipline and later domestic violence

 Utah had boarding schools in Aneth, Intermountain, Ouray, Uintah and Panguitch.

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Yolanda Francisco-Nez, Executive Director, Restoring Ancestral Winds, speaks about "Missing and Murdered Indigenous People in Utah" during a workshop at the Salt Lake City Library Auditorium, Monday, July 22, 2019.

By Alastair Lee Bitsóí    | Oct. 25, 2021

Since the discovery of Indigenous children at boarding schools in Canada and then the unverified findings of Paiute bodies at the Panguitch Boarding School, the nonprofit Restoring Ancestral Winds (RAW) began research on the association between Indigenous boarding schools and domestic violence across Utah’s Indigenous communities.

On a panel called “Utah Native American Boarding Schools and other Assimilation Projects on Native Children and Families” hosted by RAW, Indigenous organizers said the Indian Civilization Act of 1819 is a precursor to some of the domestic violence among Native Americans in Utah.

The Indian Civilization Act, or Civilization Fund Act of 1819, is a federal policy that encouraged the assimilation of Indigenous children via boarding schools. From that policy came the formation of Utah boarding schools in Aneth, Intermountain, Ouray, Uintah and Panguitch.

“We have known that there’s a connection between missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit with domestic violence,” said Yolanda Francisco, executive director for RAW. Two-spirit people identify as being both feminine and masculine in spirit. “We have to mention that domestic violence plays a role; it’s a precursor to going missing or murdered.”

While the correlation between domestic violence and Indigenous boarding school has not been well studied, Francisco says she knows that the discipline experienced among Indigenous children influences how they eventually parent.

“There is definitely a role that punishment plays in the life of an individual who survives the boarding school experience, particularly those who were victims of that abuse that occurred,” she said.

Children were subjected to harsh punishments in the schools, ranging from the forced cutting of their hair, which is considered an important part of tribal identity, to eating soap for speaking their language, and other physical, emotional and sexual abuse. The living conditions were also poor and kids died from tuberculosis, whooping cough, measles, the flu and smallpox.

Thursday’s panel featured speakers Davina Smith, who is Navajo (Diné), Denae Shanidiin, who is Diné and Korean, and Kalama Ku’ikahi, who is Diné and Native Hawaiian, who all shared their experiences of boarding schools — either as survivors or through the experience of their parents and grandparents.

“When I think about boarding and foster care children, they’re also considered underneath this umbrella of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples,” Shanidiin said. She hoped the panel would bring more awareness of the Paiute children who attended the Panguitch Boarding School and other Indigenous children at other schools.

Ku’ikahi made connections between the Indian Civilization Act and the early boarding schools in Utah, noting that Christian churches and missionaries influenced the policy.

For example, the Uintah Boarding School, or Ute Indian Boarding School, was established in 1881 by the Episcopal Mission, as was the Ouray Boarding School in 1885. The Panguitch school was Presbyterian.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Indian Student Placement Program, which operated from 1947 to 2000, took approximately 50,000 Native children from reservations and placed them in Latter-day Saint homes, he said.

Smith said the connections between domestic violence and boarding schools run deep in her family.

Recently, Smith ran over 360 miles from Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument to bring awareness to Indigenous issues like boarding schools and missing and murdered Indigenous people.

“I know for me I had to end that generational trauma for my kids because I did not want them to go through that,” Smith said. “And it was also about me talking and opening up my traumas with my kids. Just recently, I was able to open up to my mother and talk about it.”

Lawyering ICWA | White Mother to a Dark Race

Fletcher and Singel have posted "Lawyering the Indian Child Welfare Act," forthcoming in the Michigan Law Review's upcoming symposium on civil rights lawyering. Here is the abstract:

This Essay describes how the statutory structure of child welfare laws enables lawyers and courts to exploit deep-seated stereotypes about American Indian people rooted in systemic racism to undermine the enforcement of the rights of Indian families and tribes. Even where Indian custodians and tribes are able to protect their rights in court, their adversaries use those same advantages on appeal to attack the Constitutional validity of the law. The primary goal of this Essay is to help expose those structural issues and the ethically troublesome practices of adoption attorneys as the most important ICWA case in history, Brackeen v. Haaland, reaches the Supreme Court.

MUST READ book:

White Mother to a Dark Race Settler Colonialism, Maternalism,  and the Removal of Indigenous Children  in the American West and Australia, 1880-1940 AUTHOR Margaret D. Jacobs 592 pages 24 photographs, 2 maps, index Paperback March 2011 978-0-8032-3516-8 buy

In The News

 Here are some links if you are interested in the latest news:

Indian Law Issues in the News (10/25/2021) by Wenona T. Singel

 

Detroit News: First lady Jill Biden visits Saginaw Chippewa center to discuss youth mental health

Arizona Capitol Times: Ducey gives tribe $30M for water rights

NYTs: Can This Tribe of ‘Salmon People’ Pull Off One More Win?

WaPo (April article): Canada’s Supreme Court says some Native Americans who are not Canadian citizens can hunt in British Columbia

Grist: EPA finally has an action plan to improve water infrastructure and sanitation for US tribes

AP: Oklahoma court adds Quapaw Nation to those covered by McGirt ruling

Curbed: A Lenape Tribe Finally Wrests Its Sacred Site Back from Developers

AZ Central: Indigenous peoples seek greater voice and more influence at COP26 climate conference

NYTs: How Is ‘Dune’ So Prescient About Climate Change? Thank This Native American Tribe.

KTAR: Apaches ask appeals court to oppose transfer of Arizona land

The Hill: Human rights panel will hear case claiming US regulators violated Navajo tribe's rights: report

Tulsa World: Tulsa, Owasso join state in seeking to overturn McGirt ruling

Great Lakes Now: Enbridge temporarily stops Michigan pipeline due to protests

NYTs: Film Club: ‘A Conversation With Native Americans on Race’

Salt Lake Tribune: Survivors see a link between Indigenous boarding schools’ harsh discipline and later domestic violence

Keloland: South Dakota ACLU says Dept. of Education may have violated federal and constitutional law by removing elements of Native American culture and history from draft of state social studies standards

 

Creating a Separation Plan and Preparedness Kit

From the StrongHearts Native Helpline 

It has been a long time coming, but you’ve made up your mind. It’s time to escape a life of domestic and sexual violence and leave an abusive partner. You're scared and for good reason. Danger increases when leaving an abusive partner because they often lash out to regain control over their partner. It is imperative that you carefully navigate the following process.  

You are the best judge of your own safety. Consider a safety plan — a personalized, practical plan that includes ways to remain safe while in an abusive relationship, planning to leave or after you leave. Safety plans can be continuously updated, even if you return to a partner that is abusive.

Separation Plan

A separation plan can help you to safely leave an abusive partner. A preparedness kit contains documents, clothing and comfort items needed to stay away from home for an extended period of time. Once you complete your separation plan and preparedness kit, be sure to keep any documentation of them in an accessible but secure location and/or consider storing them with a trusted friend, family member or advocate. 

The Escape Route

The important first step to creating a separation plan is being mindful of your surroundings and to plan an escape route from any room in the home. You may also want to identify alternate routes to the grocery store, school and/or work. Practice using escape routes regularly. When tensions are starting to escalate, plan to do the following:

●      Try to be in a room close to an exit and/or plan an escape route from any room in the home. 

●      Look for potential exits through windows and practice using them. 

●      Stay away from the kitchen where the abuser has access to weapons.

●      Stay away from bathrooms, closets, or small spaces where the abuser can trap you. 

●      If the violence escalates, call for help! Call 911, a close relative, friend or neighbor.

Assemble a Preparedness Kit 

When assembling a preparedness kit, pack a bag with a change of clothes for you (and your children) and include comfort items. Store the preparedness kit outside of the home either with a trusted neighbor, friend or relative or keep it in a secret location where you can safely retrieve it. Important documents can be included or stored separately.

Important documents include:

●      Identification 

○      Tribe-issued enrollment card

○      Driver’s License or State ID

○      School ID(s)

○      Passport(s)

○      Social security card(s)

○      Birth certificate(s)

●      Health insurance card(s)

●      Copy of Protection/Restraining Order

●      Marriage, divorce and custody papers

●      Vehicle registration and insurance

●      Lease or rental agreements 

Important items include:

●      A change of clothes for you (and your child)

●      An extra cell phone and/or cell phone charger

●      Extra set of house and car keys

●      Medication (e.g., asthma inhaler, insulin, Epi-Pen)

●      Cash or ATM card

●      Personal items such as your medicines, smudge and sentimental items

●      Comfort items such as a favorite stuffed animal, blankets and baby supplies (formula, diapers, and wipes).

There Is Hope

There is hope in planning to leave an abusive relationship. You can escape violence. You can call for help. StrongHearts advocates are available 24/7 to support all victim-survivors of domestic and sexual violence regardless of relationship status, gender identity or sexual preference. To speak with an advocate: Call or Text 1-844 672-8483 or chat online at strongheartshelpline.org

Other resources include: National Domestic Violence Hotline: Call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or 1-800-787-3224 (TTY). Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men and Women: Call 1-888-7HELPLINE (1-888-743-5754). The National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline: Call 1-866-331-9474 or 1-866-331-8453 (TTY).

Preparedness kit adapted from information from The National Domestic Violence Hotline. 

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Brantford discovery prompts review into cases where human remains were found in vicinity of residential schools

 A discovery of decades-old child remains near the Mohawk Institute last year was the catalyst for a larger probe into historical deaths...

Ontario’s chief coroner says he has begun the work of reviewing unidentified human remains found near former residential schools in Ontario to determine if any investigations should be reopened.

“We’re looking at our files from the past many years,” Dr. Dirk Huyer told The Spectator.

Huyer said he plans to evaluate past cases of unmarked burials “in the vicinity of residential schools” to see if they’ve missed deaths linked to the institutions that sought to systemically — and, often, violently — strip Indigenous children of their culture, language and identity.

The coroner’s office will begin with files starting in the 1980s.

Plans to review old cases follow an announcement on Friday that a newly created task force responsible for investigating deaths at the Mohawk Institute would probe an unmarked burial found by police Aug. 5, 2020, near Glenwood Drive in Brantford to determine whether it is connected to the former residential school.

Archaeologists’ report revealed the bones, initially deemed not of forensic interest, belonged to a child.

Lawyer and former Truth and Reconciliation Commission director Kimberly Murray, who is heading up a survivor-led search of the Mohawk Institute, said Six Nations archeology contacted her after receiving the report in the summer.

“It was concerning to archeology because it’s a child,” she said.

The archeology company presented its findings to survivors, community members and the task force — comprising three police services and representatives from the province’s death investigation system — it was decided there should be further investigation.

“We’re like, that needs to go to the task force because it’s starting to look a lot like this might be a residential school child,” Murray said. “We don’t know ... but there are some things pointing that way.”

Huyer said sex, race and identity have not been determined.

The remains discovered in August 2020 were not believed to be of forensic interest, in part due to their age.

“Based upon the anthropologist’s examination of the bones and the scene, it was not felt to be representative of a new crime scene or a typical crime-scene location,” he said.

Historically, remains approximately 50 years or older would not be considered “new.”

Instead, the burial site was referred to the registrar from the Funeral, Burial and Cremation Services Act, who worked with the landowner to conduct an archeological assessment. The assessment revealed the remains were bones of an adolescent — a child under the age of 14.

“In retrospect ... given the proximity to the Mohawk Institute and the recognition of unmarked burials in locations that are at or associated with residential schools, this is obviously of forensic interest,” Huyer said.

KEEP READING: Brantford discovery prompts review into cases where human remains were found in vicinity of residential schools | TheSpec.com

Ontario coroner reviews cases of unidentified human remains for links to residential schools

 

The office of Ontario's chief coroner is embarking on a review of unidentified human remains found in the last four decades to determine if any are linked to former residential schools.

"Burials that may have occurred within the residential school period of time could be many years old," he said in an interview Tuesday.

"We are going to look back into our files to see if there are cases ... that are at or near residential schools."

READ: Ontario coroner reviews cases of unidentified human remains for links to residential schools | CTV News

CANO-SANTIAGO: The Supreme Court must uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act

 

The rights and sovereignty of Native American tribes must be protected

By Yssis Cano-Santiago 

There have always been critics of ICWA, many on racially discriminatory grounds. These critics wish to undercut the legal protections of Native children and to challenge tribal sovereignty. For example, in the 1950s a group of conservative congressmen claimed that the “collective rights of tribes shouldn’t trump individual rights of U.S. citizens.” This led to seizing Native lands to build businesses and homes for white Americans. The grounds of this recent petition against ICWA have similarly skewed logic. The plaintiffs of the case claim they are victims of reverse racism for being non-Native and that the federal government is overstepping states’ rights. The phrase “states’ rights” has historically been used to mask the racist nature of one’s political agenda. The irony, however, is that ICWA was created to prevent further cutural erasure and genocide of Native people which was driven by government policy.

If the Supreme Court finds ICWA unconstitutional, it could lead to further undercutting of tribal sovereignty and future challenges for the 573 federally recognized Native tribes. It could also leave Native Americans vulnerable to attacks on their legal rights and ability to craft legislation within their tribes concerning housing, education and healthcare. The desires of Native people and tribes to uphold ICWA must be respected, and regular U.S. citizens should not be making decisions on behalf of Native children and affairs. Further, the U.S. government should not be controlling the decisions and desires of Native tribes when they have historically committed mass atrocities against them. Native tribes are not just a racial group, they are a federally protected and sovereign political identity. The Supreme Court must uphold ICWA for the preservation of Native culture for generations to come.

More here

Residential school, 60s Scoop survivor from Curve Lake dedicates his life to protecting next generation

Arnold Taylor says he was five or six years old when government officials came to his home in Curve Lake First Nation and tore him away from everything he knew in a nightmare that would last nine years.

Being told they were going to buy new clothes, Taylor says he went with the strangers only to end up at the Mohawk Institute in Brantford, where the symbolic cleaving of his culture started immediately with the cutting of his long hair.

“At the residential school we couldn't talk our language or even practise our culture. Any time the staff heard us talking our language, we’d get a severe strapping, or some of the staff would just give us a toothbrush and we'd have to scrub out the washroom,” Taylor recalls.

Taylor says just two outfits were provided; one to wear all week, and a second for wash days.

His new home soon became known to him as The Mush Hole, so-called for the porridge the children were fed three times a day.

“If we didn't eat that porridge that day, we'd have to eat it the next day,” says Taylor.

Although being housed with lots of other children didn’t feel traumatic for Taylor as a young boy having grown up in the close-knit First Nation, as he aged, he began to understand more of what was happening around him.

“As I grew older, I realized that they're trying to segregate us and take the Indian-ness out of us,” Taylor says.

He was completely cut off from his siblings from the time they entered the residential school. The only time he saw them was in passing on the way to church, but communication was forbidden.

“I’d see some kids there just keep crying all the time because they were really homesick and missed their parents. Every once in a while, I used to cry,” Taylor says, getting choked up.

“Then, if the supervisor saw you crying, you'd get another strapping.”

In spite of the constant threat of physical violence, Taylor says he did learn resilience and how to look after himself.

“The only thing I lost was just my language. I can hardly speak it now or understand it.”

The experience also bred a rebellion inside the boy, leaving him with little respect for authority and especially the Church.

“If there was a God, he should have stepped in to save us. So to me, as far as I’m concerned, there is no God,” Taylor says. 

READ: Residential school, 60s Scoop survivor from Curve Lake dedicates his life to protecting next generation | ThePeterboroughExaminer.com

’60s Scoop exhibit stops in Saskatoon

 

 

A travelling exhibit that tells the history of the ’60s Scoop, and its survivors will be on display at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon on Wednesday.

It tells the history and impacts of the ’60s Scoop stopped at the Western Development Museum (WDM) in Saskatoon on Wednesday.

The Sixties Scoop led to an unknown number of First Nations, Métis and Inuit children taken from their parents, families and communities by child intervention services and placed in non-Indigenous families, according to organizers.

Legacy of Hope Foundation president Adam North Peigan said the national exhibit is an opportunity to share and educate with the experiences of survivors, including 12 personal testimonials.

 The travelling exhibit, known as Bi-Giwen: Coming Home — Truth Telling from the Sixties Scoop, has also made recent stops in Regina, Prince Albert, Yorkton and Swift Current.

Source: ’60s Scoop exhibit stops in Saskatoon | Globalnews.ca

 

Read more: ’60s Scoop survivors in Saskatchewan want change, not just apology

 

Systemic Racism and the Dispossession of Indigenous Wealth in the United States

 I always say... "The system isn't broken, it was built this way." Blog Editor TLH

Fletcher on Systemic Racism and the Dispossession of Indigenous Wealth in the United States

October 20, 2021Matthew L.M. Fletcher

I developed a short paper for the Federal Reserve Bank’s series on Racism and the Economy, “Systemic Racism and the Dispossession of Indigenous Wealth in the United States,” posted here.

Here is a video of today’s program. April Youpee-Roll was part of the program, too, and provided important commentary on heirship and federal Indian policy.

 

Q&A: The Transgenerational Effects of Indigenous Residential Schools

The Scientist spoke with Evan Adams, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Indigenous Services Canada and a member of the Coast Salish tribe in the Tla’amin First Nation in British Columbia whose parents attended residential schools, about how the experience of residential schools continues to shadow Indigenous communities in Canada, and what changes he would like to see in the healthcare system to better address Indigenous health inequities. 

The Scientist:

In one of the recent reviews, the authors noted that many of the studies assessing First Nations or Indigenous health and residential schools have really been more recent, maybe in the last 20 years. I was curious if it’s been your experience that [researchers] are now focusing more on the longstanding health impacts?

EA: I think it’s definitely easier to look at the modern consequences of the residential schools. But I really would like to look deeper than that. I’m in my 50s, and I’ve been looking at survivors of residential schools literally all my life. The finding of unmarked graves in residential schools tells us that . . . those children deserved better and it didn’t happen for them and they died. And if you listen to any survivor from residential schools, they will tell you that they were severely abused. You can listen to any of the 6,000 testimonials of those children that exist in the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation. 

For most of us, we don’t have the capacity to hold that reality. This child abuse that’s happened in generation after generation is very unique. For most people, trauma is a single event . . . but the repeated trauma of individuals generation after generation is kind of unprecedented. So what are the deep psychic effects? What are the physiologic aspects? What does that do to the spirit of a nation to be subjugated? I think research can go bigger than just: What are the incidence rates of this particular disease in this small population in this small time period?

Please, read more: https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/q-a-the-transgenerational-effects-of-indigenous-residential-schools-69258

 

Vice President Kamala Harris addresses Second General Assembly, NCAI

 

During the National Congress of American Indians’ 78th Annual Convention on October 12, 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris joined Tribal Leaders and allies from across Indian Country to address the most critical issues facing tribal communities.

Native American Protesters Hit by Sonic Weapons in DC

October 12, 2021 

The first U.S. president to officially commemorate Indigenous Peoples’ Day is facing backlash for supporting the Line 3 tar sands pipeline and other fossil-fuel expansion projects.

Message to President Joe Biden painted on the pedestal of a statue of Andrew Jackson, the U.S. president known to Cherokees as “Indian Killer,” ahead on the Oct. 11 Indigenous People’s Day fossil fuel protests. (Jennifer K. Falcon, Twitter)

By Brett Wilkins
Common Dreams

More than 130 Native American Earth protectors were arrested in Washington, D.C. on Monday, while others were blasted with sonic weaponry as tribal leaders and members from across the continent they call Turtle Island gathered on Indigenous Peoples’ Day to protest Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline and other oil and gas ventures. The projects are backed by President Joe Biden and the protestors called on his administration to halt all fossil fuel projects and declare a climate emergency.

Thousands of Indigenous-led demonstrators rallied and marched, with hundreds engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience outside the White House as a week of #PeopleVsFossilFuels climate action kicked off.

Ahead of Monday’s march, protesters painted “Expect Us” on the pedestal of a statue in Lafayette Park opposite the White House of Andrew Jackson, the genocidal seventh U.S. president known to Cherokees as “Indian Killer” — and a favorite of former President Donald Trump.

Indigenous Environmental Network tweeted video footage of police using a Long-Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD) against demonstrators sitting defiantly but peacefully outside the White House fence. Some observers contrasted the deployment of so-called “sound cannons” against nonviolent Indigenous protesters both on Monday and during past #StopLine3 protests with the absence of such heavy-handed tactics during the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mostly white mob.

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'Biden, Can You Hear Us Now?' Ask Indigenous Leaders Amid Arrests at Fossil Fuel Protest

  

One activist had a message for the president: "If you're claiming to be a leader for our climate crisis... then you need to start living up to your word."

READ: 'Biden, Can You Hear Us Now?' Ask Indigenous Leaders Amid Arrests at Fossil Fuel Protest