Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I want to thank and acknowledge Senator Schatz, as well as his team on the Indian Affairs Committee, for their work as we have sought to advance S. 1723, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act. I also want to acknowledge Senator Warren for her help on this and, of course, the Native American Boarding School Coalition and so many of the advocates that really, really have helped us advance this. As the chairman of the committee has noted, we have worked this legislation over a long period of time, and it is a priority for us in the committee because, for too long--for far too long--this dark legacy of the Indian boarding school era has just kind of sat in the corner, unrecognized and unacknowledged. From 1819 to 1969, the U.S. Government forcibly removed Native children from their families and Tribes and placed them in boarding schools. These Indian boarding schools, as they came to be called, were not just education institutions, but, oftentimes, they were viewed as tools to eradicate Native cultures, languages, and traditions to ``civilize'' Native American children--again, a very dark era within our government. So what we seek to do with this bill is to create a commission to bring light to the generational trauma caused by this time of Indian boarding schools.…”