On the recordJuly 24, 2024
I rise today in support of my bill, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act. If voted into law, this bill would begin the process of delivering long overdue justice to stolen Native children and to their communities. The Indian Boarding School system was one of the most devastating Federal creations in American history. The scale was truly staggering. For over a century, the United States forced hundreds of thousands of children out of their homes and into over 500 ``boarding schools.'' These boarding schools were not unlike prisons. At least 408 schools were federally funded. They were scattered across 37 States, including Alaska and Hawaii. By the 1920s, 83 percent of school-age indigenous children were in boarding schools--imagine, four out of every five Native children taken from their families, some never to be seen again. The process was a waking nightmare. Armed officers were sent onto reservations to rip children as young as 4 from their families. Mothers and fathers who resisted could be severely punished. Once at boarding school, kids were stripped of their heritage. Their hair was cut off, their clothing was burned, and they were given new names. Children who tried to practice even remnants of their Native cultures could be starved, whipped, and put in solitary confinement. Many children were farmed out to nearby properties for forced labor. Some were deployed to fight in war. Some were sexually abused.…
