Reznet

Native Groups Not Waiting for Apology

By Kevin Abourezk

In the Lakota way, the burning of sage is meant to clear away evil spirits.

Sometimes words can have the same effect.

On June 11, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology in the House of Commons for his government's treatment of the First Nations peoples in residential schools.

"I stand before you today to offer an apology to former students of Indian residential schools," Harper said. "The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history."

He recognized the traumatizing effects that efforts to assimilate students within the schools had on those students.

Here in the United States, efforts are underway to being a healing similar to that which began last week in Canada.

In February, the U.S. Senate passed the Indian Health Care Improvement Act that carried with it an amendment issuing a formal apology on behalf of the government for its mistreatment of Native people. Congress is now taking up consideration of the bill and the attached apology amendment.

And while some are hopeful the apology will get passed and lead to reconciliation between Native people and the U.S. government, others aren't waiting.

Starting in May 2009, Native riders will cross the country on bicycles to raise awareness of the government's abuse of Native people in boarding schools. The two coast-to-coast bicycle relays will be part of a national education campaign called the 2009 Way Home Tour.

Two Colorado nonprofit groups — White Bison Inc. and and the Ancient Ways of Knowing Foundation — are sponsoring the campaign, which will lead riders to Indian school sites in 17 states.

The groups hope the campaign will bring light to the intergenerational trauma inflicted on Indian people after the first boarding school was opened in Carlisle, Penn., in 1879.

"We are going to heal and we are going to take our voice back, never to have our voice taken away again," said Don Coyhis, founder and president of White Bison, in a news release. "We are taking our voice back so our children will have a voice and be able to stand tall."

Coyhis said the anger, guilt, shame and fear underlying many of the social problems facing Indian communities are legacies of the boarding schools.

Like the burning of sage, the Way Home Tour is meant to dispel the evils caused by boarding schools through workshops, talking circles and traditional Indian ceremonies at school sites along the routes.

The journey is intended to send the message that Indian people can heal from the boarding school era without waiting for a formal apology or monetary settlement from the U.S. government.

"We'll make that run and get our voice back," Coyhis said. "It would be nice if we could get an apology from the government. The Australian government did it this past February. ... But we're not going to hurt any more."

Kevin Abourezk's "Red Clout" columns are available for syndication. Please contact reznet to purchase republishing rights.

Kevin Abourezk, Rosebud Lakota, is a reporter and editor at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. He writes reznet's "Red Clout" political blog and teaches reporting at the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute. Abourezk was awarded a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism in 2006.

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