Haskell opened in 1884 for the purpose of the federal government to fulfill its trust and treaty responsibility to Native Americans. Indian treaties are the supreme law of the land Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831).
The Haskell Indian Nations University Improvement Act legislation proposed by Senator Moran and Representative Mann is grounded in the principles of Indian treaties.
Haskell was originally called United States Indian Industrial Training School for the purpose of assimilating the Indian people into the majority culture reflecting U. S. federal Indian education policy.
The U. S. Indian education policy instituted at Haskell modeled the pedagogy ideology of Superintendent Carlisle Indian School H. R. Pratt “Kill the Indian in Him, save the Man”. Indian students, boys and girls were severely punished for speaking their native language, wearing traditional clothing, singing traditional songs, practicing traditional religion or not following the rules of the school. More than 100 Indian students died of many unknown circumstances under the federal trust responsibility wardship of the federal guardian. Their spirits are among us and forever remembered.
In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, (1831) Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the Cherokee tribe resembles that of a ward to its guardian. This antiquated posit remains the practice of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education to this day at Haskell Indian Nations University.
The law and policy of Indian as a ward to its guardian found in the Cherokee Nation v. Georgia assertion must be repealed in the Haskell Indian Nations University Improvement Act as proposed by Senator Moran and Representative Mann.
The Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) Improvement Act proposed by Senator Jerry Moran and Representative Tracey Mann is ‘power with” not ‘power over” that is the practice of the U S Department of Interior, U S Bureau of Indian Affairs/Bureau of Indian Education. The HINU Improvement Act is a transformative, dramatic change in the operation of Haskell and lifts the spirit and highlights the importance of the federal government fulfilling the Indian treaty trust responsibility as ruled by the U S Supreme Court. The HINU Improvement Act supports genuine Indian Self-Determination. “Haskell should be a crown jewel for both Native Americans and Kansas, but for far too long has been failed by the federal government: Mann said.
The failure of the federal government’s Indian education was set up to fail. The federal government Indian education policy of forced assimilation of Native children in the 19th century mission was to “Kill the Indian in Him and Save the Man”. The federal Indian education policy forcibly separated Native children from their families and homelands, stripped of their Indian identity, punished for speaking their Native language and were severely punished for disobeying the mission of the federal Indian schools. For many Indian children their demise was their freedom from forced genocide practice in federal Indian schools. The systemic failure continues today at Haskell described as “severe dysfunction” in the congressional 2024 report.
The system transformation of Haskell proposed by Senator Moran and Representative Mann will require time, resources and working together to provide quality and useful education to Indian students at Haskell. Senator Moran said the ‘Bureau has failed to meet the basic infrastructure needs of the school”. Continual underfunding has plagued Haskell. Haskell facilities have been condemned and are in ruin, i.e., the Haskell wetlands, athletic programs slashed or eliminated, technology is antiquated, and more dormitory space is critical.
The proposed Haskell Indian Nations University Improvement Act requires strategic planning between the United States and legally affirmed Nation-to-Nation relationship with American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal Nations, which is recognized under the Constitution of the United States, treaties, statutes, Executive Orders and court decisions. (Memorandum on Uniform Standards for Tribal Consultation, November 20, 2022.) The United States’s fulfillment of treaty trust responsibility to Indian beneficiaries can be met with enactment of the HINU Improvement Act.
M’gwitch,
Steve Cadue
Kickapoo Nation Kansas
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