The annual National Day of Remembrance for U. S. Indian boarding school survivors is in the month of September. The theme of this year’s event is “Always in our hearts”. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, NABS – NABS , is sponsoring special events in the nations’ capital. The flagship of Indian boarding schools to assimilate Native American children were Carlisle Indian Industrial School and the United States Indian Industrial Training School today called Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU). Carlisle established by Superintendent Richard Henry Pratt developed the model for all Indian boarding schools on the ideology and indoctrination pedagogy of “Kill the Indian in Him and save he man”. Superintendent Pratt’s cultural erasure ideology killed the Indian in many different nefarious ways and Superintendent Pratt was “held unaccountable”. Superintendent Pratt’s Carlisle model was instituted at Haskell establishment in 1884.
Carlisle and Haskell were selected as locations for Indian boarding schools because they were located far from Native American reservation homelands to prevent Indian children from escaping and running away. 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 at Haskell. The children’s spirits are among us and forever remembered.
The annual National Day of Remembrance event on September 16 is an opportunity for tribal leaders, Indian people survivors, descendants, congressional members and the public to connect, ‘we are related” to honor and recognize the children who never returned to family and home from the Indian boarding schools. Haskell Indian Nations University is one of the resting places for the children who never returned home.
Our survivors and descendants endure intergenerational trauma and causes lasting trauma for Native American families and communities. Healing must be meaningfully supported by the Congress as it was federal policy that authorized and provided resources to institute cultural erasure in the assimilation practices of the federal Indian boarding schools.
In March 2025 Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) reintroduced the bill Truth and Healing Commission on the Indian Boarding School Policies Act (S.761) for consideration and full vote in the Senate. The proposed U. S. Senate bill is to establish a federal commission to investigate the impacts of federal boarding school policies on Native American children, families, and communities. Senator Murkowski is Chairperson of the U. S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs which will also be considering the Haskell Indian Nations University Improvement Act proposed by U S Senator Jerry Moran. The purpose of the HINU Improvement Act is to highlight the importance of the Federal Government fulfilling its trust and treaty responsibility to Native Americans and clarifies the University’s charitable organization tax status and independence from the Bureau of Indian Education.
The Director of Policy and Advocacy at the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition is Dr. Ponka-We Victors-Cozad Tohono O’odham Nation of Arizona and former state representative in Kansas. In her capacity with the Kansas state legislature, Dr. Ponka-We-Victors Cozad interacted with the four federally recognized Indian tribes in Kansas: Kickapoo Nation, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Iowa Nation, Sac & Fox nation and Haskell and their respective leaders and the Kansas congressional members. Ponka-We-Victors-Cozad’s knowledge and experiences serve her well in the need for genuine Indian Self-Determination authority and control of the operations conducted at Haskell in the practice of authentic and culturally relevant education at Haskell as described in the HINU Improvement Act.
The United States fulfillment of treaty trust responsibility to Indian beneficiaries can be met with enactment of the HINU Improvement Act and the Truth and Healing Commission on “the Indian Boarding School Policies Act (S.761).
“Our Native Americans deserve more”. U. S. Senator Moran, LJW April 22, 2022. I agree.
“I have and will have grandchildren and great-grandchildren enrolling at Haskell, and I want quality education for our future Indian leaders,” Cadue said. “That’s not only good for (Native Americans); it’s also beneficial for non-Native society.” LJW April 22, 2022.
M’gwitch,
Steve Cadue
Kickapoo Nation Kansas
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