ROSEBUD – Tokala Inajinyo Youth Leadership staff expressed concern over the future of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative after the US President-elect is sworn into office.
In June 2021, Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland established the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. Her official memorandum outlined plans for the Initiative, stating “the Department [of Interior] shall undertake an investigation of the loss of human life and the lasting consequence of residential Indian Board School. The primary goal of the investigation shall be to identify boarding school facilities and sites; the location of known and possible student burial sites located at or near school facilities; and the identities and Tribal affiliations of children interred at such locations.”
Also, S.1723/H.R. 7227: Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act, was sponsored by Senator Elizabeth Warren in May 2023. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition has online resources to support the passing of this Act. If the bill doesn’t pass, advocates believe the project will come to a halt.
In October 2024, President Joe Biden offered a formal apology for the government’s role in forcing children to attend boarding schools during a visit to the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona.
Consequently, grassroots advocates believe a new President of the United States (POTUS) coming into office will definitely affect what happens with the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. The future of S.1723/H.R.7227 is uncertain. Chelsea Wilson, Senior Project Manager for the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, is working with tribes and organizations to ensure the research gathered over the past 3 years is safely preserved and maintained.
The Tokala Inajinyo Youth Leadership group met with Wilson recently to discuss the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative research, which is hosted online under Secretary Haaland’s office. There is a possibility when the new POTUS takes office, the information could be removed from the website. Another meeting with Wilson is planned. The group invited the tribal council members to attend this meeting.
The group also requested the tribal council approve a letter of support from the Tokala Inajinyo Youth Leadership program for the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe regarding the recent discovery of the 38 unmarked graves. They also urged the RST President and tribal council to write their own statement of support for Crow Creek.
The Tokala Inajinyo Youth Leadership program was instrumental in overseeing the 2021 return and reinterment of the remains of 9 Sicangu Lakota children who died after being sent to Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania during 1879-1918.
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