Emmy Award-Winning Film Screening & Panel Discussion Uncover Indigenous Child Removal in the U.S.
The Native Justice Coalition, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, and the Manistee Area Racial Justice & Diversity Initiative will present a screening of the Emmy-award-winning documentary film “Dawnland” on Thursday, November 11, at the Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts in Manistee/Naaminitigong. The 54-minute film will be followed by a panel discussion with several members of the Native American community whose families have been directly impacted by forced removal of Native American children to so-called “boarding schools.”
Dawnland tells the story of Indigenous child removal in the U.S. and the nation’s first-ever government-endorsed truth and reconciliation commission, which investigated the devastating impact of Maine’s child welfare practices on the Wabanaki people.
In Michigan, the Mt. Pleasant Indian Boarding School operated from 1893 until 1934. The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe has uncovered records and oral histories that indicate at least 227 children died at the school during its 41 years of operation. The school was operated by a mission of the United Methodist Church. The Holy Childhood of Jesus Indian Boarding School operated in Harbor Springs from 1886 until 1983. It was one of the last such schools to close in the U.S. Holy Childhood was operated by the Sisters of Notre Dame and the Franciscan Brothers, under the oversight of the Catholic Diocese of Gaylord. The Holy Name of Jesus Indian Boarding School operated in Baraga (Assinins) and was operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph.
The National Native American Boarding School healing coalition reports that 350 Native American “boarding schools” operated in the United States and that 84 of these were administered by Roman Catholic orders. In June, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced a Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, to engage in a comprehensive review of the legacy of federal boarding school policies. The work of the initiative includes detailing historical records and examining cemeteries or other burial sites, and will take place under the supervision of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland, a citizen of Bay Mills Indian Community (Ojibwe) in Michigan/Anishinaabe Aki. Secretary Haaland stated, “The Interior Department will address the inter-generational impact of Indian boarding schools to shed light on the unspoken traumas of the past…this process will be long and painful…it won’t undo the heartbreak and loss we feel. But only by acknowledging the past can we work toward a future that we’re all proud to embrace.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reports that the Bishops are “following closely” the U.S. Department of Interior’s inquiry into what were known as Indian boarding schools in the U.S. and have pledged to “look for ways to be of assistance.” The United Methodist Church states, “We need to better understand our complicity in this form of cultural genocide and to bring the boarding schools more clearly into focus in our expression of repentance for the inhumane treatment to which the church and its members subjected Indigenous people in the past.”
The truth about U.S. Indian boarding school policies has been largely written out of the history books. Healing, justice, and reconciliation must begin with truth-telling and learning. Join us on November 11 to view this powerful film and to learn about the impact of such genocidal practices on Native American children and their families in Anishinaabe-Aki/Michigan.
