Emotional Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools

Through my recent readings on various Native American topics I came upon one about the attempts to Americanize and civilize indigenous people that was closely related to a book I recently began reading (The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo by Kent Nerburn) so I delved into that resource a little further to perhaps add some perspective to my leisure reading.  Through the online resources offered by the American Indians Civic Project surrounding Indian boarding schools I found information regarding the board schools, the intended purposes of these institutions and the resulting treatment of the Native Americans who were sent or brought to these schools (Indian Boarding Schools:  Tools of Forced Assimilations, 1870 to the 1960s http://americanindiantah.com/lesson_plans/ml_boarding schools.html.)

 From what I have read so far in my study of Native Americans I have found that at least initially the Native American peoples were curious, interested and for the most part welcoming to the initial Euro-American settlers arriving in this country.   It seemed to me that at least some of the Native American groups were at least considering the possibility of a peaceful co-existence with these newcomers.   Native American tribes had co-existed with other tribal groups for a very long period of time.   They had done so without trying to change the beliefs or cultural traits of the other tribes and gone about their lives with acceptance of others.    While many of them may not have been allies and did engage in warfare or raids with each other they allowed the other tribes their cultural lives.   The attacks or raids on other groups were mostly in retaliation for a wrongdoing initiated by the other group or as a way to demonstrate a greater level of power over others.      The Native Americans found a way to live with those who lived differently than they did.  It was as if enemies “agreed to disagree” with each other and let each person to their life.   I suspect that initially the Native Americans expected the same from the white settlers.   Unfortunately it would seem that the white people had different ideas than the Native Americans and were not as willing to be open to learning Native American ways, languages or beliefs.  Instead they expected the Native Americans to change their ways and become white.   The white settlers believed the white way was the best and most civilized way to live.   They did so because they did not understand the Native American culture and practices and were more than likely intimidated by the unknown and therefore determined it was wrong.    

One of the many ways that the white culture chose to indoctrinate the Native Americans into the white culture was to remove Native American children from their homes and bring them to boarding schools.   Or they convinced the Native American parents to send their children to these schools.   The approach of the boarding schools was to civilize the “savage” through education.    Some Native Americans felt that in order to get along with the white culture and protect themselves they did need education.    One Cherokee elder told the younger members of the tribe to “Remember that the whites are near us.  With them we have constant intercourse, and you must be sensible, that unless you speak their language, read and write as they do, they will be able to cheat you and trample on your rights” (Nabokov, Page 215).     Unfortunately the boarding schools treated the Native Americans very badly in an attempt to remove all traces of Native American spirit.   There were punishments for speaking their own languages or practicing any of the native cultural or religious rituals and traditions.   They were not allowed to wear their own clothing.   The legacy of the white mistreatment of some of the Native Americans sent to boarding schools is painful to hear and witness.     

 Andrew Windyboy, a Chippewa Cree, gave an emotional testimony shown in an online video “Our Spirits Don’t Speak English” about his treatment at a boarding school.    He was not allowed to speak his native Cree.  He couldn’t speak English and when he spoke his native tongue he was hit.   He cried when he told the story that he got hit so many times “I lost my tongue.  I lost my native tongue”.   He felt it was a shame that the white people treated them so badly because “we are a people.  We just need to be accepted.”     This testimony is given by a now older man who still obviously struggles with the treatment he received.   His greatest loss was the attempts made to remove his culture from his life in particular his language.   He quite emotionally stated about the Native Americans “we have to have our own language because when we talk to our spirits they don’t understand English” www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDshQTBh5d4 .    What the white Euro-Americans did not understand was that the removal of language was not just changing the Native American vocabulary and method of speech.      Everything in the native people’s lives was strongly tied to their culture and religious beliefs and their very essence of being.  If the white culture had taken the time to understand that they would have seen that they could not totally remove or change those basic core beliefs ever.

 Nabokov, P. (1992). Native American Testimony. New York: Penguin Books. Print.