U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland to visit Oklahoma on first stop of tour that casts light on Native boarding school abuses
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland will visit Oklahoma on Saturday for the first stop on a year-long countrywide tour to hear about the painful experiences of Native Americans who were sent to government-backed boarding schools designed to strip them of their cultural identities.
Riverside, which opened in 1871, serves students from grades four through 12 these days, offering them specialized academic programs as well as courses on cultural topics such as bead-working, shawl-making and an introduction to tribal art, foods and games. Currently operated by the Bureau of Indian Education, it has nearly 800 students from more than 75 tribes across the country, and the school’s administration, staff and faculty are mostly Native American.
At least 500 children died at such schools, but that number is expected to reach into the thousands or tens of thousands as more research is done. Former students might be hesitant to recount the painful past and trust a government whose policies were to eradicate tribes and, later, assimilate them under the veil of education. But some welcome the opportunity to share their stories for the first time.
“She said if she ever got married and had children, she would not teach them the language,” Schultz said. “Here I am in my 70s trying to learn my language, and it’s really disheartening.”