Indianz.Com > News > ‘A sacred site’: City seeks input from survivors of Indian boarding school
‘A sacred site’: City seeks input from survivors of Indian boarding school
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
Indianz.Com
Leaders in the largest city in New Mexico are convening a series of “community conversations” to address the harmful legacy of the Indian boarding school era.
The sessions, which begin next Tuesday, will be used to collect histories about the former Albuquerque Indian School. Though the facility closed decades ago, the pain suffered there surfaced again last summer, when a plaque commemorating the lives of young students disappeared from a city-run park.
Members of the Indian community in Albuquerque quickly came together to honor the memories of the fallen students, who primarily hailed from Apache, Navajo and Zuni communities, according to local records. The city has since closed off portions of a park where young people are thought to have been buried.
Last month, city also utilized ground-penetrating radar at the the 4-H Park to further examine the burial ground. The upcoming conversations will help guide what comes next for what is being called a “sacred site.”
“As we move through the process of discovering stories about the Indian School and what took place there, we must take the time to ask our ancestors for strength and healing for those who didn’t return home,” said Terry Sloan, Intergovernmental Tribal Liaison for the city of Albuquerque.
“The most sensitive areas of the park have been demarcated and closed to public access and we ask the community to be respectful of that space as it is a sacred site,” said Sloan, who is Navajo and Hopi.
In addition to the non-invasive radar tests, the city engaged in consultations last month with Indian nations. Leaders of the Navajo Nation, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, the Ute Tribe and various Pueblo tribes participated in the December 2 meeting, according to the parks department. “A high priority for tribes and Pueblos, and the general public, is learning more about the site,” said David Simon, Director of the City Parks and Recreation Department. “As we conduct additional research in step with Native American stakeholders, we also want to continue to learn about its history from those who were affected by it, and continue working together to forge the future of this sacred space,” said Simon.“We even put out some stuffed bears for the kids, it’s messed up this happened.” said Rose Daniels, who lives in the neighborhood around the 4-H Park where at least 100 students and staff from the early Albuquerque Indian School era are buried.https://t.co/368rhWGrJO
— IllumiNative (@IllumiNative) December 20, 2021
“Site of Indian Cemetery, 1882-1933
Used primarily for burial of Albuquerque Indian School students from the Zuni, Navajo and Apache tribes”
According to local tribal citizens, the plaque had gone missing in the past and usually was replaced by the city. It is not clear, though, when the latest disappearance occurred and the parks department last July said it hadn’t been removed by staff.
The Presbyterian Church opened the Albuquerque Indian School in 1881, at a time when U.S. law and policy aimed to “Kill the Indian, and Save the Man” by placing tribal children in educational institutions, often far from their homes and families.
“Assimilation policies carried out by the same department that I now lead the same agency that tried to eradicate our culture, our language, our spiritual practices, and our people,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna, said in announcing the Federal Indian Boarding School Truth Initiative last June.
Haaland, a former member of Congress whose district includes the city of Albuquerque, said the investigation will pay particular attention to the lives lost at Indian boarding schools. The U.S. government has never taken up such an initiative, despite decades of work by tribes and tribal advocates to address the harmful impacts of the era.
“We must uncover the truth about the loss of human life and the lasting consequences of these schools,” said Haaland, who ancestors were taken to Indian boarding schools, including one more than 1,900 miles away from her Pueblo communities in New Mexico.
“This investigation will identify past boarding school facilities and sites, the location of known and possible burial sites located at or near school facilities and the identities and tribal affiliations of children who were taken there,” Haaland said in remarks to the National Congress of American Indians shortly before the situation in Albuquerque came to light.
Indianz.Com
Tuesday, January 11, 2022 from 4:30-6:30pm at Los Duranes Community Center
Registration: cabq.gov Wednesday, January 12, 2022 from 4:30-6:30pm, virtual
Registration: cabq.gov Thursday, January 13, 2022 from 1:30-3:30pm, virtual
Registration: cabq.gov Friday, January 14, 2022 from 9:30-11:30am, virtual
Registration: cabq.gov
In November, the Department of the Interior held consultations for the Federal Indian Boarding School Truth Initiative. The sessions, which took place virtually, were closed to the media.
Under an memo issued by Secretary Haaland, a report on the first steps of the initiative is due by April 1.
Registration: cabq.gov Wednesday, January 12, 2022 from 4:30-6:30pm, virtual
Registration: cabq.gov Thursday, January 13, 2022 from 1:30-3:30pm, virtual
Registration: cabq.gov Friday, January 14, 2022 from 9:30-11:30am, virtual
Registration: cabq.gov
Relevant Documents
4H Park Burial Site
Aug. 10, 2021 Stakeholders’ Meeting Report from City of Albuquerque
Recommendations on Albuquerque Indian Boarding School Cemetery Site/4-H Park from Commission on American Indian and Alaska Native Affairs
4-H Action Plan from City of Albuquerque [One-Pager]
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