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.

The discussions come six months following the disappearance of the plaque at the 4-H Park, which is located a short walk from the site of the former boarding school. It read:

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.

Death was sadly a known occurrence at Albuquerque Indian School. A hospital was located on the site to tend to children who contracted diseases, like tuberculosis, that weren’t always common in their own tribal communities.

As the plaque notes, a number of Apache, Navajo and Zuni children died while attending the school, far from their homes. The Pueblo of Zuni, for example, is more than 150 miles from Albuquerque. The nearest Apache community, home to the Mescalero Apache Tribe, is about 200 miles away.

While the school was started by the Presbyterian Church, it was soon taken over by the U.S. government in 1884, according to the city of Albuquerque. It operated until 1982, although the plaque at 4-H Park only refers to burials of Indian children up until 1933.

The former boarding school site is now held in trust for the 19 Pueblo tribes of New Mexico. A number of economic development operations, including a building that is leased to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which Haaland oversees as the first Native person to lead the Department of the Interior, are located there.

Across the street is the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, which is owned and operated by the Pueblo tribes. 4-H Park, which is owned by the city and not by tribes or the federal government, is located on the back side of the facility.

Registration is required for the city’s upcoming sessions, titled “Untold Truths: Community Conversations About the Impacts of the Albuquerque Indian School.” The first one takes place in person at the Los Duranes Community Center on January 11. The remaining three meetings are virtual.

The schedule follows:

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.

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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