{"id":14025,"date":"2021-07-15T13:00:03","date_gmt":"2021-07-15T17:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=14025"},"modified":"2021-07-15T13:00:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-15T17:00:03","slug":"we-are-bringing-them-home-lakota-youth-on-long-overdue-journey-from-indian-boarding-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/07\/15\/we-are-bringing-them-home-lakota-youth-on-long-overdue-journey-from-indian-boarding-school\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We are bringing them home\u2019: Lakota youth on long overdue journey from Indian boarding school"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u2018We are bringing them home\u2019<\/div>\r\n
Lakota youth on long overdue journey from Indian boarding school<\/div>\r\n
Thursday, July 15, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By Acee Agoyo<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAfter a long process driven by youth, nine Lakota children who died at one of the most infamous institutions of the Indian boarding school era<\/a> are finally returning home. \r\n

<\/p>\r\nDuring a ceremony on Wednesday, the U.S. Army officially transferred the remains of nine children to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe<\/a>. The event took place at the site of the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School<\/a> in Pennsylvania, over 1,400 miles from Lakota homelands in South Dakota and more than 140 years after being taken from their families.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cOur relatives Ernest, Maud, Lucy, Friend, Warren, Alvan, Dora, Dennis, and Rose are leaving the Carlisle Barracks after 142 years,\u201d the Sicangu Youth Council \/ Tokala Mentors said on social media<\/a> as the solemn journey began.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cWe are bringing them home,\u201d the group consisting of youth and young mentors said.\r\n

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As the Indian boarding school era comes under investigation, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland traveled to the former Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania for an important event on…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/p>\r\nPresident Rodney Bordeaux of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe<\/a> and President Kevin Killer of the Oglala Sioux Tribe<\/a> were among a large delegation of Lakota citizens, including many youth, who traveled to Carlisle for the transfer. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland<\/a>, who has launched an investigation into the genocidal Indian boarding schools, also attended.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cI am committed to elevating this tragic history so that we can build a better future for our children,\u201d promised Haaland<\/a>, a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna whose own ancestor also was sent to Carlisle.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAccording to the U.S. Army, the nine children were buried in what is now known as the Carlisle Barracks Post Cemetery<\/a>. An April 2 notice in the Federal Register<\/a> provided their names:\r\n

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\r\n• Lucy Take the Tail (Pretty Eagle)

<\/p>\r\n• Rose Long Face (Little Hawk)

<\/p>\r\n• Ernest Knocks Off (White Thunder)

<\/p>\r\n• Dennis Strikes First (Blue Tomahawk)

<\/p>\r\n• Maud Little Girl (Swift Bear)

<\/p>\r\n• Friend Hollow Horn Bear

<\/p>\r\n• Warren Painter (Bear Paints Dirt)

<\/p>\r\n• Alvan (Kills Seven Horses)

<\/p>\r\n• Dora Her Pipe (Brave Bull)\r\n<\/div>\r\n

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I am grateful to have participated in a U.S. Army ceremony today with the Rosebud and Ogala Sioux Tribes to return the children who died at the Carlisle Indian School. I am committed to elevating this tragic history so that we can build a better future for our children.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/P>\r\nAt least 180 children who were sent to Carlisle died at the institution, which was established and operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs<\/a> between 1879 and 1918. The site is now under the control of the U.S. military, which has only recently started to work with tribes and Native families on the best way to handle the sensitive situation. \r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cThe Army\u2019s commitment remains steadfast to these nine Native American families and one Alaskan Native family,\u201d Karen Durham-Aguilera, the executive director of Army National Military Cemeteries<\/a>, said last month in describing the return of the nine Lakota children, along with an Aleut student from Alaska named Sophia Tetoff<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cOur objective is to reunite the families with their children in a manner of utmost dignity and respect,\u201d said Karen Durham-Aguilera<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nIn the case of the Lakota students, the process was driven by Sicangu Youth Council<\/a>. Members of the group visited Carlisle during a field trip to the East in the summer of 2015 and were motivated to bring their lost relatives back home.\r\n

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<\/P>\r\n Carlee Olson, a current member of the council, wasn’t a part of the original trip six years ago. But she heard stories from those who went.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cI knew this was gonna be a journey when you all shared your own experiences,\u201d Olson said on the youth council’s social media<\/a> as she visited Carlisle for the first time this week. \u201cSo finally after all those years talking about it, we\u2019re finally doing it! They are finally coming home!\u201d\r\n

<\/P>\r\n\u201cStanding out there today felt so surreal, but the feeling in me felt like a piece was missing and being this close to something you all started six years ago,\u201d Olson said of her young counterparts.\r\n

<\/P>\r\nBut the youth and the tribe quickly ran into obstacles. Since the site is under military control, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act<\/a> does not apply. The 1990 law otherwise requires the repatriation of ancestral remains to tribes and their descendants.\r\n

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