{"id":19707,"date":"2022-01-10T15:38:11","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T20:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=19707"},"modified":"2022-01-10T15:38:12","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T20:38:12","slug":"gaylord-news-indian-boarding-school-investigation-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/01\/10\/gaylord-news-indian-boarding-school-investigation-continues\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaylord News: Indian boarding school investigation continues"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Oney<\/a>
First-grade yearbook photo of Oney M. Roubedeaux, left, at the Concho Indian Boarding School in 1970, and Roubedeaux today. Photo courtesy Oney Roubedeaux <\/figcaption>\r\n
As tribes wait for investigation to conclude, debate over Indian schools continues<\/div>\r\n
Monday, January 10, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By Nancy Marie Spears<\/div>\r\n
Gaylord News<\/div>\r\n
gaylordnews.net<\/a><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nTribes across the Southwest dread the possibility that thousands of unmarked graves might be uncovered by a federal investigation into abandoned Native American boarding schools expected to wrap up early this year.

<\/p>\r\nThe investigation, ordered by U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, came in the wake of the discovery this year of more than 1,200 unmarked graves at two long-shuttered boarding schools in Canada\u2019s British Columbia and Saskatchewan provinces.

<\/p>\r\nThe probe also has renewed debate over Indian boarding schools, which were established in the 19th and 20th centuries with the primary objective of assimilating Indigenous youth into white culture by denying the use of their languages, dress and other cultural aspects.

<\/p>\r\nMost boarding schools were closed in the 1980s and early 1990s, but dozens of schools remain open, with 15 still boarding students as of 2020, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition<\/a>. Some are controlled by local tribes, while others are operated by the Bureau of Indian Education<\/a>, a division of the Department of the Interior.

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There are federal investigations into how Native Americans were forced to assimilate into boarding schools. We talk to some about how the schools operated in…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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\r\n Cronkite News Video: \r\n Indigenous Boarding Schools<\/a>\r\n <\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nBoarding school alumni are widespread among Indigenous communities, and their thoughts about their experiences vary widely.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cShe’s brought awareness for our Native people, for our children,\u201d retired elementary school teacher Oney M. Roubedeaux said of Haaland. \u201cI feel like that is opening up a box of worms. I mean, just a whole big old span of our people that nobody paid attention to.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nRoubedeaux, who is Ponca and Otoe-Missouria, was 6 in 1971, when she rode a Greyhound bus from Stillwater, Oklahoma, to Concho Indian Boarding School in El Reno with her brother, who was 8. She is the youngest of 17 siblings, many of whom attended boarding schools.

<\/p>\r\nAfter her mother\u2019s death in 1973, Roubedeaux was separated from her brother when she transferred from Concho to the Seneca Boarding School.

<\/p>\r\nShe said one of her other brothers was beaten to death in his room in Chilocco Indian School, 20 miles north of Ponca City, in 1980, the year it closed down. By the time she left Concho, there had been three student deaths, one being her best friend\u2019s brother.

<\/p>\r\nAfter her mother\u2019s death, Roubedeaux was placed in foster care.

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Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announces a new federal initiative to address the harmful legacy of the Indian boarding school era on June 22, 2021.”Ou…<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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Indianz.Com Video: Secretary Deb Haaland at National Congress of American Indians<\/a>\r\n<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nShe went through 10 foster homes before one foster mother realized Roubedeaux \u2013 who was 16 \u2013 could not read or write. The teachers at the public and boarding schools she attended had never taken the time to teach her, Roubedeaux said.

<\/p>\r\nShe caught up, she said, with help from her foster mother, and eventually obtained a degree in special education from the University of Central Oklahoma. Roubedeaux, who lives in Pawnee, concluded her 20-year teaching career in March 2020.

<\/p>\r\nAlthough \u201cnot everything was good,\u201d she said, boarding schools gave her self-reliance, which was her biggest reclamation of agency.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cBoarding schools were a learning experience for me as a young child \u2026 it took me through life, to be able to rely on myself,\u201d Roubedeaux said. \u201cTo this day, at the age of 57, I can still do that.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nAccording to the Boarding School Healing Coalition, 367 Indian boarding schools operated in 29 states, from Alabama to Alaska. Seventy-three were operating in 2020, and 15 of them still boarded students. Oklahoma had the most, with 83 schools, some of which still are operating. Arizona was second with 51 schools, 25 of which are open and three of which board students; New Mexico was fourth with 26 boarding schools.

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\r\n \"Constance<\/a><\/div>\r\n
Constance Fox, who is Cheyenne and Arapaho and a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) self-determination advisor, is a boarding school alumna who says the schools today are a good thing. Photo courtesy Constance Fox <\/figcaption><\/div><\/div>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nRiverside Indian School in Anadarko, Oklahoma, organized in 1871, is the oldest of four federally operated boarding schools in the nation.

<\/p>\r\nToday\u2019s boarding schools are a good thing, said Constance Fox, who is Cheyenne and Arapaho and graduated high school from Riverside in 1984.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cI think they’re a good thing because of the uniqueness Native students have,\u201d said Fox, who\u2019s a self-determination adviser for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Oklahoma. \u201cFor many, it was all they had, good and bad. I hope they continue. I know there’s been a lot of positive strides made … I go back to Riverside and it’s a whole different place.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nFox said Riverside has upgraded its buildings and athletics department over the years. When she attended Riverside, Fox said, no advanced courses were offered, but teachers now are recruited for such courses.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cI have friends that have kids and grandkids that go to boarding schools and it’s because they want to \u2026 because there is still discrimination in public schools,\u201d Fox said. \u201cBeing around their Native people makes them want to do better and want to succeed. So, I think that’s a dynamic that has changed over the years.\u201d

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Leaders in the largest city in New Mexico are convening a series of \u201ccommunity conversations\u201d to address the harmful legacy of the Indian boarding school era.<\/p>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n\t

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<\/P>\r\nFox attended Concho from grades 3 through 8 and graduated from Riverside as valedictorian. She holds a bachelor’s degree in tourism management from Northeastern State in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and a master\u2019s degree in education from the University of Oklahoma.

<\/p>\r\nFox, who lives in Yukon, has worked for the BIA for nearly three decades, mostly in the area of self-determination.

<\/p>\r\nFox said boarding schools \u2013 specifically the adults who worked at them, who she says practically raised her \u2013 helped shape her passion for self-determination and her career working to better tribes.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cWhat at the time was negative to me ended up really being positive,” Fox said. “I learned so much about self-responsibility, and that came from the dorm parents, teachers, and other people who worked at both Concho and Riverside.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nFox said she fully supports Haaland’s efforts and thinks her investigation shows goodwill to create an understanding of the traumas her ancestors suffered and the impact it has in 2022. Although closure can\u2019t begin without acknowledging the history, she said it is hopeful to begin the healing process for the families and tribes impacted.

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\"Patty<\/a><\/div>
Hopi journalist Patty Talahongva, who attended the Phoenix Indian High School, is seen covering the Arizona tribal-state Class III gaming compact signing for Indian Country Today at the Heard Museum in Phoenix on April 15, 2021. Photo courtesy Patty Talahongva <\/figcaption><\/div><\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nHopi journalist Patty Talahongva got her start in journalism at Phoenix Indian High School in the 1978-79 school year. She is the executive producer of newscasts by Indian Country Today<\/a>, a national nonprofit digital news publication focusing on Indigenous issues.

<\/p>\r\nAlthough Talahongva, who lives in Phoenix, knows about the brutal history of her grandparents\u2019 boarding school experiences, her year at Phoenix Indian School was different.

<\/p>\r\n\u201cPeople want to cling to this idea that it was always, always bad,\u201d Talahongva said. \u201cI would say there’s always good in whatever story, no matter how bad it got.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nBy the time she was in school, Talahongva said, children were allowed to speak their languages freely, and cultural customs were celebrated, not suppressed. The overall experience, she said, made her more independent. The school, which opened in 1891, shut down in 1990.

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