Five hundred deaths at US indigenous school with more to come

Americans, especially members of the Native American community, are in shock following the revelation of over 500 Native American student deaths at US boarding schools.

The deaths of the Native American children were confirmed as part of the first stage of a federal study of boarding schools that operated for over a century, supposedly, to assimilate the indigenous children into white society between 1819 and 1969.

The number of deaths uncovered could be just the tip of the proverbial iceberg; the US Interior Department warns that, with further investigation, the number of known student deaths could amount to thousands or even tens of thousands.

The initial findings of the comprehensive study have cast a spotlight on the dark history of more than 400 Native American boarding schools, notorious for brutal conditions.

Hundreds of thousands of Indigenous children were forced by the US Federal Government to attend these institutions. The children were separated from their families by force, forbidden from speaking their native languages, and often sexually abused.

A large number of these innocent children never returned home.

US boarding schools

A state of shock in America, especially among members of the Native American community following the identification of over 500 student deaths at US boarding schools.

The painful legacy of the notorious system, which was run by the government and the Church, has been felt deeply across Indian Territory and through many generations.

The high profile federal review was ordered by the US Interior Secretary Deb Haaland last year after the discovery of unmarked graves at the site of former residential schools in neighboring Canada.

More unmarked graves found on the site of a former residential school

The discovery of 93 potential unmarked graves on the site of a former residential school is the latest discovery of the remains of scores of Indigenous children over the past year.

So it's the same history really, the thing is the United States had such a huge population of native people, such a wealth of anthropology, if you could imagine what anthropologists today would give to be able to ... record all those languages and take pictures, but they're gone.

You can't ever record the dead civilizations and if they were allowed to live, the Earth would be so much wealthier. It's really just a terrible, terrible tragedy; that that is the real genocide. That's genocide number one.

Eric Walberg, Journalist

500 Native Americans died in US boarding schools, report finds

The United States has identified over 500 deaths at its boarding schools that for over a century sought to assimilate Native American children into white society.

The US interior department's report released on Wednesday 11^th May 2022, highlighted instances of beatings, withholding of food, solitary confinement and other forms of abuse at US boarding schools.

US Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland, whose grandparents attended such schools, seems to be very serious about the investigation. She has ordered her agency to fully investigate what remains of the evidence of the horrific abuses.

Now we are uniquely positioned to assist in the effort to uncover the dark history of these institutions that have haunted our families for too long.

US Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland

The plight of Indigenous kids in the United States

An investigation by US authorities has identified dozens of burial sites belonging to boarding schools for Native American children.

Haaland asserts that the consequences of federal Indian boarding school policies, including the trauma caused by the family separation and cultural eradication inflicted on generations of children as young as four years old, are heartbreaking and undeniable.

Brian Newland, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs, believes further investigation is needed to better understand the lasting effects of the boarding school system on American Indians, and most importantly, that there is not a single American Indian, Alaskan native, or native Hawaiian, in the country whose life has not been impacted by the notorious boarding school system.

Canada's indigenous call on Pope for ‘unfettered’ access to records on children abuse, formal apology

Survivors of Canada

Meanwhile, the National Native American boarding school healing coalition, warned that efforts to find the remains of the indigenous children must continue until the United States fully accounts for the genocide committed against Native American children.

The latest findings are shedding light on the plight of Native Americans in the United States, who are still suffering from many problems including racial discrimination.

Pressure is mounting on the US establishment to come to terms with and learn lessons from its dark past.

The prevalence of violence at US schools

With American students having returned to schools in the wake of the COVID pandemic, a new wave of violence is reportedly on the rise in schools across America.

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