09/30/2025
The residential schools in Canada and the U.S. boarding school system were not built to “educate” Native children they were designed to erase us. Their motto, spoken by officials and carried out by policy, was chillingly clear: “Kill the Indian, save the child.”
This meant cutting our hair, banning our languages, renaming our children, stripping away their ceremonies, and punishing them for holding onto who they were. These schools sought to break the sacred bond between generations to sever the thread of culture, language, and identity. But what they couldn’t erase was the resilience of our people. For every story of silence, there are stories of survival. For every child who was told to forget, there were whispers of songs sung under blankets, words spoken in secret, memories carried forward.
The impact of these schools still lingers today, generations carry both the pain and the strength of survival. Remembering this history is not just about the past, it is about justice, healing, and ensuring that such attempts at cultural genocide are never repeated.
We honor the children who never came home, and we lift up those who survived. Their stories remind us: we are still here. Our languages are still spoken. Our ceremonies are alive. Our identity cannot be erased. 🧡
