Superintendent Hoffman Applauds Interior Secretary Haaland’s Indian Boarding School Truth Initiative

With the horrific revelations of mass graves of children at two Indigenous Residential Schools in British Colombia and Saskatchewan over the last several months, United States Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative on June 22, 2021.

While there is no historical doubt about the poor conditions, attempts at mass indoctrination, neglect, abuse, and murder that  innocent people suffered at these locations, this initiative, according to the Department of Interior, “will serve as an investigation about the loss of human life and the lasting consequences of residential Indian boarding schools.”

There is already a movement to launch investigations on these current and former boarding schools in Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona. 

Secretary Haaland stated in her June 22 announcement:

“The Interior Department will address the inter-generational impact of Indian boarding schools to shed light on the unspoken traumas of the past, no matter how hard it will be. I know that this process will be long and difficult. I know that this process will be painful. It won’t undo the heartbreak and loss we feel. But only by acknowledging the past can we work toward a future that we’re all proud to embrace.”

Bryan Newland, the Assistant Interior Secretary for Indian Affairs, also commented:

“We must shed light on what happened at federal Boarding Schools. As we move forward in this work, we will engage in Tribal consultation on how best to use this information, protect burial sites, and respect families and communities.”

Appaudling the Haaland announcement, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman posted:

Over the last few months, the scope of the brutal history of Indian boarding schools has come to light. @azedschools is ready to support our Indigenous students as our nation reconciles this history through @SecDebHaaland’s Federal Indian Boarding School Truth Initiative. pic.twitter.com/fXBYod5STK

— Kathy Hoffman (@Supt_Hoffman) July 9, 2021

Legislative District 18 State Representative Jennifer Jermaine, a great proponent of Indigenous peoples including the plight of missing and murdered  Native American women (please click here to watch an interview with Bram Resnik,) also praised the announcement, commenting:

“My Grandfather was a Boarding School survivor. He attended a campus in Minnesota in the 1930s. The 1,545 bodies of Indigenous children found over the last month reinforce the experiences of our elders with that horrible chapter in American history.

Please click below to watch Representative Jermaine’s speech on the House floor on this subject.

Secretary Haaland, Superintendent Hoffman, and State Representative Jermaine are right.

These atrocities should never be forgotten. It is good timing that Governor Doug Ducey signed a new law mandating the discussion of the Holocaust and other acts of barbarity and genocide.

What happened to these unfortunate children at these “schools” should be taught to today’s children in these new classes or lessons so they never forget and do not allow these crimes to ever happen again.