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This Week in the World: A Step Closer to Truth, Justice, and Healing for Native Communities

This week, Congress took an important step toward addressing the painful legacy of Indian boarding schools.

On Thursday, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce passed the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (H.R. 7227) with overwhelming bipartisan support.

We hope Congress will move swiftly to bring this bill to the floor and pass it so that we can begin the long overdue work of truth, justice, and healing for Native communities.

Faith Letter Supporting the Investigation of Indian Boarding School Policies

From the early 1800s through the 1960s, Christian churches collaborated with the federal government to create hundreds of boarding schools which Native American children were forced to attend. The conditions at these institutions were horrific—yet, the federal government has never conducted a full exploration of the harms and impacts of this federal policy. 

The Lasting Trauma of Quaker Indigenous Boarding Schools

In this video, Paula discusses Friends’ role in the traumas inflicted on the indigenous peoples of North America since the arrival of European colonists—particularly in the administration of boarding schools where Native children were forced to abandon their heritage and embrace the ways of White Christian culture, where they would never be truly accepted as equals.