President Biden Apologizes to Native Americans
for Federal Indian Boarding Schools

Gila River Indian Community, October 25, 2024: President Joe Biden issued a “long overdue” formal apology for the abuse and trauma inflicted by the federal government’s Indian boarding school system.

More than 900 Indigenous children died during what the president “one of the most horrific chapters in American history.”

"I formally apologize as president of the United States of America, for what we did. I formally apologize. And it’s long overdue."

Visit sources for full story....

SOURCE www.whitehouse.gov:
The White House Release DOWNLOAD PDF

CALIE STUDY GUIDE:

American Indian Boarding School Experience

CALIE has compiled a historical Web portal guide for research into what happened circa 1850-Present....

The U.S. gets a new national marine sanctuary, the first led by a tribe

The waters off Central California are now part of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, the result of a decades-long campaign by local indigenous leaders.

More than 4,500 square miles of ocean will soon be protected by the federal government off the Central California coast. The Biden administration is creating a new national marine sanctuary, which will be the third largest in the U.S.

The sanctuary is also the first to be led by Indigenous people. It was nominated by members of the Northern Chumash Tribe, who drove the effort for more than decade to protect the rugged coastline that is their historical homeland...

SOURCE (full story): NPR.org

Tribal compacts signed

SACRAMENTO—Gov. Gavin Newsom recently approved ratification of tribal compacts with Table Mountain and Tule River. Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-San Bernardino) authored the bills.

“I thank Gov. Newsom for approving ratification of the tribal compacts that play a key role in the self-sufficiency of the two tribes and their ability to invest in public health, safety and infrastructure,” Ramos said....

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posted September 9, 2024 by Maria L. Lopez

Smoky Mountains' highest peak returns to Native American name

SOURCE: AP

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) -- The highest peak, formerly known as Clingmans Dome, at Great Smoky Mountains National Park is officially reverting to its Cherokee name more than 150 years after a surveyor named it for a Confederate general.

The U.S. Board of Geographic Names voted on Wednesday in favor of a request from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to officially change the name Clingmans Dome to Kuwohi, according to a news release from the park. The Cherokee name for the mountain translates to “mulberry place.”...

From WIKIPEDIA:

Kuwohi is a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina in the Southeastern United States. The name "Kuwohi" means "mulberry place"...

Soboba students are recognized for their academic achievements

Secretary Haaland Announces Major Milestones for Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative

Assistant Secretary Newland completes investigation, releases final report 

July 30, 2024

READ THE REPORT on doi.gov
DOWNLOAD PDF

Nearly a thousand children died at Indian boarding schools funded by the U.S.

JULY 30, 2024
HEARD ON ALL THINGS CONSIDERED

by Sequoia Carrillo

The federal government today expanded the number of children known to have died in the repressive boarding school system that, for more than a century, pulled Native American children from their homes and communities.

The Interior Department also called for billions in federal funding to begin a “healing” process.

The report concludes a three-year investigation that saw, for the first time, the federal government accepting responsibility for its role in creating the system, which included more than 400 schools across 37 states....

SOURCE: www.npr.org
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WHEN, WHERE & HOW DID THE TERM "NATIVE AMERICAN" ORIGINATE?

4th of July Independence Day first-person historical essay from Southern California tribal elder Ernie C. Salgado Jr. (Soboba band):

I want to share the truth on how the phrase or expression “Native American” was coined by a handful of California Tribal Leaders in 1975 as a commendation for the U.S. Bicentennial 1776-1976 celebration....

How do I know this to be true?

Because I was there....

READ FULL ARTICLE

The mission of the BIE is to provide students at Befriended schools with a culturally relevant, high-quality education that prepares students.... https://bie.edu

Empowering Native American Students Through Opportunities: www.shermanindianhs.org

Pacific Indigenous leaders have a new plan to protect whales: Treat them as people

by Jared Formanek, CNN

HONG KONG (CNN) -- For Maori conservationist Mere Takoko, “losing one whale is like losing an ancestor.” The animals “taught our people about navigation across the Pacific, particularly across the Milky Way… And this is information that was given to our ancestors.”

The environmental activist from the small town of Rangitukia, on New Zealand’s east coast, is spearheading a movement of Indigenous groups in the Pacific pushing to protect the magnificent marine mammals, inking a groundbreaking treaty to make them legal persons with inherent rights.

The document is part of a multi-pronged effort to safeguard whales, which also includes quantifying their monetary value as carbon-depleting “bioengineers of our oceans”, and deploying the latest tech to track boats that harm them....

SOURCE Full Article (CNN)