Executive Calendar
Floor Speech
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Ms. MURKOWSKI. Madam President, I am here today to follow my colleague Senator Warren to discuss the legislation that we have been working on together, S. 1723. This is the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act.
As Senator Warren has just noted, this is legislation that will allow the Nation to address a chapter of American history that I think has been overlooked for far too long. This is a dark history, a dark legacy of the Indian boarding school era.
From 1819 to 1969--1969, not too terribly long ago--throughout that period, the U.S. Government forcibly removed Native children from their families and their Tribes, placing them in boarding schools. These Indian boarding schools, as they came to be called, were not just education institutions, but many were tools to eradicate Native cultures, languages, and traditions to ``civilize'' Native American children.
The traumatic effects of these boarding schools are still being felt by their survivors--not only by their survivors but by their children and really by their communities as well.
I heard from some of those survivors who are still with us that the act of sharing, being able to tell the truth about their experiences, can help contribute to healing. But it takes courage, it takes extraordinary courage, and I have heard that.
Fred John, Jr., who is the son of Katie John and Fred John, Sr., attended the Wrangell Institute in Alaska. He was assigned the number 77. He was not referred to as Fred John, Jr.; he was No. 77.
In 2018, he wrote that following his time at the boarding school, he still carried the pain and scars from his time at the institute. He never talked about it until his children gave him the strength and the encouragement to do so.
General Pratt, who opened the Carlisle Industrial School, established what he called a ``rapid coercive assimilation'' process in these schools. The goal there was to separate Native children from their Tribes, from their language, and from their ways so that they might never want to return home. The stated purpose of the policy at that time was to ``Kill the Indian, and save the man''--again, a dark, dark legacy.
Our committee report details this history. To hear just some memories of how these policies were implemented really is devastating.
Fred John, Jr., describes seeing a group of kids arriving from Anaktuvuk Pass. This is a small Native community at the gates of the Arctic, very far into the interior of the State, very far--1,000 miles away from the Wrangell Institute down in southeastern Alaska. Fred John, Jr., remembered the fur parkas that they were wearing. He remembered their caribou pants. These were kids who came from a part of the State where caribou was their primary food source. He remembered how beautiful they all were. But when they came in, the school staff stripped them down, taking all their clothes, all the food, including the dry caribou and the salmon that they had been given to tide them over. The staff showered them, shaved them, and gave them a number.
But the most painful in his retelling was how all of their clothes-- the beautiful fur parkas, the caribou pants--all their clothes-- everything--were taken and burned up in a furnace to completely wipe away their connection not just to the clothing but to the culture.
In this time period, students were punished and endured violence. Some survived and are pursuing healing, but unfortunately, many others did not.
This photo--there are two of them, actually, here on the same chart, and it may be difficult to see from a distance, but the photo on top is of a child laying on the floor. It is part of the Sheldon Jackson collection at the Presbyterian Historical Society. This shows an Alaskan Native child aboard a ship--it is called the Revenue Cutter Bear--to be taken to the boarding schools by Sheldon Jackson. According to Alaskan Native Heritage Center research, most of the children who were taken aboard never returned to their homes. It was a long and lengthy journey. Many went to school and never returned to their homes, passing away at the various boarding schools they were sent to, including the Sitka and Carlisle Industrial Indian Schools.
This photo on the bottom here--you can see how young these children are. This comes from the National Library of Congress, and it shows a group of children who were sent to Catholic Holy Cross Mission--again, in the interior part of the State. Here, they are wearing essentially military uniforms--everything from the boots to the uniforms themselves.
Benjamin Jacuk-Dolchok was one of the experts we worked with on this topic, and he shared his research, including these photos.
According to testimony from elders who attended the Holy Cross school, every child received a haircut upon entrance, but if they disobeyed, if they angered any of the matrons or the priests, their heads would be completely shaved as punishment.
And these are just a handful of the stories from survivors from Alaska, but Alaska was not the exception. Over the 19th and the 20th century, stories like these from survivors are, unfortunately, not too uncommon across the country.
One of the most profound reasons for Congress to establish this Commission is that it is time. It is time the Federal Government take responsibility for the legacy of its harmful policies. So our Commission will provide a Native-led process for communities to share the stories, share the truth, and pursue healing with the goal of breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma.
And like other congressional advisory Commissions that this body has established, it will be an independent, bipartisan, formal forum with expertise to examine the Federal Indian boarding schools' legacy but also to document it and to provide recommendations for action.
Our legislation builds on an extensive congressional record that was developed through strong bipartisan work that started several Congresses ago. We have had multiple hearings throughout our committees, listening sessions, and meetings and research by the relevant Senate and House committees. Over 100 written comments for the record from Indian Tribes, from Native communities and organizations, individuals, and religious institutions helped shape this legislation that we have reported to the floor of the Senate.
And I think it is worth taking a moment here to talk about that process that we had in the Indian Affairs Committee. We had a pretty robust markup that began with a strong bipartisan effort by our staffs to put together a substitute amendment to the bill for the committee to consider, and that substitute amendment was then further amended by our down-dais members on the committee, who offered some really good amendments to address the hot-button issues, including extending subpoena authority to the Commission. These amendments were adopted, and the bill, as amended, was reported from the committee by voice vote.
And through these additional amendments that we adopted at the business meeting, we now have a Commission that will have to meet higher standards than any other congressionally established Federal Commission in order to exercise that subpoena authority. And that is OK. That is OK here because subpoena authority should be a tool of last resort, but I do think that it is important for the Commission to have the tool to ensure that it can meet its investigatory function and deliver complete findings and recommendations to Congress.
So I want to thank all those, the many, who have shared their stories--Fred John, Jr., and so many who have shared their stories--and for offering ways to pursue healing. Again, I want to acknowledge and thank Senator Warren for her leadership on this issue and for the leadership of Chairman Schatz from the Indian Affairs Committee for being a great partner as we have worked to develop this legislation through the committee process.
So I am looking forward to building even more bipartisan support for this and would urge my colleagues to support this very important and very timely matter.
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