Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4752 To establish the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy in the United States, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 Ms. WARREN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs A BILL To establish the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy in the United States, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Truth and Healing 4 Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds as follows: 7 (1) The Indian Boarding School Policy was 8 adopted by the United States Government to strip 9 American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) chil- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4752.IS S4752 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4752 IS dren of their indigenous identities, beliefs, and tradi- 1 tional languages to assimilate them into White 2 American culture through federally funded Chris- 3 tian-run schools, which had the effect of cultural 4 genocide. 5 (2) For nearly a century, between 1869 and the 6 1960s, the Federal Government implemented the In- 7 dian Boarding School Policy. This policy authorized 8 the forced removal of hundreds of thousands of AI/ 9 AN children, as young as 5 years old, relocating 10 them from their homes in Tribal communities to one 11 of the 367 Indian Boarding Schools across 30 12 States. 13 (3) By 1926, nearly 83 percent of AI/AN 14 school-age children were enrolled in Indian boarding 15 schools in the United States. However, because near- 16 ly 62 percent of the school records have been lost or 17 destroyed, the full extent of the Federal Indian 18 boarding school policy has not been identified. 19 (4) Gen. Richard Henry Pratt, the founder and 20 superintendent of the Carlisle Indian Industrial 21 School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, stated the ethos of 22 this policy to ‘‘kill the Indian in him, and save the 23 man’’. Founded in 1879, the Carlisle Indian School 24 set the precedent as the first Government-funded 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4752.IS S4752 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4752 IS off-reservation Indian boarding school in the United 1 States where over 10,000 AI/AN children were en- 2 rolled from over 140 Tribes. 3 (5) The Indian Boarding School policy was de- 4 signed to assimilate AI/AN children into White 5 American culture by stripping them of their cultural 6 identities, often through physical, sexual, psycho- 7 logical, and spiritual abuse and neglect. Many of the 8 children who were taken to boarding schools never 9 returned to their communities. At the Carlisle In- 10 dian School alone, approximately 180 AI/AN chil- 11 dren were buried. 12 (6) While attending Indian boarding schools, 13 AI/AN children suffered additional psychological 14 abuses as they were sent to White-owned homes and 15 businesses for involuntary and unpaid manual labor 16 work during the summers. Many children ran away 17 and remained missing, or died of illnesses due to 18 harsh living conditions, abuse, and/or substandard 19 health care provided by the schools. 20 (7) Many of the children were buried in un- 21 marked graves or off-campus cemeteries. Inaccurate, 22 scattered, and missing school records make it nearly 23 impossible for families to locate the final resting 24 place of their loved ones, especially since only 38 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4752.IS S4752 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4752 IS percent of the school’s records have been located 1 from 142 of the known 367 boarding schools. 2 (8) Parents of the children who were forcibly 3 removed to the boarding schools were prohibited 4 from visiting or engaging in correspondence with 5 their children. Parental resistance to compliance 6 with this harsh no-contact policy resulted in their in- 7 carceration or loss of access to basic provisions in- 8 cluding food rations, clothing, or both. 9 (9) The 2018 Broken Promises Report pub- 10 lished by the United States Commission on Civil 11 Rights reported that AI/AN communities continue to 12 experience intergenerational trauma resulting from 13 experiences in Indian Boarding Schools that divided 14 cultural family structures, damaged indigenous iden- 15 tities, and inflicted chronic psychological ramifica- 16 tions on AI/AN children and families. 17 (10) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre- 18 vention Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Expe- 19 riences Study shows that adverse or traumatic child- 20 hood experiences disrupts brain development leading 21 to a higher likelihood of negative health outcomes as 22 adults including, but not limited to, heart disease, 23 obesity, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases. AI/ANs 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4752.IS S4752 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4752 IS suffer from disproportional rates of each of these 1 diseases compared to the national average today. 2 (11) The longstanding ramifications of the in- 3 humane treatment of AI/AN children and families at 4 these boarding schools continues to impact Tribal 5 communities through intergenerational trauma, cy- 6 cles of violence and abuse, disappearance, health dis- 7 parities, substance abuse, premature deaths, and ad- 8 ditional undocumented psychological trauma. 9 (12) The continuing lasting implications of the 10 Federal Indian Boarding School Policy and inhu- 11 mane treatment of AI/AN children and families in- 12 fluenced modern U.S. Department of the Interior’s 13 Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-operated schools. 14 These schools have often failed to meet the many 15 needs of nearly 50,000 AI/AN students across 23 16 States. 17 (13) The replication of assimilation policies of 18 the boarding school era also presented itself through 19 other Federal programs like the Indian Adoption 20 Project (1958 to 1967) that placed AI/AN children 21 in non-Indian households and institutions for foster 22 care or adoption across 25 States. 23 (14) The Association on American Indian Af- 24 fairs reported that the continuation of cultural geno- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4752.IS S4752 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4752 IS cide and assimilation policies through Federal AI/ 1 AN adoption and foster care programs between 2 1941 to 1967 separated as many as one-third of Na- 3 tive American children from their families in Tribal 4 communities, subsequently prompting the creation of 5 the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) to stop the re- 6 moval of children. 7 (15) In some States, over 50 percent of foster 8 care children in State adoption systems are Native 9 American. The general lack of public awareness, in- 10 formation, and acknowledgment of the residual im- 11 pacts of the Indian Boarding School Policy and in- 12 tergenerational trauma remain, signaling the over- 13 due need for an investigative Federal committee to 14 further document and expose the assimilation and 15 cultural genocide implemented under this policy. 16 SEC. 3. PURPOSES. 17 The purposes of this Act are as follows: 18 (1) To establish a new Truth and Healing Com- 19 mission on Indian Boarding School Policy in the 20 United States to formally investigate and document, 21 for the first time in history, cultural genocide, as- 22 similation practices, and human rights violations of 23 Indian Boarding Schools in the United States, to 24 study the impact and ongoing effects of historical 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4752.IS S4752 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4752 IS and intergenerational trauma in Tribal communities, 1 and to provide a forum for indigenous victims and 2 families to discuss the personal impacts of physical, 3 psychological, and spiritual violence. 4 (2) To further develop recommendations for the 5 Federal Government to acknowledge and heal the 6 historical and intergenerational trauma caused by 7 the Federal Indian Boarding School Policy and 8 other cultural genocide practices, including rec- 9 ommendations to stop the continued removal of AI/ 10 AN children from their families and Tribal commu- 11 nities under modern-day assimilation practices car- 12 ried out by State social service departments, foster 13 care agencies, and adoption services. 14 SEC. 4. TRUTH AND HEALING COMMISSION ON INDIAN 15 BOARDING SCHOOL POLICY IN THE UNITED 16 STATES. 17 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 18 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 19 means the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian 20 Boarding School Policy in the United States estab- 21 lished by subsection (b)(1). 22 (2) INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL POLICY.—The 23 term ‘‘Indian Boarding School Policy’’ means the 24 policy of the Federal Government under which more 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4752.IS S4752 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4752 IS than 100,000 American Indian and Alaska Native 1 children were forcibly removed from their family 2 homes and placed in any of 460 Bureau of Indian 3 Affairs-operated schools, including 367 Indian 4 boarding schools, at which assimilation and ‘‘civiliza- 5 tion’’ practices were inflicted on those children as 6 part of the assimilation efforts of the Federal Gov- 7 ernment, advancing eradication of indigenous peo- 8 ples’ cultures in the United States. 9 (b) ESTABLISHMENT.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is established the 11 Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding 12 School Policy in the United States. 13 (2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Commission 14 is to investigate the experience, impacts, and ongo- 15 ing effects of the Indian Boarding School Policy, in- 16 cluding the impacts and ongoing effects of the inter- 17 generational trauma inflicted on American Indian 18 and Alaska Native families, including physical, psy- 19 chological, sexual, and spiritual violence inflicted on 20 Native American children as young as 5 years old 21 for speaking indigenous languages or engaging in 22 traditional practices. In addition to, obtaining accu- 23 rate records and oral accounts of the events that 24 took place at the boarding schools. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4752.IS S4752 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4752 IS (3) MEMBERSHIP.— 1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 2 be composed of members appointed as follows: 3 (i) Not fewer than 1 member ap- 4 pointed by the President. 5 (ii) Not fewer than 1 member ap- 6 pointed by the President pro tempore of 7 the Senate, on the recommendation of the 8 majority leader of the Senate. 9 (iii) Not fewer than 1 member ap- 10 pointed by the President pro tempore of 11 the Senate, on the recommendation of the 12 minority leader of the Senate. 13 (iv) Not fewer than 2 members ap- 14 pointed by the Speaker of the House of 15 Representatives, of whom not fewer than 1 16 shall be appointed on the recommendation 17 of the minority leader of the House of 18 Representatives. 19 (B) REQUIREMENTS FOR MEMBERSHIP.— 20 To the maximum extent practicable, the Presi- 21 dent and the Members of Congress shall ap- 22 point members of the Commission under sub- 23 paragraph (A) to represent diverse experiences 24 and backgrounds so as to include Tribal rep- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4752.IS S4752 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4752 IS resentatives and experts who will provide bal- 1 anced points of view with regard to the duties 2 of the Commission, including Tribal representa- 3 tives and experts— 4 (i) from diverse geographic areas; and 5 (ii) who possess personal experience 6 with, diverse policy experience with, or spe- 7 cific expertise in, Indian boarding school 8 history or the Indian Boarding School Pol- 9 icy. 10 (C) PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTMENT.—The 11 President shall make appointments to the Com- 12 mission under this paragraph in coordination 13 with the Secretary of the Interior and the Di- 14 rector of the Bureau of Indian Education. 15 (D) MEMBERS TO BE INCLUDED.—To the 16 maximum extent practicable, the membership of 17 the Commission shall include— 18 (i) 1 representative from each of— 19 (I) the National Native American 20 Boarding School Healing Coalition; 21 (II) the National Indian Edu- 22 cation Association; 23 (III) the American Indian Higher 24 Education Consortium; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4752.IS S4752 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4752 IS (IV) National Indian Child Wel- 1 fare Association; 2 (ii) the Director or Administrator 3 of— 4 (I) the Bureau of Indian Edu- 5 cation; 6 (II) the Office of Indian Edu- 7 cation of the Department of Edu- 8 cation; 9 (III) the Administration for Na- 10 tive Americans of the Administration 11 for Children and Families of the De- 12 partment of Health and Human Serv- 13 ices; and 14 (IV) the National Museum of the 15 American Indian of the Smithsonian 16 Institution; 17 (iii) not fewer than— 18 (I) 5 members of different Indian 19 Tribes from diverse geographic areas, 20 to be selected from among nomina- 21 tions submitted by Indian Tribes; 22 (II) 2 health care or mental 23 health practitioners, counselors, or 24 providers with experience in working 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:13 Oct 17, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4752.IS S4752 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4752 IS with former students of Indian board- 1 ing schools, to be selected from among 2 nominations of Tribal chairs or elect- 3 ed Tribal leadership local to the re- 4 gion in which the practitioner, coun- 5 selor, or provider works; 6 (III) 3 members of different na- 7 tional Indian organizations, regional 8 Indian organizations, or urban Indian 9 organizations that are focused on, or 10 have relevant expertise with, the his- 11 tory and systemic trauma associated 12 with the Indian Boarding School Pol- 13 icy; 14 (IV) 4 former students or Indian 15 survivors who attended Indian board- 16 ing schools; 17 (V) 2 family members of students 18 who attended Indian boarding scho [Text truncated for display. 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