“Most Quakers still don’t know our history as participants in this enterprise of forced assimilation of Native people,” Paula Palmer says. “So the first thing that we have to do is learn the truth.”
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.
Although it’s easy to “shake our fingers” at previous generations, Paula warns us that retroactive judgment isn’t enough—Quakers today need to hold themselves accountable as well. “As we think about work that we do today as Friends,” she says, “we need to examine our own attitudes and make sure that ways that we are trying to do good in the world are not also coming out of a sense of superiority.”
At our annual meetings in 2021 and 2022, IMYM approved minutes that state:
“IMYM urges individual Friends and monthly meetings to watch for this bill (Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act,S. 1723) and to urge their congressional representatives to support it. IMYM further urges Friends to learn the history of the Quaker Indian schools and consider ways to support Native-managed healing processes, including programs to teach Native languages and prevent youth suicide.”
To implement the second point: IMYM’s 2022 Keynote Speaker, Ernest House, Jr., of the Ute Mountain Ute tribe, told us about a new charter school on his reservation in Towaoc, Colorado. The Kwiyagat Community Academy “envisions a future where the graduates of the school will have a strong grounding in Nuchiu (Ute) culture and language while incorporating modern perspectives as contributing members of the Ute Mountain Ute community.” Learn more on their website: https://utekca.org
This school is much in need of financial support. We can implement the IMYM minutes by sending donations to: Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (please be sure to write “For the Kwiyagat Community Academy’ on the memo line). Mail to:
Both the Boulder and Fort Collins Friends Meetings have passed minutes supporting Renaming Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky. Copies of these minutes are provided below.
Approved by Intermountain Yearly Meeting on June 17, 2022
In June 2021, IMYM approved a minute supporting the “Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy Act,” although a bill had not yet been introduced in the House and Senate. The bill is now designated as H.R. 5444/S. 2907. Intermountain Yearly Meeting reaffirms our support for this bill, which would create a Truth and Healing Commission to address the historical trauma experienced by Native American and Alaska Native children who were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in Indian boarding schools. The children were taught to reject their Native languages, cultures, and spiritual practices and adopt Euro-American culture. Native Americans continue to suffer multi-generational trauma caused by this policy of forced assimilation and cultural genocide. Quakers were among the strongest supporters of the Indian boarding school policy and operated some 30 Indian schools (some in collaboration with the federal government) for varying periods of time.
We recognize that the history of the Indian schools is more complex than can be described in this brief minute. IMYM urges individual Friends and monthly meetings to watch for this bill and to urge their congressional representatives to support it. IMYM further urges Friends to learn the history of the Quaker Indian schools and consider ways to support Native-managed healing processes, including tribal programs to teach Native languages and prevent youth suicide. Resources for Further Information and Reflection
1) The website for the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. https://boardingschoolhealing.org 2) Paula Palmer’s video “The Quaker Boarding Schools: Facing our History and Ourselves.” https://vimeo.com/192219802/376f2f1ddb
3) Paula Palmer’s article “Quaker Indian Boarding Schools, Facing Our History and Ourselves,” Friends Journal,