The Need To Right Our Wrongs
- Taylor Mason
- 1 minute ago
- 3 min read
How Christians Are Trying To Right The Wrongs Of An Ugly Church History
This week The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) flew 4 people from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) to D.C. to lobby for the Truth and Healing Commission on the Indian Boarding School Era in the United States. The bill seeks to form a commission that would help families heal from the detrimental effects forced boarding schools.
From the late 1700's to 1960's, the United States and local church communities worked together to create and operate hundreds of boarding "schools" for Native American children. The U.S. Government and churches wanted to eliminate Native American culture and religion, so they created boarding schools to teach and reform native children into more "civilized" people..
To achieve this vision, the government often took children from their families without parental consent and intentionally separated siblings. There are hundreds of children who died at the schools and bodies are still being found without any way to identify them. The conditions at these institutions were horrific. At the hands of school officials, Native children faced abuse, malnutrition, and even death.
From the late 1700's to 1960's the Federal Government funded over 400 schools in 37 states (11 of them in Florida).
While the abuse inflicted upon Native children is still being recorded and investigated, thousands of families still do not know their relatives’ final resting place. In July 2024, the Department of the Interior (DOI) located 74 burial sites at 65 different schools. They have confirmed that at least 973 children have died while attending these school systems.
The Department of the Interior (DOI) confirmed that at least 973 children died while attending these school systems.
Creating a Truth and Healing Commission to learn what has happened to family members that died or murdered is not a new idea. In 1995 South Africa created a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to help heal the country and bring about a reconciliation of its people by uncovering the truth about human rights violations that had occurred during the period of apartheid.
But for these commissions to be successful, it must have governmental support. Thankfully, churches are trying to right their wrongs and advocate for more governmental support. The FCNLI is a Quaker led movement (many of the boarding schools were ran by the Quaker church), and invited other religious groups, like CBF, to join in their work.
We are proud to have one of our very own CBF FL/CI representatives join FCNLI in D.C. this week to help get the Truth and Healing Commission on the Indian Boarding School Era in the United States created.
Alaina joined other CBF members to advocate for truth. We are proud of her work and want to share how members of CBF Florida & the Caribbean Islands stand up for justice and truth.
If you are interested in getting involved or want to know more about this issue, check out these resources bellow.
Comments