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"Watch Over Me"
Our children have been and always will be our future On May 16th 2009, White Bison began a 40-day, 6800 mile cross-country journey to present and former Indian School sites. It's goal is to promote awareness, dialogue and forgiveness among Native peoples for the historical trauma of the Indian Boarding School Era which began in 1879 (c) 2009 White Bison, Inc. 1-877-871-1495 www.whitebison.org). There is a growing body of evidence that the trauma Native American children carried home with them from the schools is an underlying cause of the suicides and substance abuse-related deaths that are killing young Native people today in alarming numbers (www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Apology-For-Indian-School-Abuses). The Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness is a national campaign planned for 2009 to support a collective healing of Native American peoples from the curses of historical trauma and unresolved grief believed to have their deepest roots in what Native people experienced at these schools. The Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness is about going back to these schools and taking back what was lost there (http://www.whitebison.org/wellbriety-journey/index.htm). The Wellbriety Journey of Forgiveness began on May 16, 2009 and will visit 24 Residential Schools across the United States and at the end of the journey will visit Washington D.C. where a petition for an apology for the boarding school atrocities will be hand delivered to President Obama in the hopes that Native American people will receive an apology for the hurts that resulted within the Boarding School era and the generational consequences that is still happening today such as, high rates of substance abuse, domestic violence, child sexual abuse and suicides that continue to plague Native American communities. Don Coyhis, founder and President of the Wellbriety movement, White Bison Inc. uses traditional healing and the Medicine Wheel teachings to promote healing and awareness about Historical trauma which includes the Boarding School era for Native Americans and others. Don teaches how going back to ones own Native American culture can help heal the cycle of hurts that has been passed down generationally. Intergenerational grief / Historical trauma is described as; A combination of immense losses and traumatic events that are perpetrated upon an entire culture. For Native Americans these losses include: Culture, Language, Land, People (deaths due to diseases and war), Way of Life, Religion, Family structure (forced into boarding schools) (c) 2007 White Bison, Inc. 1-877-871-1495 www.whitebison.org). The 7 minute video presented is a display of pictures that was put together to give voice to the children of Boarding school Era. At the end of the video the last 3 pictures are pictures of my grandfather Jim Prairie Chicken, uncles, aunt, mother, who all attended the St. Paul’s Anglican Boarding School in Alberta, Canada and very last picture is of their children to show the generational ripple effect of the Boarding school Era. The song presented “Watch Over me” is from the album “Blackfoot Sky” by Ira Provost a Pikani Native from the Pikani Nation in Alberta, Canada. His album speaks of a story of pride, history and knowledge of the Native American people or First Nations. Please visit Ira Provost website of “Blackfoot Sky” at: (www.iraprovost.ca). |
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Info@missoulaindiancenter.org
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