Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness
Fort Hall Indian Boarding School
Fort Hall, ID, May 19, 2009
Links to other media coverage of the Ft. Hall Event
Sho-Ban Wellbriety Day At Ft. Hall
Historic photo of the Ft. Hall boarding school, 1880-1936 The Sacred Hoop completed a long, 15 year cycle of its own when it was carried in Grand Entry to start off Sho-Ban Wellbriety Day at Ft. Hall on May 19, 2009. What began in 1995 and 1996 in the Ft. Hall community as a White Bison community change program, was now an idea whose time had come. For it was back in 1996 that the then-new Sacred Hoop helped facilitate the Ft. Hall healing program known as the Healing Rains.
Reflecting on the long road from 1995 to 2009, Laverne Beech, coordinator for today’s event, the tribe’s public affairs manager, and an original member of Healing Rains thought for a minute. Then she said, “It’s taken 15 years for the seeds to take hold and to sprout. To me, the event that occurred here this week was the sprouting of those seeds that were planted by the original Healing Rains group.”
Laverne Beech opens the Ft. Hall Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness gathering Laverene opened the gathering of about 230 people of all ages with a slide show depicting historic boarding school photographs from all around the country. For many of the students taking part, the day would be an eye and mind-opening experience. Many young people had not heard about the boarding school experience. Some expressed anger that they had been kept in the dark as the many presentations began to turn on the light.
One of the photos in the show revealed that there was a boarding school in Ft. Hall that went back ten years before the start of the government boarding school era that began in 1879. The 1870 boarding school at Ft. Hall was a result of the Ft. Bridger Treaty of 1868 promising the tribe educational support. The amazing thing about this 1870 school was that parents sent their children willingly. Education was still a positive experience before the government’s assimilation policy of 1879 made it turn brutal.
Sho-Ban Wellbriety Day boasted good support from Tribal Government, both to make it happen and during the event. Ft. Hall business council member Lee Juan Tyler stressed the importance of passing on history’s knowledge and lessons to the youth. Anthony Broncho, Secretary of the Ft. Hall business Council, and colleague Adam Hill, treasurer, were also present. Tribal leaders granted administrative leave for tribal employees who wanted to attend. The gaming operation contributed some funding. Their attitude was, whatever our community can do to promote healing, they are in support of, according to Ms. Beech.
Darwin Whitstone speaks at the Ft. Hall gathering Darwin Whitstone of Ft. Hall Counseling and Family Services spoke about his own experiences as a boarding school survivor. Originally from Saskatchewan, he made a bridge between the residential school experience in Canada and the American boarding schools. During Darwin’s time in the residential school he recalls being separated from his sister. They were eating in the dining hall and were unable to speak with one another. If they did speak to each other they were beaten. Darwin went on to do extensive research on historical trauma. The title of his research project for college was titled, “Why we are the way we are.”
“Why we are the way we are” is what a Dine (Navajo) video called Hozhonahaslii: Stories of Healing the Soul Wound is all about. Hozhonahaslii means Everything will come back together in harmony. To return to Hozhonahaslii, it is so important to know what happened. We can let it go when the horror of historic trauma finally has no more power over us because individual and community healing work has been done. This video was shown during the morning at Ft. Hall and is an intergenerational trauma healing resource all should see.
Don Coyhis (L) accepts a pair of Jim Thorpe's trousers from Don Roth When the Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness visited Ft. Hall they received an unexpected gift. Don Roth, a counselor with the tribe’s Four Directions Treatment Center gifted the Journey’s Don Coyhis with a pair of football trousers that once belonged to Jim Thorpe. Thorpe was a much-loved world-class football player and athlete who attended Carlisle Indian School in the early part of the 20th Century. Don and the Journey were asked to carry the pants back to the site of the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the last site visit on the Journey. This is a small miracle so early in the Journey and a sacred task that will be carried out.
The day moved on and the Creator seemed to have a slightly different agenda than the planners of the event. Isn’t this the way it often is in individual or community healing? By late afternoon it was time to make the half-mile trek from Sho-Ban school to the original 1880 boarding school site. It was time to offer prayers and tobacco for the little spirits still there, as well as for healing in the Ft. Hall community, and success for the rest of the Journey.
The 1880 boarding school site is now made up of some old buildings and a water tower. Prayers were offered and songs were sung. Elder Snookins Honena offered tobacco into the Hoop. Elder Alene Menta sang a traditional healing song. Joleen Felix-Cooke and Francia Gonzelez of the Lummi Nation, who were also at the Chemawa event, also sang. Later, Laverne remarked that the Sho-Ban school students were respectful, prayerful and involved in offering tobacco. It was like the young people knew the importance and value of what was happening, she said. They really got it.
Jolene Felix-Cooke and Francia Gonzelez sang both in Chemawa and at Ft. Hall The high point of a special day like this is always different for different people. We asked Laverne Beech how it was for her. She said, “One of the most defining moments of the day was after we had talked about the boarding school experience one of the non-Indian teachers went in front of the group and apologized to her students for what happened at the boarding schools. She said she was sorry her ancestors had done this. She asked for forgiveness. The students clapped and cheered. It had a really healing effect just her saying that.”
Don Coyhis also reflected on the day at Ft. Hall. “It was a re-awakening experience,” he said. ”I think they had a wakening when the Hoop first came years ago in the 1990’s. There were a lot of silent tears today. People were quietly shedding tears, including young people. At Ft. Hall, we were able to talk about the untalkable. When we have secrets, nobody says anything. Now it is going to be OK to say it.”
––Forgiveness Journey Team
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