Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness
Rapid City, SD June 8, 2009
Black Hills Sharing
Opening ceremony at
the Rapid City gathering. The Land around what is now Rapid City, South Dakota is Lakota land. The Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1868 guarantees that the Black Hills are to be part of that Lakota land, but the Treaty has not been honored. For our visit to Rapid City we were pleased to hear about historical trauma and boarding school issues from a Lakota viewpoint.
The event was held at the Mother Butler Center with about 15 people to start out, and by lunch time it grew to approximately 25 people in attendance. Each of the visits have Ceremony, Presentations, Sharing and Visiting with one another. There was some great sharing in Rapid City. Each of the sharing sessions in the different communities brings up some topics in common, and some brand new ones. The sharing in Rapid City brought up much that is new. Here is a summary of some of the sharing taken right from our notes.
Don Coyhis gives his
presentation in Rapid City Tonia R. Stands
Tonya acknowledges the suffering of the ancestors that were in the boarding schools. She would also like us to acknowledge the Native people that had to go underground in order to survive and preserve the traditions. She says that they were given one pound of meat per family, per day to survive on. She is talking of the people that did not live on an agency but carried on off the reservations.
A lot of the people had no choice but to go to boarding schools she tells us. As hard as it was, she says, at least they were fed three times a day. She reiterates that we need to acknowledge the people who suffered and starved to keep the tradition and culture alive, the ones that did not go to boarding school but went underground with their ways. Tonia also speaks about the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978. She says that Lakota people still don’t have their sacred ways and places back. We want our ways back and our Black Hills back she says. There is a true connection to our culture and spirituality there.
Zada, a young participant Gene Tyan
Gene’s grandparents, mom and all of his uncles attended boarding school. His grandfather went to Carlisle. He recalls his grandfather would tell a funny story about Jim Thorpe. He would say “Jim Thorpe must have been a fast Indian, cuz every time I looked over my shoulder when I was running there he was.” Some people were glad to go to the Pine Ridge boarding school because home life was so bad for them he says. He talks about spirituality and the Sundance and how it helped him to change his life. Gene says that his people and his ancestors belong in the Black Hills because that is where they came from. Yes, they have migrated around for survival, but we are from these Hills he says. This is our homeland.
The Bravehearts at the gathering Jacquie Arpan
Jacquie Arpan said when she carried the Hoop in today that the energy was so strong she became dizzy and had to close her eyes. She attended a Catholic boarding school for 12 years. She called it “doing time.” Ms. Arpan says the treatment was not as severe as that which the ancestors received. She says they were punished by eating soap, getting paddled with ping pong paddles, and kneeling in the hall late at night. She recalls cleaning the steps with toothbrushes, but the punishment was not as extreme as in an earlier time. She also recalls never being acknowledged, or their culture ever being acknowledged until 1972 when they began to openly have powwows and medicine men that came in.
The Sacred Black Hillls as
seen from downtown Rapid City Fern Cloud
Fern Cloud is from Minnesota. She drove here today to see the presentation. Fern’s great grandmother raised her. Her grandmother went to Carlisle, and then became a schoolteacher. Fern recalls always being aware she was an Indian. She is the youngest in a family of nine. Out of the nine children, Fern was the only one that did not have to go to boarding school. She goes on to say that her brothers and sisters are all pretty much assimilated.
Fern’s mother went to boarding school in Pierre. She grew up confused, punished and scared to speak her Native language. It was painful for Fern to hear the stories. Ms. Cloud now works for a sexual assault advocacy program. She has gotten her life together through spirituality she says, she found her way back. But it did not happen overnight. Assimilation unfortunately works. It took her many years to get back. Fern struggled with trust issues. She says public school was traumatic for her as well. She was treated differently. She had no identity in public school. Fern was the only American Indian in her class. Fern said it doesn’t take a whole bunch of people to make change, only strong prayer and a strong heart.
Dave Brave Heart
Dave’s grandfather died of alcoholism. Unlike his father and grandfather, he didn’t experience the traditional stories. He knows the message was there that it is bad to be an Indian, that the Indian way is evil, and that we are going to change you. It makes Dave sad to know that Indian people had to experience this. Dave’s dad spoke Lakota until he was ten and then entered the boarding school. His dad told him the system prepared him to be a good warrior in the Army. The Army training was nothing compared to the school, his dad told him.
Dave remembers witnessing his first Sundance in the late 60s. He remembers that the powwow and the Sundance were in the same arbor. It isn’t done that way now he says, but that was the first time he was exposed to Native culture. Dave remembers reading “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee” in the early 70’s. He says he was angry that no one told him about the things he read there. Dave said because of how we were treated, no one wanted to talk about the history. Dave says healing from historical trauma goes back to learning history. Today Dave teaches his kids the history. They spend a lot of time working on it and he believes the current TV documentary “We Shall Remain” is very powerful.
Another man stood up to tell his story. He said the only good thing about boarding school was meeting his wife. This gentleman went to three different boarding schools over a 13-year period. It was evident that he had much to share. It was stuck inside of him. It was apparent that he does not talk about these experiences and carries them with him wherever he goes. “Experiences at the boarding schools come into my mind often,” he said to us. “I will get over it one of these years!” The pain went right inside of me and stuck there for many miles on our drive eastward after the event was over. Perhaps today was a beginning for him to start sharing some of this with others so he can be free of this devastation and pain. Mitakuye Oyasin.
~ Forgiveness Journey Team
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