Washington, DC – The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) hailed the recent bipartisan vote in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce to pass the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (H.R. 7227). The final vote of 34-4 was a major and rare bipartisan victory.
Contact Tim McHugh: media@fcnl.org, 202-903-2515
“As a Quaker and the leader of a Quaker organization, I urge full passage of this bill as soon as possible. Indian boarding schools left an indelible mark on Native communities and people, as well as on our country. The trauma these schools wrought continues today and demands a full and truthful accounting,” said Bridget Moix, FCNL’s general secretary. “We stand with other faith communities who ran boarding schools and are undergoing their own process of reckoning in calling for a full House vote. We need nothing less.”
According to the Department of the Interior, Christian churches collaborated with the federal government to create more than 400 boarding schools across 37 states/territories for Native American children throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Quakers ran more than 30 Indian boarding schools.
“This is a small but important step toward justice. The committee vote is a true major win for Native survivors and communities, and we believe it will be the first of many more to come,” said Rachel Overstreet, FCNL’s legislative representative for Native American advocacy. “The bill is a key step in full federal acknowledgement and accountability for the dark era of Indian boarding school policies. It represents a commitment by Congress to reckon with the government’s attempt to assimilate Native children into white culture.”
The Indian Boarding School Policies Act would create a commission to investigate and document the harms of Indian boarding school policies. Despite over a century of abuses, the federal government has never taken responsibility for its role in these policies. The Truth and Healing bill would constitute the first federal acknowledgment of these injustices.
FCNL’s network has been a crucial force in pushing this legislation forward. In March, more than 300 young advocates traveled to Washington, D.C. to help build support for the bill, holding more than 100 lobby visits during this year’s Spring Lobby Weekend.
To learn more, please visit www.fcnl.org.
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