NEW YORK (AP) — The New York governor is scheduled to visit the Seneca nation on Tuesday and will formally apologise for the state’s role in running an upstate boarding school that separated Native American students from their families, with the goal of assimilating them into American society.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is also expected to meet survivors of the Thomas Indian School, which ran from 1875 to 1957 in western New York near Lake Erie.
The president of Seneca’s J. Conrad Seneca, whose father went to school, said the apology was delayed. He said his family and countless others have been quietly in pain for generations.
“The atrocities that children suffered at Thomas Indian schools remained hidden in the shadows for too long,” he said in a statement announcing the visit. “Finally, our people will hear the words directly from the governor that New York has been waiting for a lifetime to say, ‘I’m sorry’. ”
However, some tribe members are skeptical of well-intentioned gestures.
Niagara University professor Lori Quigley said her mother attended Thomas School as a young man for 10 years, and she hopes the governor offers more than words.
“An apology is one thing,” she said over the phone before her visit. “What is she doing with this acknowledgement? These traumas still affect our community.”
Originally founded by Presbyterian missionaries before the state I took ownership In 1875, there was Thomas Indian School. Over 400 government-supported schools It was established nationwide with the goal of assimilating Native American youth.
However, the school, which had been running for about 150 years, had a devastating impact on the Native American community. School staff worked to strip the native children of their traditions and heritage. Teachers and administrators cut their hair, forbidden them from speaking their language, and forced them to do physical labor.
Students who were forced to separate from their families endured Torture, sexual abuse, hatred From a school official. More 900 children have died The schools last closed or moved to different institutions decades ago.
Former President Joe Biden visited the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona in October 2024 I’ll formally apologize Become Native Americans for the “sin” of the national government-run boarding school system.
However, at least $1.6 million in federal funding has been made for research projects at boarding schools. Between the victims In an effort to curb President Donald Trump’s federal bureaucracy.
Tribal officials say the visit to Hochul appears to be the first to be seated by the New York governor of federally recognized tribal land.
“We cannot undo the pain and suffering of Seneca people and other Indigenous peoples throughout the state, but by visiting the Seneca nation and the Thomas Indian School locations, we mark a new day in our relationship.”
Matthew Hill, a tribe member whose father was one of the last students in his class before the school was closed, dismissed the visit as “words of the sky.”
After all, he said the Hochul administration and the tribe had been negotiating for years. How much Of the tribal casino income, the state should be allowed to collect.
“They say they’re sorry about the school, but they’ll continue to force money from us in the form of game revenue,” Hill said. “I’m kidding.”
Source link
