Native Americans Celebrate Journey of Forgiveness

Native Americans from across the country were in Washington, DC yesterday to mark the end of a 40-day 6,800-mile "Wellbriety Journey of Forgiveness." The Journey was launched in May by White Bison - an American Indian non-profit organization that offers prevention, sobriety and recovery resources to Native Americans - to help Native communities heal from the trauma caused by the boarding school initiative in the late 1800s.

From 1879 to 1940, nearly 4,000 Native American children were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to one of 500 government-funded boarding schools where they were severely punished for speaking their native language and practicing their traditions. Some say that the abuse that occurred at these schools could be one of the underlying causes for the high rates of substance abuse and suicide in Native communities today. The Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness, which began May 16th in Chemawa, Ore. included visits to 23 present and former Indian boarding school sites in the U.S. During each visit to a school site along the journey, people who attended the boarding schools shared their stories and then took part in ceremonies of forgiveness.

At an event at the National Museum of the American Indian on Wednesday, White Bison President Don Coyhis said while it was the end of their journey across the country, it was the beginning of a new chapter for Native Americans.

"During the journey, people told stories of what they experienced at the boarding schools—for many of them it was their first time ever talking about it,” he said. "Now we can start the healing. We must forgive in order to heal."

The event at the Museum included a forgiveness ceremony and presentations by various tribes.

White Bison has sent a letter to President Obama, along with a petition, asking if the U.S. government will make a public apology for the boarding school initiative. However, Coyhis said forgiving the past is not contingent receiving a public apology from the government.

"The purpose of this journey was for us to forgive so even if the government does not respond with an apology letter, we will forgive anyway," he said.

To learn more about the Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness, visit www.whitebison.org/wellbriety-journey.