A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Acknowledging survivors of to acknowledge and honor the Native American children who were survivors of the boarding schools in this state.

WHEREAS, this Legislature hears the voice of the Native American boarding school survivors and desires to recognize the atrocities caused by Native American boarding schools in South Dakota in the hope that it will aid in the journey towards healing for all:

WHEREAS, this Legislature recognizes the history of Native American boarding schools in the United States and this state, wherein Native American children were often sent far away from their families and communities involuntarily, which left them particularly vulnerable and dependent upon the boarding school system to protect them from harm; and

WHEREAS, these children observed and suffered physical, emotional, cultural, spiritual, psychological, and sexual abuse, and punishment by physical restraints, beatings, and isolation in inhospitable surroundings; and

WHEREAS, these children, their children, and now their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, bear the burden of the legacy of the boarding schools and the policies that established and sustained those schools, where the children suffered trauma that has gone unrecognized and unresolved, and has been passed onto each subsequent generation; and

WHEREAS, this historical and inter-generational trauma continues to devastate, undermine, and negatively impact Native American individuals, families, and communities; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Ninety-Sixth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the survivors of Native American boarding schools along with their families and communities are hereby acknowledged; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Legislature hereby declares February 5, 2022, as a day to recognize the atrocities and trauma that have been endured by the survivors, their families, and their communities and to celebrate their courage, strength, and resiliency.

WHEREAS, beginning in the latter part of the nineteenth century, Native American children were often involuntarily sent to boarding schools far away from their families and communities; and

WHEREAS, these vulnerable children observed and suffered physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse; were forced to deny or abandon their cultural heritage and relinquish their spirituality; and were often punished by being physically restrained, beaten, and isolated in inhospitable surroundings; and

WHEREAS, these children, their children, and now their grandchildren and great grandchildren, bear the devastating legacy of the boarding school era and of the assimilation policies that established and sustained the boarding schools; and

WHEREAS, this historical, intergenerational, and often unrecognized trauma continues to undermine and negatively impact Native American individuals, families, and communities;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Ninety-Sixth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that this Legislature hears the voice of each Native American who survived the brutality of the boarding schools and acknowledges the atrocities that occurred; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this Legislature solemnly recognizes the individual and collective suffering that so many endured as a result of policies to place and keep Native American children in the boarding schools; honors the survivors, their families, and their communities; and celebrates the courage, strength, and resiliency of the survivors.