Sep 17, 2015 - Huy Supports Seattle City Council Resolution Re Indian Boarding Schools

This week the Huy Board of Advisors wrote the Seattle City Council in reference to a Council Resolution that would, according to a draft of the Resolution, “promote truth, healing, reconciliation, redress and justice” in regard to “the various harms, acts of genocide and ongoing historical and inter-generational trauma to Native American, Alaskan Native and other American Indigenous Peoples resulting from the United States’ American Indian Boarding School Policy.”

Huy’s letter states:

“Indian boarding schools were, quite literally, prisons for innocent children. The inter-generational trauma that has ensued since their incarceration is profound and ever-present in the lives of Indian people, including urban Indians living in the Seattle area.

Native Americans endure the highest incarceration rate of any racial or ethnic group, at 38 percent higher than the national rate. Huy seeks to mitigate the heartbreaking legacy of the boarding school era by providing Native prisoners with valuable services. More importantly, Huy provides inmates with the opportunity to engage in traditional practices that survived assimilationist policies.

While we do not excuse the mistakes for which our incarcerated relatives have been convicted, we do also recognize the negative impact that Indian boarding schools has had and continues to have on our relatives.”

The Council is expected to take up the Resolution in early October. Words of support can be transmitted to the Seattle City Council via council@seattle.gov.

For additional information, contact Matt Remle at mcremle@hotmail.com.