We remember the stolen generations and the devastation caused by the church and state collaborating to commit genocide in their attempt to erase Oñgwehoñwe’ peoples.
We remember the victims and survivors of the mission schools, residential/boarding schools. The devastating losses from mission and residential schools is incalculable. Every single Indigenous person on Turtle Island/Abya Yala either went to one of these schools or is the child or grandchild of the survivors of these schools. These “schools” were places of physical, mental, and spiritual abuse which resulted all too often in sexual assault and death. To survive these schools means one bore witness to unspeakable horrors. The devastation of boarding schools continues today. We see it in the settler-colonial violence wrought upon Indigenous nations and communities. We see it in the lateral violence within our community.
The Doctrine of Christian Discovery (doctrineofdiscovery.org) attempts to provide theological and legal justifications for the enslavement, exploitation and extraction of Mother Earth, humanity, and all living beings. Mission and boarding schools are but two examples of the genocidal logic of the Doctrine of Christian Discovery. All in the name of Christ and capitalism.
Today is a day of remembrance and defiance. We remember. We remain. We are the sovereign Original Free Nations of Turtle Island/Abya Yala.
