Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday formally apologized for New York’s function in working an upstate boarding faculty during which Native American youngsters from tribes throughout the state have been pressured to assimilate into American society whereas being subjected to bodily and psychological abuse.
For over 100 years, greater than 2,500 college students have been pressured to attend the previous Thomas Indian Faculty on Seneca Nation land, the place they have been stripped of their names, language, look and cultural practices.
Households have been coerced into giving up their youngsters or have been forcibly separated as state and federal authorities took them.
“Today, on behalf of the State of New York, I apologize to the Seneca Nation of Indians — and the survivors and descendants from all Nations — who attended the Thomas Indian School,” Hochul mentioned, whereas acknowledging that the “horrors of the past” can’t be modified.
Talking on the Seneca Nation Administration Campus, previously the positioning of the Thomas Indian Faculty, the Democrat mentioned it was essential to confront the painful historical past.
“To move forward and avoid repeating the sins of the past, New York must acknowledge its role in the atrocities committed at the Thomas Indian School — and the lasting trauma inflicted on the Senecas and Indigenous peoples across the state,” she mentioned.
Along with being stripped of their language and tradition, victims additionally endured abuse, violence and hatred by the hands of college officers — an intergenerational trauma that has contributed to the deaths of a whole lot, probably hundreds, of kids, officers mentioned.
Seneca Nation President J.C. Seneca mentioned the state’s apology was one thing many by no means anticipated, calling it “an important reckoning with a very dark and tragic period in history.”
Whereas the ache stays, “our healing process can continue,” he added.
Governor Kathy Hochul visits the Seneca Nation of Indians. (Mike Groll/Workplace of Governor Kathy Hochul)
Some Seneca members, nonetheless, famous that an apology means little with out significant motion.
Lori Quigley, whose mom attended the varsity for 10 years, anticipated extra than simply an acknowledgment and a mea culpa.
“What actions is she going to take in acknowledging this?” the Niagara College professor mentioned. “These traumas are still impacting our communities.”
