A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Acknowledging survivors of Native American boarding schools in this state.

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

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:

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.