Tribal members who attended Federal Indian board schools will have a space to tell their stories as The Road to Healing stops in New Mexico on Oct. 29.
The New Mexico stop is part of a tour across the country, where boarding school survivors and their families are invited to attend and to share their stories. A court reporter will transcribe the event. There will also be trauma-informed support available, as well as a way for attendees to request follow-up support.
“The burden of reliving this painful past will be immensely difficult for Indigenous families — including my own — who carry this trauma,” Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland wrote in a letter to tribal leaders announcing the event.
The Road to Healing is part of The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative at the U.S. Department of the Interior, launched in June 2021, which hopes to highlight the history of Federal Indian boarding schools and the impact they had on Indigenous people.
“To address the intergenerational impact of Federal Indian boarding schools and to promote spiritual and emotional healing in our communities, we must also acknowledge and shed light on the unspoken traumas of the past,” Haaland said.
The tour has stopped at 10 locations to date, and the 11th will be at 10 a.m. (Mountain time), Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, at Pueblo of Isleta, Isleta Resort & Casino, 11000 Broadway Blvd., SE, Albuquerque, NM 87113.
Public feedback from boarding school survivors and their families can also be submitted at roadtohealing@ios.doi.gov.