Tribes Accuse US of Misusing Funds for Native American Boarding Schools
On Thursday, two Native American tribes initiated legal action, claiming that the federal government utilized the tribes’ trust fund monies to cover expenses.
boarding schools
where native children across generations experienced systematic abuse.
In the legal action submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the Wichita Tribe along with the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California asserted that according to the U.S. government’s own acknowledgment, these schools were financed through funds gathered by compelling tribal nations to enter into treaties relinquishing their territories. These monies were intended to be kept in trust for the shared welfare of the tribes.
According to the lawsuit, “The United States Government, which acts as a trustee for both Native American children’s education and their associated funds, has not provided an accounting of the money it seized. The government also hasn’t clarified how this money was used, or confirmed if it was indeed spent at all. Additionally, they have been unable to locate any remaining funds.”
The legal action was brought against Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, as well as the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education. An official from the Interior Department chose not to make comments regarding the ongoing legal proceedings.
In 2022, the U.S. Department of the Interior,
led by Secretary Deb Haaland
, the inaugural Indigenous individual to lead the organization, issued a statement
scathing report
Regarding the aftermath of the boarding school period, during which Indigenous children were taken from their families, compelled to adopt new customs, and often faced physical, sexual, and mental mistreatment. Numerous youngsters perished at these facilities, with many being interred in anonymous burial sites within the institutions’ grounds.
The report outlined the U.S. government’s plans to use these boarding schools not only to erase Native children’s cultural identity but also to deprive their tribal nations of land ownership.
The tribes are requesting the court to compel the U.S. to provide an accounting of the approximately $23. 3 billion that was designated for the boarding school initiative. They also want details on how these funds were utilized and wish to have a listing of the residual monies that were transferred by the U.S. specifically for the education of Native American youth.
Last year, President Joe Biden released an official statement.
formal apology
regarding the government’s residential school policy,
describing it as “a stain upon our spirit”
And “one of the darkest periods” in American history. However, in April, the administration of President Donald Trump
cut $1.6 million
from initiatives aimed at recording and converting the narratives of residential school survivors into digital format.
Graham Lee Brewer, from The Associated Press