A group charged with investigating more than a century of child welfare and assimilation policies that removed Native American children from their families and tribes is seeking nominations for panel members.
The Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Selection Panel is inviting the public to nominate people to be considered for membership on the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The selection panel seeks individuals of recognized integrity, empathy, stature and respect with a demonstrated commitment to the values of truth, reconciliation, equity, and justice. Nominations must be received by Oct. 1.
The Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation process is a first-in-the-world effort of Indigenous Peoples and a political subdivision of a state to examine an issue — in this instance, what happened to Wabanaki people in Maine’s child welfare system — to develop a common understanding of what happened, to support healing of everyone affected by the system, and to identify system reforms to create the best child welfare system possible, according to a press statement.
To nominate an individual, visit the Truth and Reconciliation Commission website, mainetribaltrc.org, and download the nomination form.
Contact Carolyn Morrison with questions at (207) 896-3042 or carolyn.morrisontrc@gmail.com.
Nope, I do not think so! Any white person who serves on this board will have a very difficult time due to continued animosity towards white people. Especially with the subject being looked into, emotions will run high. I am French Acadian on both sides of my family. Our families, on both sides, were purged from Grand Pre, Nova Scotia in the 1600’s. They were friends with the Native Americans and some married Native Americans. This is the very reason the British trapped my people in their church until the boats arrived to take them back to France. Some escaped while others returned and is why you have Acadians and Cajuns. Read Longfellow’s Evangaline as it is a very historical book as well as a love story. Now my people never expressed hatred or anger towards the British. They just picked up and moved forward. This is what war does; someone wins and someone loses. It is time for Native Americans to accept the society you live or take your land and go back to your old ways. You are ruining your tribes with your hatred and resentment. It does no good hanging onto the past in a negative manner. The French knew this even though they were prejudiced right here in Maine for years in addition to the British’s acts. Look at the Middle East now, this tribe against that tribe. That is man and war.
Your people never expressed hatred for those the British even though they were trapped and forced back to France? I smell crap.
It’s history, go check it out regarding the French who settled in Nova Scotia. Have you ever heard the Acadians whine like the Native Americans do all the time? No. People, tribes and societies have been purged since the beginning of time. They need to get over it.
“It is time for Native Americans to accept the society you live or take your land and go back to your old ways. ” I’m pretty sure they did try to keep their land – if they were lucky, they were relocated…and then that land was taken, and they were relocated again…
Then the government decided to round up the Native children and relocate them to boarding schools. Happened a long time ago? Yep – at least it started a long time ago, but at least one of the schools was open until the 1980s, which is very recent history. Children died from disease, were abused, and not allowed to see their families.
http://www.kumeyaay.info/history/History_Indian_Boarding_Schools.pdf
To come here and publicly berate anyone who wants to maintain a connection to their positive past experiences and be proud of their culture is atrocious. If you don’t understand why, make an effort to meet one Native whose family has been affected – you won’t have to look far. While you say “get over it”, remember that part of healing from wounds is to acknowledge them. Ignoring it won’t make it go away.
I have yet to meet a Native American who “whines all the time” or “ruins their tribes with hatred and anger”. The amount of prejudice and animosity in your posts really blows me away. The Native Americans I have met are humble, kind, and generous, and I cannot comprehend where your hatred, anger, and prejudice against them comes from.
I see your hatred and rage in your comments. Many children are abused every day. Just this week there were a number of child sexual abuse cases noted. There is no difference between people. I grew up poor. Nobody gave me a monthly check because of my heritage. They get money every month, yet they have the highest alcoholism and drug rates in the country. If you cannot help yourself, so be it, but quit asking the rest of the people to apologize and support you. As far as land, the Penobscots for instance own their own island and many acres in the state of Maine. If they hate us so much and want to keep throwing it in our face go off on your own and do your own thing. You know how to live off the land, go do it. Stop crabbing and looking for handouts. That is what this board is about. By the way, I never got any handouts , am highly educated and made a good life for myself. Nobody else did it for me.
wow. just wow.
“They get money every month ”
really? how much? do you work at a bank and cash everyone’s checks so you know who it comes from, how much it’s for, and the description of their job/reason for receiving it?
“they have the highest alcoholism and drug rates in the country”
really? what are the statistics, where were they compiled, and by whom? Do you work as a counselor and have experience 1st hand with every Native American? There aren’t any other races that abuse substances?
“Stop crabbing and looking for handouts. ”
who is looking for handouts? I didn’t see that in the article.
“quit asking the rest of the people to apologize and support you”
If someone took my kid and shipped them somewhere, or removed them and placed them with a family of a different race because they thought families of that race were superior for child rearing…an apology would be insufficient to say the least, but it would be a nice gesture.
“if they hate us so much…”
I didn’t see that in this article, nor was that representative of any conversation I’ve ever had with a Native American. Not sure where that comes from…
I have a couple of degrees too, fairly well-educated and proud that I am still working through paying that off myself – also no handouts. Did you know about the free education available to all? All you have to do is go out, meet people, and participate in a community; the value of that education is priceless and can quickly dispel incorrect stereotyped ideas about people who are different than you.
Ooh, It takes every kind of people
To make what life’s about, yeah
It takes every kind of people
To make the world go round
One thing for sure, just as in Politics, truth is hard to come by. When a group of people (any), are allowed to have their own government, provide services to their people, and are provided many other free services, yet have no tax base to pay for those, The one who does is called a ‘taxpayer’, or somebody else. Give a person or group a helping hand, but we should not be required to carry them on our backs for life. A simple solution, we should have done what they did to the ‘Red Paint People’ , whom they took this land from, leave no one to tell the tale.