| Orange Shirt Day | Every Child Matters | Carlisle 200
Hello community,
We are about to approach Monday, September 30th, Every Child Matters - Orange Shirt Day - National Truth and Reconciliation.
If you’re not aware, this is a big day of remembrance, advocacy, visibility, and action for survivors of Boarding and Residential Schools, their families, descendants, and the advocates and organizations putting in the heart work to seek justice, accountability, healing, solutions, and action.
In May 2021, 215 Indigenous babies were unearthed from the Kamloops residential property. A truly heartbreaking thing to see, witness, and the ripple efforts of trauma, and pain resurfacing for so many. Many Indigenous Peoples are descendants of Boarding and Residential school attendees. Many not making it home. Many that did, felt the impacts of what they witnessed and experienced, that passed down the intergenerational trauma, so many Indigenous Peoples are experiencing and finding ways to heal and move forward.
Since May 2021, over 10,000 Indigenous bodies have been unearthed across Boarding and Residential Schools.
Please continue to learn more about this past that is very much present, today. And below, are ways you can participate to support!
Mark your calendar - this Sunday, 9/29, 1pm EST via @nativein_la IG
Join Jordan (@nativein_la ) and Guarina (@guarinapalomalopez ) for a conversation as we head into the day of action, awareness and visibility for September 30th Every Child Matters Orange Shirt Day Both Jordan and Guarina have braided their passion of movement with advocacy, with causes and issues close to their hearts as a way to communicate and community build. Movement is medicine. Movement is powerful.
What will be discussed?
+ Guarina’s film, Carlisle 200
+ Every Child Matters
+ History of Boarding and Residential Schools
+ The organizations doing the heart work to support survivors, their families and communities
+ Repatriation of Indigenous bodies back to their homelands / families
+ Kamloops - 215 unearthed Indigenous babies and what’s happened since
+ Being community organizers, what have we done in our work to help support
+ Invitation to join Rising Hearts 4th Annual Every Child Matters Remembrance 5K - fees go to Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and Indian Residential School Survivors Society
+ How can community get involved and take action
Carlisle 200
About the Film:
Carlisle 200 follows Native bikers Guarina Lopez (Pascua Yaqui) and Tsinnijinnie Russell (Diné) on a 200-mile prayer ride from Washington, D.C. to the cemetery at Carlisle Indian Boarding School in Carlisle, PA. Through rain and shine on the long gravel trail, Guarina, Tsinnijinnie, and fellow activist-bikers honor the 190+ children buried at Carlisle and raise awareness of the history and ongoing impact of the residential boarding school system on Indigenous communities.
Watch:
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/carlisle200
You can fill out a screening request form for larger audiences likes schools and received a free code to watch.
Starting today- end of November, the film costs $5.99 to rent, after that the prices goes back up. For larger audiences, please fill out the screening request form on the website.
Support:
https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=8G3JG9WSWDJU8
Follow: @bravespace_media | @native_women_ride | @guarinapalomalopez | @erinjoynash | @sanj___ | @tsinbean | @komahcheeto
🧡 MEET GUARINA 🧡
Pascua Yaqui/Yoeme, Writer, Director and Producer of Carlisle200
What got you more involved in learning more, telling the story and how you became a voice?
This film came about after 13 years of research on the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. In 2006, I was working in the photo archives at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and looking through hundreds of images of Native peoples, lands and objects stolen by Americans. I came upon a singular image of hundreds of Native children standing in front of Carlisle and my heart sank. Looking back at me were so many young children who would never see their families again, never hear their Native languages, dance or practice ceremony- ever again. Many of them would die at Carlisle and the other boarding schools. What a devastating reality to live with, and while I did not fully understand their experiences, I knew part of it well.
I knew the pain of being torn from a mother, of being told you will never see them again, of living without your family. I knew the pain of loss, abandonment, distance from your homeland. Now as a mother myself, I grieve with even greater sorrow imagining what it must have been like for these children’s mothers, for their extended families. This is violence. A violence that will never heal- there can be no apologies. What this government can do is return the children. Repatriate every single child who was stolen and provide funding to tribes to learn about the repatriation process so that we can become our own experts and welcome our children home.
Every Child Matters Rememberance Run
🧡 Orange Shirt Day 🧡
Rising Hearts will be hosting the 2024 4TH Annual #EveryChildMatters 5k Remembrance Run on #OrangeShirtDay
SEPTEMBER 27TH - SEPTEMBER 30TH
Remembering and honoring the thousands of Indigenous children stolen from their families and homelands, forced into Boarding and Residential Schools, and the survivors, and descendants.
Since May 2021, over 12k Indigenous children and bodies have been unearthed from these schools. This is a heartbreaking reality across Indigenous communities as families fight for their return home, for justice for families, and for opportunities to support survivors and build a future that is bright and thriving for our next generations. We will have our Rising Hearts #RunningForJustice virtual team when you sign up.
“Kill the Indian, save the man” was the federal policy to steal our relatives and forcibly commit cultural genocide on our relatives by assimilating us. To date, over 10,000 Indigenous children have been unearthed across the US and Canada. It’s time to call for meaningful healing, truth and reconciliation. It’s time we call on the government for justice and accountability. It’s time we provide and expand mental health services and support for survivors and those experiencing trauma. It’s time that this country acknowledges the injustice they created and harm they have done to the first peoples of these stolen lands. This is history that should be in our school curriculums - not our history erased.
On our registration page, we have webinars for you to watch, books to read, podcasts to listen to, resources to visit, ways to take action as an individual, as community, by the Church, for teachers, for survivors and descendants and more!
We appreciate the Rising Hearts community for your support, for sharing our awareness campaigns, for participating, for donating, and so much more. YOU ARE PART OF THAT! Wopila tanka, many thanks!
We will be donating to Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and Indian Residential School Survivors Society!
In 2023 Rising Hearts donated $2000 to the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and $2000 to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society!
We are asking for your help and continuing support to bring awareness and funds to support the needed programming for survivors, families, and policy efforts to bring justice, healing and accountability.
Must watch
A stunning tribute to the resilience of Native people and their way of life, SUGARCANE, the debut feature documentary from Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, is an epic cinematic portrait of a community during a moment of international reckoning. In 2021, evidence of unmarked graves was discovered on the grounds of an Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada. After years of silence, the forced separation, assimilation and abuse many children experienced at these segregated boarding schools was brought to light, sparking a national outcry against a system designed to destroy Indigenous communities. Set amidst a groundbreaking investigation, SUGARCANE illuminates the beauty of a community breaking cycles of intergenerational trauma and finding the strength to persevere.
Currently being screened in multiple locations! No public release yet.
Credits:
Directed By Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie
Produced by Emily Kassie, Kellen Quinn
Director of Photography Christopher LaMarca
Cinematography By Emily Kassie
Edited by Nathan Punwar, Maya Daisy Hawke
Music By Mali Obomsawin
Executive Producers Carolyn Bernstein, Bill Way, Elliott Whitton, Jenny Raskin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Tegan Acton, Emma Pompetti, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Grace Lay, Sumalee Montano, Sabrina Merage Naim, Douglas Choi, Adam & Melony Lewis, Meadow Fund, JanaLee Cherneski & Ian Desai, David & Linda Cornfield, Maida Lynn, Robina Riccitiello, Nina & David Fialkow
Impact and Resources:
Indian residential school history and its impact are not in the past. For more information on the film’s impact campaign, please visit here.
If you need support, the following resources are available:
CANADA
The National Indian Residential School Crisis Line provides 24-hour crisis support
to former Indian Residential School students and their families toll-free at 1-866-925-4419.
First Nations, Inuit and Métis seeking immediate emotional support
can contact the Hope for Wellness Help Line toll-free at 1-855-242-3310, or by online chat at hopeforwellness.ca.
UNITED STATES
Call or text 988 or visit www.988lifeline.org to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
SPECIAL REMINDER
CARE FOR YOURSELF
As we observe Suicide Prevention Awareness Month and the upcoming Orange Shirt Day, "Every Child Matters," it's important to bring attention to our community's collective efforts toward healing and wellness. This time of year can present deep emotions and memories, reminding many of us of the trauma our ancestors faced and the impact it still has on us today. These emotional and mental responses may manifest in our own bodies, carrying the weight of trauma and grief passed down through generations. The dialogue we create is rooted deeply in our blood memory, often evoking difficult thoughts and emotions not only for survivors and their descendants but for all Indigenous people and allies.
In navigating this time, we must be mindful of our own healing. It begins by acknowledging and allowing these heavy emotions to surface and creating safety. We are encouraged to seek external resources such as therapy, ceremony, sweat lodge, and powwow, while also cultivating our internal resources such as coping, grounding, and positive affirmations. By recognizing the spirit, mind, and body as interconnected, we can take steps toward healing and truth, both individually and collectively. Let us move forward with compassion and awareness, honoring our journey and the strength of our ancestors.
- Son Sanchez (Rising Hearts, Running With Purpose Athlete Advocate)