Native American History and Trauma from a Personal Perspective
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6/22/2021
Native American History and
Trauma from a Personal
Perspective
Presented by:
Jason Cross, MSW
State manager for ICWA Compliance and Race Equity
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Jason Cross, MSW
• Born and raised in Lansing, Michigan.
• Graduated from Lansing Catholic Central.
• BSW and MSW from Michigan State
University.
• Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Tribal
member.
• Husband and father of three children.
• State Manager for ICWA Compliance and
Race Equity
• Former Director of LRBOI Family Services,
Behavioral Health, Members Assistance,
Victims Services, and the Next Generation
Learning Center.
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Violet Jackson Cross 1913-1993
• Attended Mt. Pleasant
Industrial Indian
Boarding School
from1920 to 1927.
• Saginaw Chippewa
Indian Tribe of
Michigan.
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Tribal Membership and Blood
Quantum
Who is an Indian?
Blood Quantum.
Implications
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State Recognized Tribes of
Michigan
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First Nations and Borders
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BOARDING SCHOOLS
"A great general has said
that the only good Indian
is a dead one. In a
sense, I agree with the
sentiment, but only in
this: that all the Indian
there is in the race
should be dead. Kill the
Indian in him and save
the man."
-Lt. Richard Pratt
Mt. Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School
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Reasons for Boarding School Placement
• Parents were unable to feed their
children
“When I was 8 years old the
• Gave up their children willingly for soldiers came and rounded up as
they believed the “government many of the Blackfeet children as
people’s” description of the they could. The government had
decided we were to get White
educational benefits the children Man’s education by force.”
would receive at these schools
-Lone Wolf, a Blackfeet boarding
school student
• Also, thousands of children were
forcibly removed from their homes
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Names
• For convenience, an English
“Christian name” was given
and sometimes the Indian
name retained as a surname.
• Harry Sam
• Silas Bob
• Lissie Pete
• Wayquahgeshig (Dawn of
Day) = John Rogers
• Beatrice Beads on Ankle =
Beatrice B. Hail 9
Hair Cutting
• “…the first thing they did was…checked
you for nits or bugs, and then they had
these DDT cans, that powder, it’s amazing
they never killed anybody….you couldn’t
hardly breathe. A lot of those kids had long
hair, they just took the braid up and cut it
right across, you know.”
“Mary”, Wahpeton, ND
• “They did cut it (hair) right away, they
combed in kerosene, really burned.”
Annie Plante, 87. Marty Indian School
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Uniforms
• “Wearing school clothing
and marching uniforms was
mandatory…to impose
conformity and military
discipline on the students.
Upon their arrival
traditional clothing, seen as
a shell of savagery, was
literally cast off.”
(Owen Lindauer, 2008)
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Discipline
“They killed a Blackfeet boy using a gauntlet beating –ruptured
his kidneys –they shipped his body home with a note saying he
died bravely.”
-Leo Lajimodiere, 76. Chippewa. Chemawa Industrial School survivor.
“The nuns locked me in a closet for not speaking English –I
didn’t care, it was quiet.”
-Lola Plante, 47. St. Stephan, SD, survivor (interviewed 1977)
“We were made to kneel on a broomstick for 15 minute
increments. We had to stick our noses against the wall at the
same time. If we moved our nose another 15 minutes were
added”
-“Sam” 50, Wahpeton Boarding School, ND
“I was working in the mail room with a priest. A kid came in
and wanted his mail. I handed a letter to him. The priest took a
board and whacked me in the head. I got knocked out and
woke up on the floor by myself”
-“Fred” Marty Indian Boarding School, SD.
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Sexual Abuse
“I saw the administrator leave at night and go into the boys
dorm. He would come out in the morning. I reported him, and I
was fired”
-Estella, 94. Chippewa. Federal worker at Ft. TottenIndian Boarding School
“The little boys in my dorm would be taken by the dorm
workers at night. They would come back crying.”
-“Joe” Chamberlain Boarding School, SD
“I was raped by older boys. How do you tell your wife or
children that I would be screaming into my pillow. Happened
over 300 times. I still have physical problems…”
-“Mike” Montana boarding school survivor.
“We could hear the cries of the girls being molested at night.
When my little sister got sick and was sent to the infirmary, I
hid for three days and nights under her bed to make sure no
one got to her.”
-“Adele” Chippewa. Ft. TottenBoarding School
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Loneliness
“Sometimes a little boy would die from
loneliness” How? “They would just stop eating
and die in their sleep, we would find them in
the mornings.”
-Leo Lajimodiere, Chemawa
“In these fine new buildings Indian children still
commit suicide…I know a ten-year-old who
hanged herself. These schools are just boxes
filled with homesick children.”
-John Fire, 1972, Lakota
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Sickness & Disease
• Scarlet Fever
• Measles
• Whooping cough
• Flu
• Tuberculosis
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Children Attempted to Resist
Treatment
• By running away.
• Development of secret communications.
• Pretended to administer severe punishment to younger children.
• Caused a distraction and/or took the blame for younger children.
• Defied orders of boarding school personnel.
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Why Didn’t the Parents Resist the Removal
of Their Children?
• Threat of termination of rations & annuities
• Threat of taking all of the children in the family
• Imprisonment – Example: The Hopi Nation
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Indian Adoption Project
1958 to1967
• Administered by the Child Welfare
League of America.
• Funded by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs.
• At least 395 Native American
children from 16 western states
placed with white families in eastern
states.
• In 1968, the program is folded into a
larger Adoption Resource Exchange
Program.
• In June 2001, the CWLA Executive
Director apologizes for the project.
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Results of the Lack of Positive
Culturally Based Parenting Skills
• Language not taught to children
• Distrust of the education & child welfare systems.
• Cyclical violence.
• Lack of closeness & sensitivity with children.
• Alcohol and drugs.
• No positive ways to cope.
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What is Historical Trauma?
• “It’s the
cumulative
emotional and
psychological
wounding over
the lifespan and
across
generations,
emanating from
massive group
trauma.”
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Emotional and Behavioral Impact
• Persistent fear
response
• Hyperarousal
• Dissociation
• Disrupted attachment
process
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Long Term Effects of Abuse and
Neglect
• Diminished growth in the left hemisphere, which may increase
the risk for depression.
• Irritability on the limbic system, setting the stage for the
emergence of panic disorder and posttraumatic stress
disorder.
• Smaller growth in the hippocampus and limbic abnormalities,
which can increase the risk for dissociative disorders and
memory impairments.
• Impairment in the connection between the two brain
hemispheres, which has been linked to symptoms of attention
deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
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Sources of Historical Trauma
• Contact – disease
• Colonization – alcohol/drugs, traumatic events
• Banned religion – no ability to mourn
• Dislocation/Loss of land – loss of economy
• Boarding school – children kidnapped, destroyed family
system, physical violence, rape, language loss, spirituality
threatened extinction
• Forced relocation & termination
• Loss of justice system and authority - assimilation policies &
erosion of tribal and individual sovereignty
• Unrecognition of this trauma – no justice
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Native Americans Today
• Native adults are at greater risk of experiencing
psychological distress, and more likely to have
poorer overall physical and mental health
• Highest suicide rate
• Lowest income, least education, highest poverty
level, and lowest life expectancy of any population
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Michigan Native American Drug
Overdose Death Rates
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Native American Mental Health
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Natives Americans Today
• Third leading cause of death for native women is murder
(Urban Indian Health Institute)
• Three leading causes of death for women in the US: heart
disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease (CDC)
• The murder rate of Native women is 10 times the
national average.
• 84.3% of Native women experience violence in their
lifetime
• Compared to 71% of non-Hispanic White women
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Violence Against Native Women
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“Once you recognize where these emotions come
from, then you can find a healthy way to deal with
them. We believe that our traditional cultural and
spiritual ways have natural ways to help people do that.
They were very wise in that way.”
“The healing we experience also heals our ancestors.”
-Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart
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Cultural Way of Child Rearing
• Extended family
involvement.
• Discipline in the form of
teachings & lessons.
• Telling of stories with
moral outcomes.
• Modeling appropriate
behavior.
• Assigning tasks necessary
for the survival of the
Tribal Nation.
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Native Resiliency
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Questions
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Contact Information
Jason Cross, MSW
State Manager for ICWA Compliance and Race Equity
CrossJ5@michigan.gov
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