In May 2011, our governor signed the first ever Truth and Reconciliation Declaration of Intent between state and tribal governments.

The declaration is the culmination of more than 10 years of work by courageous native and non-native women facing the truth about what has happened in Maine. A practice of taking native children from their families and placing them in “boarding schools” or with foster families had been going on since the 1800s.

The passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act by the federal government in 1978 was an effort to address that deeply destructive practice. In the late ’90s, Maine’s compliance with ICWA standards got a failing grade from federal officials.

This began a process of trying to educate Maine Department of Health and Human Services social workers on the needs of the native community and what the practices were doing to the fabric of the Maine Wabanaki culture.

A group of white and native social workers created a training film for social workers. In the process of creating the film and doing the trainings, they became aware that the system couldn’t fully transform without dealing with the huge well of hurt, grief, denial and minimizing of what took place.

It is impossible to understand the state of our tribes today, without knowing what really happened to them.

When the truth comes out, it becomes clear why suicide rates for native people are the highest of any group in the country; why tribal members are the least likely to be homeowners in their own homelands; why the native high school dropout rate is 30 percent; why unemployment rates are typically 63 percent; and why drugs and alcohol are such huge problems in these communities.

As a white woman, I have wanted to give back my whole life. My ancestors did so much taking. Writing about this is a start.

The first people of Maine were the Wabanaki (Dawn Land People — where the sun first rises in North America) known to inhabit the area for 11,000 years. Originally, there were 20 tribes. Today, there are four: Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Mi’kmaq and Maliseet.

The story starts from the first encounters of European whites with native peoples, and most of us know it was devastating. Just how devastating is incumbent on all of us in Maine to fully understand.

From 1616-1619, the Wabanaki population was depleted by 90 percent, a combination of European diseases and conflict. The Spencer Phips Proclamation of 1755 specifically gives a breakdown of the amount of money whites could get per scalp of a Penobscot Indian (women and children were also included, but just didn’t bring as much).

The taking of Indian children and the Indian boarding schools began in the 1870s. Given that the Department of Health and Human Services child welfare program was deemed failing in the 1990s, the multi-generational depth of the wounding becomes clear.

My own family of origin was alcoholic, violent and abusive. At age 12, I found a spiritual path (Quakers) that nurtured my “way of knowing” God. That context is what allowed me to heal from that trauma.

How would my life have turned out if I had been ripped out of my community and had this spiritual lifeline severed? What if my experience of knowing my creator had been denied, and I had been forced to believe something totally foreign?

Additionally, if I’d been forced to speak a completely foreign language, beaten if I spoke my own, given a name that made no sense to me, cut off from my siblings, family, friends, clothing, possessions, culture and wisdom tradition?

How is that not the deepest kind of soul wound? How could I survive it without shutting down most of my being, feelings and trust?

Our epistemology encompasses our theories of knowing based on our core beliefs. It is the wisdom tradition we are born into and our cultural heritage. It is interwoven with our identity and sense of belonging and place. It is truth, as we understand it.

What is left when you destroy that for a human being?

How can we possibly understand where our tribes are today without finding the truth about what really happened? Most of us don’t even know the story. To understand how deeply the taking of native children has been, I only have the contrast of my own recovery from abuse.

Even though my experience of childhood trauma injured me profoundly, I never lost my culture, my connection to my siblings and family, my language, my sense of place, and the acceptance by my community and school.

Denise Altvater, a Passamaquoddy survivor of the foster care system and abuse, said so clearly that even if the abuse hadn’t taken place afterward, it was “the taking” that created the deepest damage.

The ICWA tried to address this truth: that by removing native children from their families and tribes, their traditional way of knowing, their spiritual context, their cultural histories and traditions, the entire epistemology of their tribe, has been shattered.

And the consequences of these abuses are felt deeply when these individuals struggle for psychic survival, struggle to parent their own children and cling to a sense of worth.

Instead, they are blamed for not measuring up.

By creating this truth and reconciliation process, Maine is leading the way for every other state in this nation. I am deeply heartened that this is where the very first Truth and Reconciliation Declaration, signed by both tribal and state government, has ever been initiated on behalf of the native peoples.

Every state in this country is sitting on a damaging history. It is time to make amends.

I, for one, want to apologize to every native person for the sins of my forefathers and mothers and all of those who might still be falsely judging and mistreating the people of the dawn land.

I also feel empathy for the many state workers, boarding school staff, and church officials who also need healing from being the agents who carried out these harmful policies that created such devastation.

In spite of this destructive history, the Wabanaki nation is alive and getting stronger. The silver threads of connection to teachings, ceremonies, language and traditions have not been completely broken. Through this process of listening to the truth as told by those who experienced these offenses, some healing can begin, dignity restored and the native cultures of Maine celebrated and honored.

As a white woman in Maine, an immigrant to this land, I ask all my fellow whites and non-natives to please not take native culture, song, dress and ceremony as our own. And if native people participate with you in any event, be sure it is at their discretion; that they are seen, named, their tribes named, honored and shown appreciation for sharing their culture with us.

Otherwise, it is just more taking.

Arla Patch of Bryant Pond has been an educator for more than 40 years. In the 1980s, her interest in using creativity for healing became the focus of her teaching. An award-winning author, Patch serves on the Communications Subcommittee for the Truth and Reconciliation convening group.

Copy the Story Link