Road to Healing tour visits Riverside Indian School in Anadarko for listening session

ANADARKO, Okla. (KSWO) - This morning the Road to Healing tour led by the Secretary of the Interior made it’s first stop in Anadarko at Riverside Indian School.

The tour is aimed at shedding light on the history of federal Indian boarding schools.

A history that’s painful for many Native Americans.

“Through this effort we want to not only create a platform for people to share, but also help connect communities with trauma informed support and facilitate the collection of a permanent oral history,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.

The tour will travel around the U.S. for the next year, but Saturday’s gathering at Riverside Indian School was the first stop.

Many survivors stood and shared their testimonies.

“I used to talk Kiowa, I understood it,” said survivor Donald Neconie, “but not after what they did to me. Every time I tried to talk Kiowa they would put Glide in my mouth.”

They told stories of losing their language and culture.

“They stripped me down and cut my hair off,” said survivor Brought Plenty.

And many other traumas survivors endured.

The Chief of the Shawnee tribe Benjamin Barnes shared one story for a victim who couldn’t be there.

“When she looked out the school windows and saw the cemetery, it was directly threatened to her that if she were to speak about the sexual assault perpetrated on her, she would find herself in that cemetery,” Barnes said.

Haaland said she wants to create a safe space where survivors can share and heal together.

And it couldn’t have come soon enough.

“The time for truth telling, reconciliation and healing is now,” Barnes said.

Secretary Haaland will travel to Hawaii, Michigan, Arizona and South Dakota as part of the tour later this year.

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