Let me come inside8/16/2023 ![]() "I always try to filter like, 'If it's good enough for my kid, it's good for anybody's kid,' " Wilson says. "Our kids deserve what we can give them going forward." She believes it is more important to move forward, rather than dwell on the school's past. The daily morning announcements blare over the PA system, and one or two stragglers hurry to class a few minutes late.Īmber Wilson taught at Riverside for years and is now the principal. In many ways, Riverside looks a lot like any other school at 8 o'clock in the morning. ![]() And now, unlike during Neconie's time, students actually choose to attend Riverside. Since Neconie and others attended, thousands of Native students have walked through the school's halls and dorms. In the mid-20th century, many of these schools shut down due to reports of neglect and abuse, while those that remained made enormous changes. The healing that can help our communities will not be done overnight, but it will be done," Haaland said, while holding back tears. Please know that we still have so much to gain. "I will listen with you, I will grieve with you, I will weep and I will feel your pain as we mourn what we have lost. The history of these schools touched more than just the students who attended their impact spans generations. While many in the gym are survivors of the boarding school era, others came to learn and to listen. Haaland's own grandparents were taken away and forced to attend boarding schools: "I want you all to know that I am with you on this journey, and I am here to listen," she told the crowd. Riverside Indian School in Anadarko, the heart of Indian Country in southwest Oklahoma. The school opened its doors in 1871 and is one of four off-reservation boarding schools still operating in the U.S. This is Caddo, Delaware and Wichita land. Riverside sits perched along a hill overlooking the Washita River in Anadarko, the very heart of Indian Country in southwest Oklahoma. The experiences were so awful that when one of the buildings at Riverside, known as Kiowa lodge, burned down, he stood by and cheered: "I laughed when they tore it down." History of Riverside He described his time here as an experience marked by abuse - both emotional and physical - and said that certain teachers would routinely beat students for acting up or just for speaking their own language. "The moment I landed there, they took me downstairs, took all my clothes off, and threw a bunch of green stuff all over me," Neconie said. He recounted for Haaland and Newland how, when he first arrived at the school, the staff treated him like a prisoner. "It was 12 years of hell," he told the officials. Donald Neconie attended this school more than 60 years ago. One of the first to speak was an 85-year-old man with short salt-and-pepper hair who used a walker to steady himself. But for many of the people here, Riverside Indian School was once a waking nightmare. The gym now shines with new equipment and has a wall dedicated to the "Tribes of Riverside." A symbol of the new Riverside, one with a majority Native staff and an emphasis on cultural practices. The subject at hand? The very place they were sitting. They traveled from Washington to listen for as long as people wanted to speak. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland. They filled the space with rows of chairs and stuffed the bleachers up to the rafters, but when the meeting was called to order, everyone was silent.įacing the busloads of tribal citizens were U.S. ![]() Elders and family members drove hours to pile into the residential school's gymnasium. On a hot afternoon last summer, Riverside Indian School drew a crowd from all over Oklahoma. Navajo citizen Lorenda Long, who attended a federal boarding school as a young girl, is a supporter of students at Riverside Indian School today.
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