Learn the history of the commemorative day and how Indigenous communities honor the lives lost due to atrocities caused by boarding school systems on Turtle Island

Every September 30, it’s important to wear orange to acknowledge the atrocities caused by the federal governments of the United States and Canada from their involvement in the creation and implementation of the boarding school system. 

In Canada, September 30 is called Orange Shirt Day. In the United States, the day is also called National Day of Remembrance.

During a Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community webinar on sexual violence held on May 15 of last year, host Memory Dawn Long Chase stated, “I ask non-Native folks all the time to ask their parents and grandparents if their schools had graveyards.”

It’s true. Many boarding schools did have graveyards. In some cases, the cemeteries on these campuses were poorly maintained, if at all.

With both governments operating under the genocidal philosophy of “Kill the Indian, save the man,” they removed Native children from their families and forced them to endure horrific treatment at boarding schools, including violently stripping them of their identity, culture and language. 

These atrocities continue to have lasting impacts on Indigenous peoples to this day. It is widely believed that many Indigenous enrolled students in classrooms today are the descendants of boarding school survivors. 

President Joe Biden officially apologized to all of Indian Country last October in the Gila River Indian Community for the United States’ role in creating and forcibly making Indigenous children attend federal boarding schools.

However, since the apology, minimal resources and actions have been implemented by the Trump administration. 

An official report conducted by Running Strong for American Indian Youth showed that during the recent graduation season this past May, U.S. Indigenous students had a graduation rate of 69%, compared with the national average for all students of 87%. The complex posttraumatic stress disorder that most, if not all, Indigenous people have experienced due to colonization almost certainly explains this glaring gap in graduation rates compared with the national average. 

Current life expectancies for Indigenous people also are considerably lower compared with those of non-Indigenous people, leaving many of our relatives on Turtle Island unable to process and heal from these traumas. Some die never being able to fully express the tragedies that plagued them while they were here with us, which impacts and adds to a family’s generational trauma. 

Thankfully, organizations such as the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition continue to be at the forefront of ensuring our relatives are heard and supported as they navigate their traumas. 

NABS hosted a National Day of Remembrance at the Indian Gaming Association in Washington, D.C., on September 16. The gathering’s theme was “Always in our Hearts” to honor the children who never returned home from these schools. 

The longer society continues to ignore the damaging impacts to Indigenous people caused by the U.S. and Canadian governments, the more delayed the healing process will be. Wearing orange on September 30 honors and remembers the countless Indigenous lives lost in the federal boarding school systems. 

How will you show support this September 30?