Dear Loyola: Do more than land acknowledgment

President Joe Biden visited Arizona on Oct. 25 to formally apologize to Native Americans for decades of government-run boarding school systems that forcibly removed native children from their families to assimilate them into white society.

The apology was historic, especially because it was the first time the U.S. government acknowledged their role in the displacement, persecution, death, and subsequent multi-generational trauma caused by the insulting boarding school system.

But honestly, it was way too late.

While it was a nice sentiment, it does little to address the damage done during the 150 years the schools were open — until 1969. A Home Office investigation calling for an apology found that about 18,000 Native Americans children had been removed from their homes. at least 973 died, The Associated press reported.

Because of this – and the blatant political overtones of the apology, which was given to a left-leaning, low-turnout voter population in a swing state just weeks before yesterday’s election – the motivations reek of virtue, leading many Native Americans to beg the president to follow up his words with concrete, political action.

This call for action is more than understandable, as Native Americans continue to face inequalities in employment, income and education, according to the Joint Economic Committee. Furthermore, as of 2022, only 16.8% of Native Americans and Alaska Natives age 25 or older had earned a bachelor’s degree, according to the U.S. Census. facts.

It is for this reason that the US government should do more than issue overdue, overtly political apologies.

The government should promote opportunity and education for and about people in Indigenous communities, and academic institutions – like Loyola – should follow suit.

Overall, Loyola does a decent job of providing educational resources for students to learn about Native American communities. There is a land acknowledgment statement decorated by native artists on every American campus Buffalo Guts.

The university also offers a reading and resource list for Native American Heritage Month on the library’s website, as well as occasional programming featuring panels of Native Americans covering the “strengths and challenges” of indigenous communities.

Loyola even offers some classes that focus on different aspects of Indigenous and Native American culture in the social sciences and humanities.

While these various strategies for education and recognition allow Loyola students to connect with Native American cultures in both historical and contemporary contexts, they do not contribute to fostering communities of Native American students at Loyola and Chicago.

The neighboring University of Illinois, Chicago and Northwestern University, in addition to offering similar services as described above, offer a variety of programs and resources with deliberate action plans – a necessary next step beyond acknowledgment, apology and academia.

In addition to emphasizing “Native American/Indigenous Inclusion and Belonging” in their Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s websiteUIC also offers a wide range of different resources for Native students attending their university and living in Chicago.

These include a “Native American Task Force Report‘which describes the history of Native American students at the university and recommends plans for action. The report also includes a comprehensive list of university services for Native students, links to student groups, and lists of Native American professional organizations and Chicago-based Native American community organizations.

Likewise, Northwestern has had a Native American admission initiative since 2014, which strives to “create spaces where Native American and Indigenous peoples are heard, their identities are honored, and they can be successful members of the Northwest as well as good tribal and community citizens,” according to the initiative. mission statement.

The initiative’s website also contains links to the university staff who specialize in Native American and indigenous affairs, a link for future Native American and Indigenous students and a strategic one plan developed by the Native American and Indigenous Strategic Planning Committee.

While Loyola has some infrastructure in place to facilitate conversations with Native and Native American communities, a quick search of neighboring institutions’ websites reveals how lackluster these frameworks are.

Loyola – like Biden and the federal government – ​​appears to be focused on acknowledgments and apologies rather than initiatives.

Only 0.1% of Loyola’s student population identifies as Native American or Alaskan Native US data. Given Loyola’s social justice mission — not to mention its less-than-stellar mission history of Jesuit interactions with Native Americans – Loyola should make greater efforts to create accessible academic spaces for one of the nation’s most educationally underserved communities.

Biden’s apology must be followed by action, and so should Loyola’s land denials.

The nuanced need for this is best expressed by Seattle-based Bill Hall, a 71-year-old man from Alaska’s Tingit community who accepted Biden’s apology despite years of abuse at a boarding school.

“As I watched, tears started flowing from my eyes,” Hall told the Associated Press. “Yes, I accept his apology. What can we do now?”