Shawnee Tribe, Fairway announce plan to investigate history of Shawnee Indian Mission

Elected officials in Fairway aren't the only ones working on uncovering truths about the Shawnee Indian Mission.

Rep. Sharice Davids on Thursday reintroduced The Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act, according to a press release. The bill creates a commission to investigate schools connected to assimilation policies in the federal government's Indian Boarding School Policies like Shawnee Indian Mission.

Indian Boarding School Policies were created and enforced to strip Indigenous peopels

"of their identities, beliefs and languages," according to the release. Children were forcibly removed from their tribal lands and families, and it is estimated that nearly 83% of American Indian and Alaska Native children were enrolled in a boarding school by 1926, according to the release.

Currently, there are 367 known Indian boarding schools in 30 states. These schools were riddled with human rights violations such as "spiritutal, physical, industrial, psychological and sexual abuse, neglect and trauma," according to the release.

If approved by Congress, the commission would "investigate, document and acknowledge" these injustices, according to the release. Davids said in the release it "is a critical step to allow Native families and communities to begin to heal from the intergenerational trauma."

"The U.S. Indian Boarding School Policies stripped children from their families and their cultures — actions that continue to impact Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian communities today," Davids said in the release. "Our country must do better to acknowledge its legacy and understand the full truth of these policies."