美国国家公共电台 NPR--Burial sites linked to Native American boarding schools ID'd in government report

Burial sites linked to Native American boarding schools ID'd in government report

Transcript¹

An Interior Department report identified more than 400 Native American boarding schools that assimilated and often abused Indigenous² children. The probe has uncovered more than 500 deaths so far.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

For about a hundred and fifty years, Indigenous children were separated from their families and sent away to what were called Indian schools. Yesterday, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced the initial findings. From member station WXXI in Rochester, N.Y., Noelle Evans reports.

NOELLE E C EVANS, BYLINE³: The investigation⁴ is not complete, but what we know now is that there were more than 400 of these schools across the country until the late 1960s.

CRYSTAL ECHO HAWK⁵: This is among the original sins of this country. And the fact that the truth is finally coming to light is deeply emotional and it's important.

EVANS: That's Crystal Echo Hawk. She's a citizen of the Pawnee Nation and executive director of the Native American social justice organization IllumiNative⁶.

ECHO HAWK: Our relatives went to those schools and faced extreme abuse - you know, being beaten, mouths washed out with soap.

EVANS: In a letter, Assistant Secretary of Indigenous Affairs Bryan Newland highlighted some key findings - that the U.S. directly targeted Native American children for cultural assimilation and that this was central to a broader plan to remove Indigenous people from their lands. To this end, systemic, militarized and identity alteration⁷ methods were applied⁸ in the school system. Echo Hawk calls it disturbing.

ECHO HAWK: This was not just a couple bad apples in schools - that this was a policy, a systematic⁹ policy.

EVANS: Students were barred from speaking their native language. Rules were enforced through corporal punishment, solitary¹⁰ confinement¹¹ and withholding¹² food. Older students were sometimes made to punish younger children. Abuse in all forms was rampant¹³.

Echo Hawk's grandfather was a survivor¹⁴ of the Pawnee Boarding School in Oklahoma. She says he knew the Pawnee language until he didn't. Toward the end of his life, he wrote down some Pawnee words he still remembered. Echo Hawk still holds on to a slip of yellow paper that he'd given her.

ECHO HAWK: And it just seemed like in the last, you know, decade or so of his life, he was really - it was just like he was trying to get the things back that were taken from him.

EVANS: Not every student survived. Through this investigation, about 50 burial sites have been found so far. More than 500 deaths have been accounted for, but the department expects the actual death toll¹⁵ could be in the tens of thousands.

DANTE DESIDERIO: The challenge to the rest of America is when you went to elementary school or middle school or high school, did you have a cemetery¹⁶ for the children that died at the high school?

EVANS: That's Dante Desiderio. He's a citizen of the Sappony Nation and CEO of the National Congress of American Indians.

DESIDERIO: We need those children returned home to their communities, and we also need to recognize this experience. Our fellow classmates died in the schools and were buried out back.

EVANS: Desiderio says this has to be the start of a broader investigation across government agencies to remedy the countless¹⁷ damages caused. And he wants people to recognize that this is not in the past. Across all of Indian country, survivors¹⁸ and their descendants continue to suffer the consequences of a policy that was created to annihilate¹⁹ their way of being.

DESIDERIO: But we don't want to leave the people who've gone through this vulnerable and just have the federal government move on. We can't do that.

EVANS: The investigation will continue with an additional $7,000 from Congress.

For NPR News, I'm Noelle Evans.

[POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: In this report, we incorrectly say Congress has given $7,000 to continue the investigation. In fact, the amount is $7 million.]

(SOUNDBITE OF ROCKET MINER'S "CATALYST")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

5 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

6 illuminative   

adj.照明的，照亮的，启蒙的

参考例句：

• Yan Fu is China's latter-day and famous illuminative ideologist. 严复是中国近代著名的启蒙思想家。 来自互联网
• Usage in thermal places where range of household appliance, illuminative lamps, industrial machinesarc operated. 适用于各种电子电器、照明灯具、工业机器、电热制品等高温场所的绝缘保护。 来自互联网

7 alteration   

n.变更，改变；蚀变

参考例句：

• The shirt needs alteration.这件衬衣需要改一改。
• He easily perceived there was an alteration in my countenance.他立刻看出我的脸色和往常有些不同。

8 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

9 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

10 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

11 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

12 withholding   

扣缴税款

参考例句：

• She was accused of withholding information from the police. 她被指控对警方知情不报。
• The judge suspected the witness was withholding information. 法官怀疑见证人在隐瞒情况。

13 rampant   

adj.(植物)蔓生的；狂暴的，无约束的

参考例句：

• Sickness was rampant in the area.该地区疾病蔓延。
• You cannot allow children to rampant through the museum.你不能任由小孩子在博物馆里乱跑。

14 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

15 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

16 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

17 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

18 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

19 annihilate   

v.使无效；毁灭；取消

参考例句：

• Archer crumpled up the yellow sheet as if the gesture could annihilate the news it contained.阿切尔把这张黄纸揉皱，好象用这个动作就会抹掉里面的消息似的。
• We should bear in mind that we have to annihilate the enemy.我们要把歼敌的重任时刻记在心上。