For more than one hundred years, thousands of Native American children were taken from their homes and sent to residential Indian schools in the United States and Canada, to forcibly assimilate them into white culture and Christianity.

Indigenous advocate Jennifer Night Bird Miller describes cruelties they endured and what she hopes for as the U.S. moves toward understanding this painful past.

“The US citizens need to know and acknowledge that these atrocities have occurred and the people are still here. And in order for us to heal, we need acknowledgment.”

Plus -- Sandi Cianciulli and MaryAnne Robins from the Carlisle Indian School Project 90 miles northwest of Baltimore, tell us how they hope to memorialize young lives lost.

Links: Carlisle Indian School Project, Washington Post Op Ed by Deb Haaland, Map of locations of US Native American Boarding Schools, Home From School: The Children of Carlisle documentary, Secretary Haaland's plan for the Indian Boarding School Initiative investigation, Guardian video history of residential schools in Canada.

Kerry Hawk Lessard, executive director of Native American Lifelines in Baltimore discusses the lack of Native American representation in Covid 19 data here.

Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers [email protected] 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his [email protected] 410-235-1472