Dear Families,
We are supporting learning and teaching about Truth and Reconciliation or Orange Shirt Day on September 30th which aligns to Since Time Immemorial Essential Questions, especially #4: What are ways in which Tribes respond to the threats and outside pressure to extinguish their cultures and independence?
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To increase historical awareness and support community healing and justice, we are engaging in a community learning project. This project involves: learning and teaching about Coast Salish identities and cultures, teaching the history of boarding schools (Indian Residential Schools), as well as Indigenous resistance, and how students, staff and the community can contribute to healing and justice. Students will then be invited to wear an orange shirt or something orange on Monday, Sept. 30th and each student will have the opportunity to wear an orange bracelet, if they choose, after learning about this day, about truth and healing and our history.
We also welcome you to engage in learning about this day and our history by previewing the lessons for elementary level and/or continually building background knowledge with the resources below. We acknowledge that this topic may be challenging for some. We will do our best to support all students in this learning, which is important because many of our community members and their families have lived or been impacted by the boarding school experience. Ultimately, this project is about healing and hope for the future. Please reach out if you have any questions or feedback. kirsten.jensen@bellinghamschools.org
At the elementary level, we are centering our learning around a highly acclaimed book that was written for ages 5-7: My Powerful Hair by Carole Lindstrom. Please see lessons above and more resources below. You can access the book in Epic.com or the Bellingham Public Library.
· Visit this Interactive Boarding School Map
· Learn about the impact of historical trauma
· Learn more about Lummi cultural resilience efforts and community education projects by Children of the Setting Sun Productions
· Exploring the Impact of Residential Schooling | Bellingham Public Library | BiblioCommons
Thank you for supporting our community in this important learning!
Orange Shirt Day (September 30th) was established as an observance in 2013, to promote awareness and education of the residential school system and the impact it has had on Indigenous communities for over a century. The residential school system has been recognized as a cultural genocide, and continues to this day. The use of an orange shirt as a symbol was inspired by the story of Phyllis Jack Webstad, whose personal clothing—including a new orange shirt—was taken from her during her first day of residential schooling, and never returned. The orange shirt is used as a symbol of the forced assimilation of Indigenous children that the residential school system enforced. The official tagline of the day, "Every Child Matters", reminds us that all peoples' cultural experiences are important.*
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About The Artist - Jason LaClair is a 38-year-old Coast Salish artist from the Lummi and Nooksack communities. Mr. LaClair has been practicing Northern Formline Art and Coast Salish Styles for more than 25 years. In 2021, he collaborated with local artist Gretchen Leggitt to create the public installation of the “Salmon Run” mural for the City of Bellingham. In addition, he was the artist of the “One from the Heart” mural in Ferndale. Other murals decorate the Boardmill Building in the Port of Bellingham’s central waterfront redevelopment. Mr. LaClair's drive comes from the need to share the art of his ancestors with his People and the Whatcom Community as a whole. He says he loves what he does and that his career is the best way to express himself. Proceeds of the shirt sales will go to Children of the Setting Sun.
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*Source: Wikipedia contributors, "National Day for Truth and Reconciliation," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Day_for_Truth_and_Reconciliation&oldid=1173964246 (accessed September 10, 2023).