Sitka Tribe of Alaska and Outer Coast are hosting an Orange Shirt Day memorial event from 6 to 7:30 p.m Wednesday at the Sheet’ká Ḵwáan Naa Kahídi.
Orange Shirt Day is observed annually to raise awareness of and memorialize Indigenous children who were removed from their communities and sent to Indian residential schools across North America.
Wednesday's commemorative event in Sitka will feature speeches, singing, light refreshments and a performance by the Sheet’ká Ḵwáan dance group. Guests are encouraged to wear orange and are welcome to contribute appetizers or desserts to the potluck.
Robyn Smith, a second-year student at Outer Coast, will be master of ceremonies for Wednesday’s event. Smith said that “Orange Shirt Day not only honors those who couldn't make it home, but also those who made it home, kept their culture alive.”
“Even if they didn’t start till they had grandkids, they made sure to keep their people with them, past and present,” Smith said.
More than 500 boarding schools operated in the U.S. beginning in 1801, run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and missionary groups.
The purpose of these schools was to assimilate Native children into American culture. National Park Service information states that Indian boarding schools such as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School instructed students in domestic and industrial skills with “military-style discipline.”
“The staff forced them to speak English and tried to destroy their ties to traditional cultures,” NPS information states. “In 1928 the U.S. government reported findings that children were abused, overworked, and underfed.”
The international day of remembrance was created in 2013, and its name is a reference to the experience of Phyllis Webstad, who was 6 years old in 1973 when she arrived at the St. Joseph’s Mission Indian Residential school in Canada. Her prized possession, an orange shirt her grandmother purchased for her to take to school, was taken away and Phyliss never saw it again.
She went on to be a co-founder of the Orange Shirt Society, and is the CEO.
Augustine Garcia is a second-year student at Outer Coast in Sitka.
