Caravan brings children home from Carlisle
Kevin Abourezk
Dozens of bikers, horse riders and Native youth welcomed the return Thursday of three Oglala Lakota children's remains to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
The children's remains started their journey nearly 1,200 miles to the east of South Dakota in Carlisle, Penn., where the children died more than 132 years ago. They had been students at the Carlisle Industrial Indian School, a boarding school where nearly 230 children died over the course of the school's nearly 30-year existence. Nearly 30 students' remains have been returned from Carlisle to their tribes since 2017.
Across the country, nearly 1,000 Native children died in federal Indian boarding schools between 1819 and 1969, according to federal data.
Starting Sept. 6, 2024, 11 Carlisle students' remains are being returned to their tribes, including the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Gros Ventre (now the Nakoda and Aanih), the Pechanga Band of Indians, and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes.
The three Oglala Lakota students being returned are Fannie Charging Shield, Samuel Flying Horse and John Cornman, who all died from tuberculosis.
Justin Pourier, an Oglala Sioux Tribe council member, drove the students' remains home. He described a growing caravan of cars, motorcycles and even a state patrol cruiser that joined him starting in southeast South Dakota.
The caravan made several stops along the way and met elders, spiritual leaders and others who said prayers and sang prayer songs for their ancestors. The caravan stopped in Vermillion and Lake Andes, where an elder offered spirit food for the ancestors.
At several places along the way, Native people and others waved at them from the roadside.
The caravan eventually arrived in Mission on the Rosebud Reservation, where dozens of people met them at Sinte Gleska University. Pourier and others brought out the caskets containing the children's remains as elders and others prayed and sang for the children.
After leaving Mission, the caravan made its way to Martin on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where another large group of people gathered. The caravan grew significantly from there as cars and more motorcycles joined the caravan on its way to Pine Ridge. As the caravan approached the Pine Ridge airport, nearly a dozen horse riders joined them and escorted Pourier's SUV. By then, the caravan stretched nearly a mile down the road, Pourier said.
After the caravan arrived at a funeral home, Oglala Lakota veterans and warrior society members began unloading the caskets and placing them onto rolling carts as the sun began to set to the west.
As he watched the caskets being unloaded, the heavy feeling Pourier had carried with him on the long drive from Carlisle began to lift.
"It was a pretty heavy feeling, you know, feeling all the emotions, anger, sadness, you know, happiness," he said.
But hearing so many people express hope that the children's return might help bring healing to his people reinforced Pourier's decision to bring the three children home in the first place.
"It seemed to have given me a lot more strength and encouragement to what we was doing was a good thing," he said.
The children's remains will be taken from Pine Ridge to nearby Porcupine on Saturday, Sept. 21, and funeral services will take place later at Porcupine School.
Keith Janis, 65, a motivational speaker from Kyle, S.D., joined the caravan Thursday. He said he wanted to help escort the children home as a way to heal from the trauma he experienced while attending the St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain, S.D., in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
"It broke my heart all over again as my own boarding school experience and the many beatings we took because we were so young and were hostages to this dark era of save the Man, kill the Indian," he said.
"I have a pretty good idea of the depth of their pain and torment of their last days," Janis said. "I'm upset, saddened but do have a sense of relief for Samuel, James and Fannie that they are at long last home amongst people that care for them, can honor them, feed their innocent souls and show them our love as a people.
"We are still here."
ICT correspondent Charles Fox contributed to this report.
