# Understanding National Orange Shirt Week

This resolution designates the week of September 30th as "National Orange Shirt Week" or "National Week of Remembrance" to honor Native Americans who were forced to attend Indian boarding schools. It's essentially a formal recognition by Congress that this week should be set aside for remembrance and education about this dark chapter in American history.

From the 1800s through the 1960s, the U.S. government funded church-run boarding schools that forcibly removed hundreds of thousands of Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children—some as young as three years old—from their families and communities. These schools were designed to strip children of their cultural identities, languages, and traditions by forcing them to adopt European-American culture and Christianity. Children were punished for speaking their native languages, forced to cut their hair, given new English names, and subjected to physical, sexual, and psychological abuse. Many children died from disease, abuse, or harsh conditions, and some were buried in unmarked graves. Parents who resisted or tried to contact their children faced imprisonment and loss of food rations.

The resolution documents how this traumatic history continues to affect Native communities today through intergenerational trauma, higher rates of suicide, mental health conditions, substance abuse, and various health problems. It also notes that similar assimilation policies continued through adoption and foster care programs that separated Native children from their families well into the 1960s. By officially recognizing this week, Congress is acknowledging this history and the ongoing harm it causes, while calling attention to the need for greater public awareness and accountability. The resolution itself doesn't create new laws or programs—it's a symbolic statement that this period of history deserves to be remembered and that Native communities' experiences deserve national recognition.

Recognizing the week of September 30th as "National Orange Shirt Week" or "National Week of Remembrance", which aims to honor those who were forced to attend Indian boarding schools, and to recognize the experience of Indian boarding school victims and survivors.

Davids, Sharice

<p>This resolution recognizes National Orange Shirt Week or National Week of Remembrance, which aims to honor those who were forced to attend Indian boarding schools. The resolution also recognizes the experience of&nbsp;Indian boarding school victims and survivors.</p>