Your actions matter Everyday!
As a tutor or intern at Chemawa Indian School you must be consistently conscious and educated about the history of Native Americans in America as well as boarding schools and the US government. Not all of the history of boarding schools (including Chemawa's) is good. There has been death, abuse, indoctrination and many other indignities suffered by students who were, at the beginning, forced to come to a boarding school far away from home. Many of those things have changed today and students come to Chemawa for a variety of important reasons, but that does not mean the system is perfect. Please educate yourself using the links below and remember that everyday you are forming bridges between our students and the wider western world they must learn to succeed in. This means that every action matters. Your commitment, compassion, trust-building, and ambassadorship make a difference in the lives of students...but you can also sour their relationship with the larger world through ill-considered comments and actions. Please be careful and compassionate. Be transparent and honest in your desire to help and to get to know students. They will respond to your authenticity.
Use the following links to educate yourself about the history of Native Americans and boarding schools
- Boarding Schools in the past (NPR article).
- Boarding Schools in the present (NPR article).
- History of the Chemawa name and some songs by a Chemawa drum group I have heard other meanings for the Chemawa name and so am not sure if this site is acurate in that respect, but the songs are nice.
- A Seattle Times article about the legacy left by boarding schools
- A more complete history of Chemawa Indian School can be found in the thesis paper written by Sonciray Bonnell.
Here are some comments, behaviors and questions to avoid
Chemawa students constantly hear some of the silliest remarks. Making these kinds of remarks will mark you as new to the Chemawa community and lose you respect in the students' eyes.
- Please don't tell a student that your grandmother was a Cherokee princess. Students hear this often enough from people who have never even seen a reservation that they tend to respect people who make this comment a lot less. Before the removal of the Cherokee from their ancestral lands there were many, many squatters on the land of the Cherokee Nation. There came a decision that White settlers could stay on the land if they became part of the Cherokee Nation by marrying a Cherokee woman. This resulted in many mixed marriages. Still none of the women was a "princess". Visit the following website to see why this is an inaccurate statement.
- Don't ask if students still live in teepees unless you want them to ask you if you still live in covered wagons. This is a stereotype. Many students who go to Chemawa don't even come from tribes that used teepees....ever.
- Don't make assumptions about Native Americans as a group. Students at Chemawa come from approximately 60 different tribes and about 20 different states. They grew up in big cities and on isolated reservations; in places as diverse as small isolated Alaska Native communities and the huge Navajo Nation in the Southwest. Some tribes have a lot of money and some tribes are very poor. None of them are the same.
- Please don't make assumptions about students' home lives. Students in the AVID class come from many different situations. Your best bet is to listen to them. They will tell you what they want you to know about them in their own time.
- Please do not show a lot of skin in your dress when you come to campus. Student dress at Chemawa is generally more modest than you would see on the streets in most cities. You will make them uncomfortable.
- Students at Chemawa often have lovely long beautiful hair. Please refrain from touching it. Some students have traditional beliefs surrounding hair and some are just tired of everyone wanting to touch their hair. Please respect their space. You can ask to touch their hair, just don't be surprised if they say, "no".
Some behaviors that will help you relate to students:
- Approach them with respect. Ask if you can sit at their table and then you can ask questions to start a conversation. Ask them if you can help with whatever they are supposed to be doing at the time.
- If a student asks you to leave them alone don't take it personally. Almost always it has nothing to do with you. They just need space. Living at Chemawa can be difficult and stressful. Be sensitive of that.
- Ask questions, but most of all listen to the students. They will share with you what they are comfortable sharing.
- Be authentic. Students are perceptive. They can usually tell whether or not you are being genuine. They respect honesty.