Indigenous Revelations
"People go through every moment of their lives... without thinking about Native peoples or american colonialism for one second. And, frustratingly, our society and education system has deemed that perfectly fine.” This blog is dedicated to north 'american' Indigenous culture, struggle and identity. It serves as a tool to not only celebrate these cultures and people, but also to combat the continuous cycle of ignorance, racism and cultural genocide against Native peoples.South Dakota Sex Abuse Scandal: A Peek Inside the Church’s Drawers
Starting in 2003, Native Americans in South Dakota, including Zephier and Drum, began filing lawsuits against the Catholic Dioceses of Sioux Falls and Rapid City, as well as the religious orders that ran the schools. The Native plaintiffs came forward in small groups, then ever-larger ones, claiming rape, sodomy, and molestation by priests, nuns, and others. By mid-2010, the number of plaintiffs topped 100, including six who said they were victims of Brother Francis Chapman, who is now deceased. More than 65 other pedophile clerics and Church employees were named, including the late Father Francis Suttmiller, accused by Zephier and more than a dozen other men and women who were St. Paul’s students.
“I’ll never forget my sister’s screams as the nuns beat her with a shovel after a pair of scissors went missing.”
“Those who’d tried to run away were stripped, lined up, and given 40 lashes each with a thick rubber strap.”
“We were marched along barbed-wire-lined sidewalks from locked dorms to locked classrooms and back again; in grade school, we went outdoors within a barbed-wire-topped pen.”
