It was a time to celebrate, time to remember and a time to reflect at the Meskwaki Settlement in Tama yesterday afternoon. A caravan carrying the remains of nine members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe made a stop they were being relocated from Pennsylvania to their native tribal lands in South Dakota.

The nine are among those who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in the late 1800’s. Children were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to the school as part of the government’s assimilation agenda. Yolanda Pushetonequa of the Meskwaki Tribe says the Settlement was honored to be a stopping point, especially considering the two tribes weren’t always allies.

Pushetonequa adds the time together helps with the healing of intergenerational trauma.

“There were a lot of the social issues we face, they derived directly from the children who were at the boarding school and then came back home and brought that trauma with them. It’s not something  you can shake off…”

Jenna Thomas and her family are part of the Rosebud/Lakota tribe of South Dakota who live on the Meskwaki Settlement. She says they knew of these and other children, but never what happened to some of them.

“Today as witness this unfolding before us is an emotional journey. I’m really happy at the moment that we’re able to finally get this closure, they get to come home. At the same time you think about where they were and how far away from home they were, what they might have witnessed pr endured while they were there…that really makes me sad. And it hurts…”