August 10, 2019
Dear Family, Friends and Everyone Else reading this blog,
Summer is ending soon and school will be open again for a new year for our children. I hope all had a wonderful Summer.
I continue to share my story, Sky Woman Lives in Me, to honor my Grandmothers: Grandma Millie Elm, Great Grandmother Sophia Huff-Powless and Great great Grandmother Elizabeth Hill-Huff-Denny. Below is a photo of the Carlisle Indian Industrial Boarding School Student Body, posing on the school grounds in March of 1892. a head photo of Sophia is in the lower left hand corner. She was forced to attend this school to become assimilated Euro white. These Carlisle students were surrounded by a 7 foot fence, gating all of these children inside. Basically, they were imprisoned by the government. All were separated from their parents and family. The second photo stands by the school cemetery and shares that Carlisle Indian School was a model (experiment) for a nationwide system (US Government) to assimilate indigenous children as Euro-white. No indigenous cultures/languages or children’s Indian names, as well as native clothing were allowed.
The third photo is of a young female immigrant crying at her school in Mississippi last week, August, 2019. Why? She learned that her father waw taken away to be sent back to Mexico. She is sobbing because she is afraid and doesn’t know what to do living without her Dad. This is so heartbreaking and wrong. This is not who we are!
The next fourth photo shows immigrants behind fences, locked in by our government. This photo is from this year, 2019. The immigrants being locked up, separated from their children, reminds me of my great grandmother, Sophia way back in 1891. She was forced to attend Carlisle to be assimilated…so she would fit in with the mainstream culture at that time (Euro-white). She too, was placed behind a 7 foot fence! Then she was sent out to be a servant for a Quaker Family for ten years!
The fifth photo is a Japanese family interned during WWII by our government. Since the United States was fighting Japan, well, Japanese Americans in this country were rounded up and put in internment camps. They also were put behind fences. The US Government didn’t trust Japanese at this time.
The sixth photo shows Jewish people fenced in imprisoned by the Nazis’. The Nazis hated Jews and felt Jews were inferior and inhuman! Even though this happened in the 1940’s, this is still happening today. Nothing’s changed, just the date.
I pray for all immigrants and their children. They have done nothing wrong. They just want a better life for themselves and their children.
The seventh photo is of Leonard Peltier. He has been in prison for over 40 years now. Can someone with a conscience in D.C. please free Leonard. Why the hell is he still in prison?
I show two different flags. The first flag was from the late Russell Means. The flag speaks a lot of truth in our country. Sadly, it is still going on in 2019. If true history were taught, we Americans would learn a lot of hidden history that was kept from us in school and life.
The last photo, another flag, I feel, describes what Our Country stands for: “We the people, Of the People, For the People, By the People. This flag makes me feel American in Our Country.
As the kids head to school, I hope they all have a good year. I pray there are no more shootings, that kids can feel free to learn and not fear going to school for fear of being shot!
May Our Creator, God, watch over all of us. Thank you for reading my blog. Face Book isn’t allowing me to share this blog to everyone. Please share this blog, if you wish. Sincerely, Roberta Capasso, Proud Oneida and Author of Sky Woman Lives in Me.
Sky Woman Lives in Me 