History

Why it's so important? #ICWA #adoption #stolengenerations

"If you thought that ethnic cleansing was something for the history books, think again..."

By Trace Hentz, editor of the new book STOLEN GENERATIONS and founder of Blue Hand Books

In the last few days, I checked the book reviews in the UK (England) and was so happy to read this great honest review for Two Worlds by Yassmin. She gets it! (read her quote above and the review below)
The writers in the first anthology Two Worlds (Book 1) broke new ground. They told their story in their own way in their own words. (I like to tease them and call them rock stars.)  We are the pre-ICWA adoptees - before the federal law was signed, preventing adoption to non-Indian parents and thereby supporting kinship adoption when children remain in their tribal community.
For these adoptees, it takes real courage to think about the past and try to make sense of it.  Many of us adoptees thought we were the only one...  I know I did.
Many of us felt alone, isolated, confused.
Then we have to look at the reunion aspects of our journey with relatives and parents, and doing that we reconnect to our sovereign nations again.  Maybe we were already enrolled, maybe not.  Maybe we have land to inherit, maybe not.  (The purpose of these adoptions was to erase us, end our rights, take our land and erase "the Indian" us off the BIA books.)

Now in 2016 I find that we have more than one generation who was affected by the various Indian Adoption Projects.  We have adult children of adoptees who are living their own identity issues... and they have questions.  Two of these men wrote in the new book Stolen Generations.  Their parent was adopted out.
Can you see how widespread this is (in Canada and the US) and how it's a growing  problem?  The problem is exasperated by states with sealed adoption records and the Bureau of Indian Affairs who is not actively helping us adoptees rejoin our tribes. 

The deception is obvious - their point was to not have any of us be Indian and enrolled!

 

Yassmin Sanders reviewed Two Worlds: Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects

1 of 1 people found the following helpful

Thought-provoking and moving 11 October 2012

Two Worlds - Lost children of the Indian Adoption Projects
If you thought that ethnic cleansing was something for the history books, think again. This work tells the stories of Native American Indian adoptees "The Lost Birds" who continue to suffer the effects of successive US and Canadian government policies on adoption; policies that were in force as recently as the 1970's. Many of the contributors still bear the scars of their separation from their ancestral roots. What becomes apparent to the reader is the reality of a racial memory that lives in the DNA of adoptees and calls to them from the past.
The editors have let the contributors tell their own stories of their childhood and search for their blood relatives, allowing the reader to gain a true impression of their personalities. What becomes apparent is that nothing is straightforward; re-assimilation brings its own cultural and emotional problems. Not all of the stories are harrowing or sad; there are a number of heart-warming successes, and not all placements amongst white families had negative consequences. But with whom should the ultimate decision of adoption reside? Government authorities or the Indian people themselves? Read Two Worlds and decide for yourself.

LINK

What is significant about this new book? Everything. 10 years ago there were no books. Now we have more than one generation who experienced the Indian Adoption Projects and 60s Scoop.
We have documented new history in our own words in Three Books!
For me, that is all I hoped for, prayed for... I have been reunited with my own family over 20 years....and because I feel as I do doesn't mean adoption will ever change... it probably won't.

I am a voice in the wind... I just want to spare a child the pain of secrecy, lies, hurt, loss.

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Ebook proceeds will benefit the IronEagleFeather Project for adoptees. Levi is creating a safe haven and workshops for adoptees...

Contributors:
INTRO: Johnathan Brooks (Northern Cheyenne)
Joseph Henning (Cree)
Leland Pacheco Kirk Morrill (Navajo)
Nakuset (Cree)
Debra Newman (Choctaw Cherokee)
Belinda Mastalski Smith (Oneida New York)
Janelle Black Owl (Mandan, Hidatasa, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, Lakota)
Susan Devan Harness (Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes)
Dana LoneHill (Oglala Lakota)
Joy Meness (Iroquois)
Levi William EagleFeather Sr. (Sicangu Lakota)
Patricia Busbee (Cherokee)
Karl Mizenmayer (Minnesota Ojibwe)
MITZI LIPSCOMB/ROSEMARY BLACKBIRD (Walpole Bkejwanong First Nations)
Rebecca Larsen (Quinault Indian Nation)
Joseph M. Pierce (Cherokee)
Mary St. Martin (Koyukon Athabascan)
Joshua Whitehead (Peguis First Nation Manitoba)

COVER ART: Terry Niska Watson (White Earth) 
This illustration I painted years ago when I was in a very dark place in my life.  This is a painting of a subject matter that has always drawn my interest, that is the Native life and the beauty of tradition, family and nature.  As my sister, Elizabeth Blake, said about this painting that still hangs on my wall, “the most interesting part is that the face is not visible.  That is how it is when you do not know your birth family.”

Stolen Generations (Book 3)

Survivor Narratives of 60s Scoop and First Nations adoptees
An anthology of adoptees’ firsthand accounts and the historical background of the Indian Adoption Projects and 60s Scoop in North America
ISBN-13: 978-0692615560 (Blue Hand Books) 
Paperback $12.96 
Kindle ebook $3.96
Email for more information: larahentz@yahoo.com
On Kindle (click country): US UK DE FR ES IT NL JP BR Canada MX AU IN  
Source: AMERICAN INDIAN ADOPTEES

[Blue Hand Books has published 17 books since 2011]