Brief: Lehman Alternative School students honor Orange Shirt Day

Sept. 30 was Orange Shirt Day, a day of remembrance and mourning for the victims of the residential school systems in the U.S. and Canada, a system enacted by government and religious groups with the objective of isolating Indigenous children from their culture and assimilating them into into the dominant culture. These children were forcibly removed from their families and were forbidden to speak their languages or acknowledge their heritage. Many children didn’t survive the experiences at these schools, and the generational trauma that resulted from these systems persists. At Lehman Alternative Community School, the Service Class facilitated a gathering of remembrance and education with staff and students to honor this day of mourning. The Service Class started out the fall semester making orange shirts for the LACS community to wear on this day. On them are the words “Loved. Resilient. Remembered,” which they were given permission to us to use by Rematriation Magazine. The class encourage their peers to act both locally and nationally, specifically supporting the Cayuga (Gayogohóno) Nation’s traditional leadership as they rebuild their school house and language program, and writing to U.S. Secretary Deb Haaland to urge her to continue the investigation into the residential schools and their legacy. In this photo: Lehman Alternative Community School students pass out orange shirts on Sept. 30.