Colorado's Indian boarding schools require us to confront a legacy of ‘difficult truths’

Today we’re turning back the pages of Colorado’s not-so-distant past to better grasp the problems of the present with a discussion about Indian boarding schools. The U.S. government established hundreds of these schools across the U.S. to forcibly dismantle the cultural identities of young Native Americans. 

A recent 140-page state report that is the result of a 2022 state law uncovers the trauma, abuse and death that occurred at these schools in Colorado, like Fort Lewis Indian Boarding School — now the site of Fort Lewis College. Heather Shotton, a citizen of the Wichita and Affiliated tribes, and also Kiowa and Cheyenne, is vice president for diversity affairs at the college. She joined host Erin O'Toole to discuss the hard truths that this report has uncovered — and how many descendants of the students who attended the schools continue to navigate intergenerational trauma.