[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 152 (Thursday, September 24, 2026)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E965]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





  RECOGNIZING NATIONAL DAY OF REMEMBRANCE FOR INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL 
                               SURVIVORS

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TOM COLE

                              of oklahoma

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 24, 2026

  Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, as the longest serving Native American in the 
United States House of Representatives, and a member of the Chickasaw 
Nation, I rise today to recognize the day of September 30, 2026, as 
National Orange Shirt Day or, National Day of Remembrance, to honor 
those who were forced to attend Indian boarding schools, and to 
recognize the experience of Indian boarding school victims and 
survivors.
  Today, I am proud to stand in support with Indian boarding school 
survivors, descendants, and Tribal nations to remember the children 
that never made it home and to honor the week of remembrance for the 
Indian boarding school era.
  As the lead sponsor of HR. 7325, the Truth and Healing Commission on 
Indian Boarding School Policies Act, I support formal investigation, 
documentation, and reporting on the histories of boarding schools, 
their policies, and long-term effects those schools and policies have 
had on Native American peoples. My democratic co-lead, Representative 
Sharice Davids, and I are dedicated to finding solutions for survivors, 
descendants, and Tribal communities.
  According to research from the National Native American Boarding 
School Healing Coalition, the Federal government funded boarding 
schools for Native Americans from 1819 through the 1960s that forced 
the removal of hundreds of thousands of American Indian and Alaska 
Native children as young as 3 years old, relocating them from their 
traditional homelands to 1 of at least 526 known Indian boarding 
schools, of which 125 remain open today, across 38 States.
  In my state of Oklahoma, there were 98 Federal boarding schools that 
were often overflowed to intentionally mix more than 30 different 
tribes to unsettle relations and prevent children from speaking common 
languages among each other.
  Many of the children who were taken to Indian boarding schools never 
returned home to their families or their communities. Many did not 
survive. The impact of this is still felt today.
  In closing, I call upon my colleagues to stand with me in Remembrance 
Day and support the passage of H.R 7325.

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