This is an excerpt from the virtual event "How Boarding Schools Created Trauma in Indigenous Communities and the Effects Today: Panel and Screening" that took place Saturday, January 16, 2021.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS
Caroline LaPorte, J.D.
Caroline LaPorte, J.D. is an immediate descendant of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. She attended the University of Miami School of Law and Baylor University for her undergraduate studies. As an attorney currently working in Indian country, her professional experiences have been primarily centered on violence against Native women. Caroline previously served as the Senior Native Affairs Policy Advisor for the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center and the StrongHearts Native Helpline in D.C. Her work focuses on tribal sovereignty, jurisdictional issues, access to culturally based resources, MMIW, housing, human rights, firearms and tribal justice systems all within the gender-based violence framework. She currently serves on the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Task Force on Victims of Crime and she is a founding member of the National Working Group on Safe Housing for American Indians and Alaska Natives and author of their published report. She currently works for the Seminole Tribe of Florida in the judiciary and is an adjunct professor at the University of Miami.

Melissa Ann Harjo-Moffer
Melissa Ann Harjo-Moffer is a native and member of the Muscogee Creek Nation; born in Wetumka, Oklahoma in 1952 to native parents of the same nation. She is the sixth child of ten children and was raised in the cultural and traditional ways of her people. She is from the Bird clan and the Koasti Tribal Town. All were full bloods who spoke only the native language in the home. She's still fluent in her native language, Mvskoke; able to read and write also. Since Mvskoke was her first language, it became an barrier in her education.
She and six of her siblings were sent to an Indian boarding school to enhance their education by being forced to learn English. Although they enrolled in the local school, they weren't learning fast enough to stay up with the other students according to the BIA social worker. She attended Seneca Indian School located at Wyandotte, Oklahoma, northeastern part of the state from 1958-1967. She later attended Jones Academy near Hartshorne, Oklahoma and Sequoyah High School in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
She attended business schools and colleges later in life to better her Education and English. She continues to use her first language at home and in her work. She continues to work as the Archives and Records Technician for the Muscogee Creek Nation, Historic & Cultural Preservation Department in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

Dr. Melissa Tehee, J.D., Ph.D
Dr. Melissa Tehee, J.D., Ph.D, is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. She is an assistant professor at Utah State University in the Department of Psychology, Director of the American Indian Support Project to train Native psychologists, and Assistant Director of the Mentoring and Encouraging Student Academic Success program for Native American students. Dr. Tehee’s clinical and research interests are in addressing trauma across the lifespan. She has worked with multiple tribes across the U.S., at Veterans Affairs, safe houses, shelters, hospitals, crisis, and community centers to address experiences of trauma. Her research has focused on bias/prejudice/racism, health disparities, and violence against Native peoples. Her other interests include multicultural competence and mentoring ethnic minority students in higher education. She earned dual degrees in Clinical Psychology, Policy, and Law (Ph.D./J.D.) with a certificate in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy at the University of Arizona. Dr. Tehee has a Master’s from Western Washington University and a Bachelor’s from the University of Nebraska.

свернуть