Oklahoma
Catholic Church historian looking for ‘honest assessment’ of Indigenous boarding schools in Oklahoma
Catholic Church is conducting oral history interviews of people who attended Oklahoma Catholic boarding schools for Native Americans
Impacts of Catholic Indian boarding schools reach across generations
The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and Diocese of Tulsa launched a program for healing and reconciliation surrounding the Native boarding schools.
Addison Kliewer, Oklahoman
An oral historian has begun conducting interviews with people whose family histories are intertwined with Oklahoma Catholic boarding schools for Native Americans.
The interviews of former boarding school students and their descendants are being conducted to glean information for the Oklahoma Catholic Native Schools Project, an ambitious effort launched in 2021 by the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, the Diocese of Tulsa and St. Gregory’s Abbey.
Through the project, Oklahoma Catholic leaders said they hoped to gain an honest assessment of the history and legacy of boarding schools for Native Americans that were operated by the church from 1880 to 1965.
According to the archdiocese, 14 Catholic boarding schools for Native Americans existed in Oklahoma between 1880 and 1965. The first one opened in Konawa in 1880 and closed in 1926. The last boarding school, St. Patrick’s in Anadarko, closed in 1965. They were all overseen by various Catholic religious orders.
George Rigazzi, the archdiocese’s archivist, said about seven people showed up in Anadarko to share their histories with an independent historian.
But the oral history initiative hit a snag when a planned second set of interviews in the Fairfax/Pawhuska area was not as fruitful. Because of this, a third interview time in Hominy has been postponed as church leaders regroup to determine how to encourage more people to share their stories.
“I understand the reticence, believe me, because it’s a matter of trust,” Rigazzi said. “We know not everything that happened in the Catholic Indian schools was bad, but we also know there were some things that were not right.”
The interviews in Hominy were initially planned for the first week of January. Rigazzi said church leaders are working with various groups to spread the word to Indigenous communities around the state and a meal designed to open up the lines of communication may be held in February. He said the church is primarily targeting Indigenous people for the interviews, but other people who attended the schools or their descendants are welcome to share their stories, as well.
The Native Schools Project came in the wake of a reckoning that began in Canada after the May 2021 discovery of 215 unmarked graves of Indigenous children by Canada’s Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc First Nation at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. Shortly afterward, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland launched a comprehensive review of the federal government’s role with Indigenous boarding schools, aiming to discover and highlight the intergenerational effect of the schools and the trauma they created for hundreds of Indigenous children and families.
More: Deb Haaland visits Oklahoma ’12 years of hell’: Former students recount life at Native American boarding schools in OK
In May 2022, the Interior Department published a federal report based on its investigation, underscoring the wide-ranging forms of abuse that Native students were forced to endure at the boarding schools, all with the purported goal of helping them assimilate into white culture. In June 2022, Oklahoma — which had 76 of the schools, more than any other state ― was the first stop on Haaland’s “Road to Healing” listening tour to hear boarding school survivors talk about their experiences.
Oral histories versus ‘listening sessions’
Thus far, the project has included research being conducted in partnership with Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which holds the archives for the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions. Specific collaboration is with Marquette professor Bryan Rindfleisch, who specializes in Native American history and studies.
More: Boarding school research Days of Native Americans at boarding schools are being brought to light with professor’s work
Notably, the project also has included “listening sessions” which were designed to draw former Indigenous boarding school students or their descendants to local churches to talk about their experiences with Deacon Roy Callison, with the archdiocese’s American Indian Catholic Outreach.
Callison, who facilitated the sessions with his wife, Susan, has said the listening sessions were generally informative and positive. At least one, a listening session held in early 2022 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Konawa was not as positive, after it ended abruptly when several Native American women spoke about the troubled history of some of the boarding schools. The session ended on a sour note when a priest asked the Native American women to leave because church members became upset about the women’s negative portrayal of the boarding schools.
Rigazzi said the listening sessions were helpful by providing the Callisons with opportunities to talk about the Native Schools Project with local church members. They also gave Indigenous people and others in the community opportunities to share their stories about the boarding schools with those who gathered for the sessions.
He said the oral history interviews are different because they are being conducted in private and in non-church settings. Also, the archivist said church leaders have ensured that people may share their stories privately with oral history interviewer Lisa Lynn Brooks, an educator who is Choctaw. Rigazzi said Brooks is an Oklahoman who currently lives in New Jersey and she is not Catholic.
He said another individual helping with this latest part of the project is Dana Attocknie, managing editor of the Sooner Catholic, the Oklahoma City archdiocese’s official news outlet. Rigazzi and the archdiocese’s chancellor, Michael Scaperlanda, said Attocknie, who is Comanche and Pueblo, has been helping spread the word about the oral history effort. Scaperlanda said she recommended that the initiative be advertised in tribal newspapers and that has been done.
Scaperlanda said church leaders had hoped to begin the oral history interviews sooner but encountered a few roadblocks. He said they knew the interviews needed to be conducted by someone with no church ties but also a person who has been trained to conduct such interviews, particularly because of the sensitive and personal nature of the topic.
He said Brooks was added to the project once they determined she was the right person for the task but the logistics of where the interviews would take place also slowed the process down.
“We also knew that time was of the essence because the last school closed in 1965 and a lot of these folks are getting older,” Scaperlanda said.
He said it’s important to note that the church will not publicize oral histories if people don’t want to make them public. The idea behind the effort is to record the histories for the project, but only publicize them if the individual grants permission.
“We want to capture that history and preserve their privacy,” Scaperlanda said.
Like Rigazzi, he said he’s hoping that people will see the advertisements or hear about the oral history effort through word of mouth and decide to share their stories “because we really do want to understand what our boarding school history is.”
For more information about the oral history interviews, go to https://archokc.org/oknativeschoolsproject.
More: Catholic Indian boarding schools Catholic leaders exploring history, legacy of Oklahoma Catholic Indian boarding schools
A contentious debate over water and growth is intensifying in Yukon as residents and city leaders grapple with the long-term costs of supplying major industrial projects, including a data center that uses up to 3 million gallons a day.
The discussion spilled into another packed Yukon City Council meeting, where residents learned how strained and expensive the city’s water outlook could be over the next 25 years.
Emotions ran high, with one resident comparing city leadership to a Nazi regime.
Yukon’s water supply plan examines eight options, including five aquifers, non-potable reuse water, direct potable reuse water, and purchasing 2 million gallons a day from Oklahoma City.
Projected costs exceed $200 million, with millions more expected over the next 25 years for operations and maintenance.
The data center was part of the conversation from the start of the water study, which began in late 2024.
The facility uses up to 3 million gallons a day to cool its servers. One option discussed for meeting that demand is a non-potable supply providing 3 million gallons a day, with $55.9 million in capital costs and a required 18-inch pipe stretching 3.5 miles.
The option is recommended to meet great industrial demands, including a data center.
Council member Rick Cacini said his focus is on residents’ needs rather than industrial users. Cacini said, “We had water problems 8 years ago when I started, and we have water problems today.”
Another council member raised the idea of taking cost out of the equation when considering whether to supply water to the data center.
Residents spoke out one after another against the data center after hearing details of the water plan and costs.
One resident referenced Piedmont, where two data center proposals were tabled on Monday. Another resident said, “It’s not a good deal for us, and the other cities know it already.”
Some residents escalated their criticism of city leadership. One resident said, “I voted for Pillmore, and I regret that vote more than anything probably I’ve ever done in my life because this feels like some nazi regime.”
Others called for city leaders to be recalled. “We will collect those signatures within 30 days, and we’re gonna remove you.”
Concerns also grew over the data center agreement, centered on the purchaser having an “out” while the seller does not.
The city manager was said to have gotten something wrong in August.
The meeting ended with Cacini threatening to sue Mayor Brian Pillmore over comments made in an early May meeting.
Pillmore was not at the meeting, saying he was on vacation with his family.
INOLA, Okla. — Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has filed a petition in Rogers County seeking to block a proposed aluminum-smelting facility in Inola.
According to Drummond, Emirates Global Aluminum holds a 60% controlling interest in the project. The company is based in the United Arab Emirates.
Century Aluminum, a company headquartered in Chicago, owns the remaining 40%.
If completed, Oklahoma Primary Aluminum would be the largest primary aluminum production plant in the United States. However, the facility would produce hazardous waste, which has raised concerns in both the Inola community and across the state. Billboards have been spotted along Highway 412 in Inola, warning others about the proposal.
The facility would also draw more than 1,000 megawatts of continuous energy.
“A primary aluminum smelter does not belong in a community’s backyard, and its emissions do not respect property lines,” Drummond said, adding that winds could carry pollutants into the surrounding northeastern Oklahoma communities. “The injury is imminent, it is grave, and it is irreparable.”
However, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has criticized Drummond’s actions, saying the facility would be one of the state’s largest economic development projects in history.
It is important to note that Drummond is currently running for Governor.
“As soon as President Trump made his endorsement in the governor’s race, Drummond dropped the act and showed his true colors,” said Stitt. “Now he is turning his machine against one of President Trump’s top priorities, once again weaponizing his office to settle scores instead of serving Oklahomans. President Trump’s aluminum project in Inola will rapidly grow Oklahoma’s economy and strengthen America’s supply chain for generations, while Drummond turns his back on our state in favor of cheap political gimmicks and personal gain.”
President Trump has endorsed Mike Mazzei in Oklahoma’s gubernatorial race. The Republican primary is scheduled for June 16.
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Oklahomans will soon see semis on the road without a driver inside. That has people asking questions about safety.
The Oklahoma legislature passed a law in 2019, which was modified in 2022, allowing for fully autonomous commercial trucks on Oklahoma highways as long as they meet federal safety standards and follow state traffic laws.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is tasked with governing the operation of these trucks on Oklahoma roads. Troopers have been meeting with the truck makers and have trained to learn as much as possible about these trucks before they start operating. News On 6 asked troopers questions like: How will troopers pull them over? How do the trucks avoid crashes? How do the trucks handle unexpected situations?
Nearby states like Texas already have these trucks on the roads, which OHP says is helpful.
“We did have a lot of the same questions the public has. We have a lot of the same concerns about safety,” said Lieutenant Mark Southall with OHP. “We haven’t heard any bad stories from these other states. This company claims they’ve traveled two million miles without an at-fault collision. Meaning they have not been the causation of any collision.”
High-tech cameras in the trucks
OHP says they learned the trucks have cameras that can see a small animal 600 meters away, day or night. This camera system helps the trucks avoid crashes or anything in the roadway.
“We learned the camera systems in these vehicles are very sophisticated, that they can capture an image as small as a small animal up to 600 meters away. Looking at that the human eye can’t see 600 meters away or see something that small, but these cameras can pick that up and begin to make maneuvers to make sure they stay safe,” said Southall. “The cameras are very, very accurate, and they can avoid those crashes. We watched videos when we went to this training where we watched them avoid those crashes.”
How does the truck handle an unexpected road closure?
OHP says the trucking companies say the trucks have been put through just about every situation imaginable.
“The company has put this vehicle using AI through multiple different situations and scenarios that it’s learned from. If it comes upon a situation it wasn’t prepared for, using the camera system inside the vehicle, I think it begins to recognize what it needs to do,” said Southall.
How does law enforcement pull over the trucks?
“These trucks, from what we are told, are made to recognize when they are being stopped, they are made to recognize the red and blue lights and pull over to the shoulder,” said Southall. “If the vehicle senses red and blue lights and maybe they are not being pulled over, they’ll still pull over to the shoulder and stop and let the emergency vehicle go by.”
How does OHP get information if there is no driver?
OHP says there is a number on the cab of the truck that they call, and it takes them to a dispatch center. All of the trucks are equipped with a lock box with the truck’s documentation.
“The dispatch center will give us a code to be able to get into the box, and we can look at the documents on the truck from there,” said Southall.
What if a citizen sees a truck that has crashed or is on fire?
If a citizen sees the truck crashed or on fire, they can call the number on the cab, which goes to the dispatch center.
What if the truck has a mechanical problem while on the road?
OHP says if the vehicle has any sort of malfunction, it is supposed to pull over to the side of the road and stop, and it will alert dispatch.
Will the trucks be on every highway in Oklahoma?
The trucks won’t be on every highway in Oklahoma. For now, the trucks are expected to only run on the major travel routes like I-35 and I-40.
“We don’t work for this trucking company; our interest is working for the people of Oklahoma to make sure these roadways are safe. This is something the state legislature made state law, and we’ve got to begin to work with it so we can understand it,” said Southall.
The trucks could be on Oklahoma roads with drivers for testing as early as this month.
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