Post by Okwes on Jul 15, 2006 22:06:48 GMT -5
CULTURE CLASH
By Lexie Kite
Local writer examines the LDS Church’s little-talked-about Indian
Placement Program in an award-winning novel
Maybe it is the complexity of the purpose or the varying interpretations
of success and failure that has kept the LDS Church’s former Indian
Placement Program out of history books.
Maybe Utahns have rarely heard of the almost 50-year program because the
short-lived union of American Indian and LDS cultures was difficult to
maintain over the years or because the program ended a decade ago.
Local author of the soon-to-be released novel on the subject, “The
Coming of Elijah,” Arianne Cope knows the program that baptized and
placed 20,000 mostly Navajo children in temporary foster homes is
difficult to put into words, but she believes the history of the Indian
Placement Program must be told.
Between 1947 and 1996, American Indian children — baptized members of
the church and in good health — were placed in LDS foster homes upon
recommendation of the church’s bishops for a year of school. Often
referred to as the “Champion of Native Americans,” LDS Prophet Spencer
W. Kimball began the IPP with two objectives in mind: to bring education
and religion to American Indians.
“I believe the IPP was born of the best intentions,” Cope said, “but
students were often misunderstood. Many of them felt they didn’t fit in
their foster homes, and they lost touch with the reservations they left
behind.”
That cultural clash is the subject of her book, “The Coming of Elijah,”
that recently won the Marilyn Brown Novel Award, which is presented
every two years for an unpublished novel at the annual meeting of the
Association for Mormon Letters. It presents a lesson she hopes everyone
can learn: “There is a way for all minorities to find a place in the
Mormon Church or elsewhere without having to let go of the life they
left behind,” she said.
Based on countless hours of research and interviews with those involved
in the IPP, Cope’s novel features a student in the church’s program who
“can’t seem to fit into the well-meaning, sanitized family she has
become a part of and is losing connection with the reservation she left
behind,” she said. “Her life is a volatile quest for acceptance in a
world that seems to hold no place for her.”
Of the 20,000 baptized students within the IPP, some whole-heartedly
embraced LDS theology, while some left it behind when the school year
ended. Seen by the church as a way to reach out in fellowship to the
Indian people, many outside the LDS faith were adamantly against the
“outreach” program that peaked at 5,000 students in 1972. Accusations
that the children were being robbed of their cultural identity and
pushed into church membership were widespread.
“What’s at stake in this legacy is the power to determine one’s own
identity,” National Public Radio broadcaster Kate Davidson said. “For
some, placement gave them that power. For others, it took it away.”
Avon resident Lee Nelson grew up in the 1960s with eight siblings of his
own and three placement students — one from the Hopi tribe and two from
the Navajo tribe. He said his experience with the IPP was one of
sacrifice and friendship — a “good thing” overall.
“We helped them get an education,” he said. “I think those people had
some pretty hard conditions down there and I think they came up here and
that really helped.” But it wasn’t easy.
He reflected on the time one of his foster brother’s family members came
to visit: “He just hugged and hugged and hugged him. He was really
homesick.” And Nelson said his family gave everything they had to make
their stay a little easier. “We had enough kids — we didn’t need any
more. But we gave everything we had to them,” he said. “We gave our
whole hearts.”
Thirty years later, Carol Thayne Warburton of Paradise became the foster
mother of Bell Ann Black, an 18-year-old Navajo, for one year in 1994.
After she and her husband heard a ward announcement that they were
looking to place a “very sharp girl” into a good home for school, the
young family decided to take part.
“I became very aware of the whiteness of our culture as we enrolled her
in school and saw very little diversity. I wondered if it would bother
her, but it didn’t seem to,” Warburton said.
The family worried about removing Bell from her home environment, but
found the cultural difference to be less dramatic than expected. “We had
hoped to have a cultural exchange, but she’d already lost most of her
culture,” she said. “She was raised by a sister — a product of the
placement program — and lived in Arizona where it’s about 50 percent
Navajo.”
This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the church’s Indian Placement
Program. At a conference in Arizona in March, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
reviewed the IPP’s history and proposed all American Indians become part
of a “‘new placement program,’ placing themselves within the covenants,
ordinances and promises of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Just as Arianne Cope wishes for all minorities looking for a place
within the LDS Church and the West, the character in her book finds her
home in Utah without letting go of her American Indian heritage.
“Her trials are similar to any person of non-European descent trying to
fit into American culture,” Cope said. “Her triumph is one that happens
every day, each time we reach out to someone different from us and
consider things from their point of view.”
Published by Parables Publishing in August, “The Coming of Elijah” will
be available at most local bookstores. If you have experiences with the
Indian Placement Program you would like to have documented, please
contact Arianne Cope at ariannebcope@hotmail.com.
By Lexie Kite
Local writer examines the LDS Church’s little-talked-about Indian
Placement Program in an award-winning novel
Maybe it is the complexity of the purpose or the varying interpretations
of success and failure that has kept the LDS Church’s former Indian
Placement Program out of history books.
Maybe Utahns have rarely heard of the almost 50-year program because the
short-lived union of American Indian and LDS cultures was difficult to
maintain over the years or because the program ended a decade ago.
Local author of the soon-to-be released novel on the subject, “The
Coming of Elijah,” Arianne Cope knows the program that baptized and
placed 20,000 mostly Navajo children in temporary foster homes is
difficult to put into words, but she believes the history of the Indian
Placement Program must be told.
Between 1947 and 1996, American Indian children — baptized members of
the church and in good health — were placed in LDS foster homes upon
recommendation of the church’s bishops for a year of school. Often
referred to as the “Champion of Native Americans,” LDS Prophet Spencer
W. Kimball began the IPP with two objectives in mind: to bring education
and religion to American Indians.
“I believe the IPP was born of the best intentions,” Cope said, “but
students were often misunderstood. Many of them felt they didn’t fit in
their foster homes, and they lost touch with the reservations they left
behind.”
That cultural clash is the subject of her book, “The Coming of Elijah,”
that recently won the Marilyn Brown Novel Award, which is presented
every two years for an unpublished novel at the annual meeting of the
Association for Mormon Letters. It presents a lesson she hopes everyone
can learn: “There is a way for all minorities to find a place in the
Mormon Church or elsewhere without having to let go of the life they
left behind,” she said.
Based on countless hours of research and interviews with those involved
in the IPP, Cope’s novel features a student in the church’s program who
“can’t seem to fit into the well-meaning, sanitized family she has
become a part of and is losing connection with the reservation she left
behind,” she said. “Her life is a volatile quest for acceptance in a
world that seems to hold no place for her.”
Of the 20,000 baptized students within the IPP, some whole-heartedly
embraced LDS theology, while some left it behind when the school year
ended. Seen by the church as a way to reach out in fellowship to the
Indian people, many outside the LDS faith were adamantly against the
“outreach” program that peaked at 5,000 students in 1972. Accusations
that the children were being robbed of their cultural identity and
pushed into church membership were widespread.
“What’s at stake in this legacy is the power to determine one’s own
identity,” National Public Radio broadcaster Kate Davidson said. “For
some, placement gave them that power. For others, it took it away.”
Avon resident Lee Nelson grew up in the 1960s with eight siblings of his
own and three placement students — one from the Hopi tribe and two from
the Navajo tribe. He said his experience with the IPP was one of
sacrifice and friendship — a “good thing” overall.
“We helped them get an education,” he said. “I think those people had
some pretty hard conditions down there and I think they came up here and
that really helped.” But it wasn’t easy.
He reflected on the time one of his foster brother’s family members came
to visit: “He just hugged and hugged and hugged him. He was really
homesick.” And Nelson said his family gave everything they had to make
their stay a little easier. “We had enough kids — we didn’t need any
more. But we gave everything we had to them,” he said. “We gave our
whole hearts.”
Thirty years later, Carol Thayne Warburton of Paradise became the foster
mother of Bell Ann Black, an 18-year-old Navajo, for one year in 1994.
After she and her husband heard a ward announcement that they were
looking to place a “very sharp girl” into a good home for school, the
young family decided to take part.
“I became very aware of the whiteness of our culture as we enrolled her
in school and saw very little diversity. I wondered if it would bother
her, but it didn’t seem to,” Warburton said.
The family worried about removing Bell from her home environment, but
found the cultural difference to be less dramatic than expected. “We had
hoped to have a cultural exchange, but she’d already lost most of her
culture,” she said. “She was raised by a sister — a product of the
placement program — and lived in Arizona where it’s about 50 percent
Navajo.”
This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the church’s Indian Placement
Program. At a conference in Arizona in March, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
reviewed the IPP’s history and proposed all American Indians become part
of a “‘new placement program,’ placing themselves within the covenants,
ordinances and promises of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Just as Arianne Cope wishes for all minorities looking for a place
within the LDS Church and the West, the character in her book finds her
home in Utah without letting go of her American Indian heritage.
“Her trials are similar to any person of non-European descent trying to
fit into American culture,” Cope said. “Her triumph is one that happens
every day, each time we reach out to someone different from us and
consider things from their point of view.”
Published by Parables Publishing in August, “The Coming of Elijah” will
be available at most local bookstores. If you have experiences with the
Indian Placement Program you would like to have documented, please
contact Arianne Cope at ariannebcope@hotmail.com.