Ep182: The LDS Indian Placement Program and Its Legacy

[@mantispid5]

If the LDS wanted to help the Indians with education and poverty, why didn't they help the whole family instead of taking the kids away? Or build and staff schools on the reservations?

[@Jeanikins]

I had a Blackfoot placement son and we saw how it affected him. He died by suicide later after he went back home, and had a failed marriage. He was a lovely kid and very clever, great dancer and made his own costumes. We really loved him and later adopted two indigenous kids. We have seen the generational trauma, in their lives. That program was not a good thing.

[@summerlake356]

You no doubt meant well and there are countless people who swear these programs helped them. Maybe in hindsight it was not a good idea - but how were you to second guess what you were told was a good thing...?

[@trentpehrson4072]

This is such an excellent episode! Thanks, Dr. Boxer!

[@No_Mormon_No_Cry]

Thanks for the hosts and guest for covering this critically important topic. Keep pushing these important topics in future episodes. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery.

[@mormonishpodcast1036]

Thank you so much for the comment and the donation!

[@nancyjohnson8642]

Utterly fascinating!!!!! Thank you for this great guest and very interesting discussion!

[@arizonny]

I grew up in Mesa Arizona in the 60s & 70s as a non-LDS. I remember well the Native students living with LDS families and being schooled in Mesa. I also remember students from South America.

[@Latter-dailyDigest]

Sooo important for everyone to know😊

[@DanielFreed-f2b]

I've loved this interview! Definitely helps change my opinions on the native Americans.

[@MorrisDeannaLynn]

Breaks my heart

[@Myzenlife65]

I was in highschool in the 70s. There were several kids from Navajo Nation placed in members homes in my ward. Some of them were sealed to the foster families. I could never understand the purpose. The kids I knew did not seem to be happy with the placement.

[@aredesuyo]

I was friends in high school with a Navajo girl, and during the summer before my mission, she called me up to go to lunch at a Chinese place in town. As she was driving us to the restaurant, puffing on a cigarette, she asked me about my upcoming mission and what I would be doing, and then told me that she'd been baptized a Mormon when she was a kid but didn't really go to church or anything after that. I was totally blown away. Now I realize that it could have been some kind of "baseball baptism" situation related to the placement program.

[@bunnysparkles9453]

Other religions and churches did this too. I was one of these kids. It was a hard hard life. Primal sounds last throughout the generations . Shame on the people who did this to us.

[@whitesalamander]

Wow, top tier content, guest, and commentary! 👏

[@spencergellsworth]

Thanks for a great video! As a post-Mormon who works at a tribal college, the IPP has really interested me and I'm super excited to see Dr. Boxer writing about this.

[@erintucker934]

Thank you Dr. Boxer! ❤

[@radicalkelly59]

Excellent episode. Thank you all!

[@alanschannel1495]

we are not “lamanites”!

[@robbowman483]

According to the Book of Mormon anyone who is not a Nephite is a Lamanite. The terms are used in the same manner as Jew and Gentile in the Bible. Nephites were those who are followers of Lehi and his progeny and were a group of believers.

[@goonfarb6969]

My Grandparents had indigenous young adults in there home a couple of times, and my whole family became friends with them. It was a fun experience as a child❤🙂

[@annheydt3731]

Just watched a series (6 episodes) about Native children taken from their families and given to foster homes/adopted out to white people. It is not about LDS but so powerful about a similiar issue....called "Little Bird". This interview excellent.

[@user-mn447]

Thank you for the show recommendation!

[@eliza619]

My mom always felt guilty that she did not want to take on an "Indian Child." Guilt is a byproduct of high demand religion.😢

[@annwood6812]

My best friend's family took on a child for several years. I don't know how it affected the child; he didn't say much. But I do know mom was overworked as it was. Church leaders knew dad would do anything asked of him, so of course he accepted the challenge of one more child that was additional work for mom. He wasn't a problem child but the mom wasn't up to it. She soldiered on because that's what Mormon women do.

[@Avenger24601]

Very interesting topic and episode. Thank you all!

[@deborahharding1248]

Hello! Fabulous topic

[@FourofSix]

Our stake in Southern California had many (MANY)families who hosted children from this program. Some returned for many years. My family also took in a Navajo girl my age for the school year when I was in Jr. High. I have ALWAYS felt horrible-she was miserable-stayed isolated and didn’t know who she was or how to interact 😢

[@lindaolsen3566]

I remember as a child driving by the Brigham City Indian school and thinking why? Was that a federal government school or Mormon school?

[@FourofSix]

I remember the facility as well- most buildings are now gone and it’s a golf course. It was originally used as a military medical facility during the time of WWII. When it was no longer needed the federal government started the school-I believe this was one of several around the rest run by Christian groups.

[@patriciaball8346]

My father worked at the Intermountain Indian school in Brigham City. It was run by the government. He was later transferred to a small Mormon town in New Mexico to run the dormitories for kids off of the Navajo Nation to stay in during the week while they attended the pubic school in our town. My best friend all through grade school was a beautiful Navajo girl. Thankfully they closed the dormitories down when they built schools out on the reservations. When we moved back to Utah, my best friend was a placement student from Arizona. I had grown up around Native Americans and I felt comfortable around them. I later married and became a school teacher and returned to New Mexico to raise my children. I had many wonderful experiences teaching Navajo and Zuni Children. My children grew up amongst the Native American people. We all hold a special love and respect for their traditions and culture.

[@cynthiaortegon8413]

Really beautiful growing, learning and loving

[@user-mn447]

My brother in law went to phoenix on his mission and worked in the reservations. He never said anything about Lamonites. It was in the late 1990’s though.

[@pseudointellectual7843]

Dr. Boxer is a brilliant and beautiful person. The placement program was just one more failed program advanced by SWK. SWK gave a talk in the 1950s about how a participant in the placement program was several shades lighter than his family because of association with Mormons. Not true, if they were shades lighter, it was because the participant was indoors, whereas his family were out in the desert under the sun while herding sheep. Obviously SWK, although perhaps sincere, was not the slightest bit inspired but just relying on his own imagination. He ruined the lives of many young people using his position of influence and power, and his horrible books. Most of all, he was apparently totally ignorant of his notorious grandfather HCK.

[@Songsofourown23]

I do find that interesting that in all of these places where there are Indigenous congregations in the Us,Spanish Wards ,in the Wards in African countries the top leadership is mostly majority white

[@user-mn447]

Omg. I am so excited for this!! My mother in law has a TBM Indian “Brother” that they brought home in SWK era. Can’t wait to hear all about it!!!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@badasspeacemaker]

I desire all to receive it. All [share].

[@hnikkig4811]

I listened to a podcast about the Bear River Mass which is right by me and I COULD NOT finish it. So awful.

[@Songsofourown23]

What is the name of her book.😊😊😊

[@alanschannel1495]

gosh the pain'!

[@robinnetto6794]

You speak of show notes but I have never found them….. where are they???

[@Songsofourown23]

If you click on the Mormonish Icon under this post ,then click more its under there

[@rickrenda5914]

Had two foster brothers over a period of 10 years through the placement program. Not good for me and not good for them. Church should apologize for its horrible teachings on natives.

[@CatskillsGrrl]

What little I know about the indigenous people of North America came to me through White narratives.

[@rosemariebennett7213]

This is so confusing..the church is now saying Native American people are not NOT Lamanites ?

[@wandaAnthony2]

Yeah USD!!!

[@ruelynng59]

I was disappointed with the presentation; it does not tell the story from the perspective of those who lived it but rather from one who already seemed biased. While the program had its problems, I would ask for someone like Jim Dandy, who lived in the program and was successful. The problem is the fight against racism within the Church and those like my parents, who accepted the Indian people equally and welcomed them into their homes, even though they were shunned by their neighbors. I believe that at the heart of the program, even if misguided, was to help the "Laminates" with opportunities to receive an education and go back to the reservation to be leaders. I also would fight back on the idea that it was to take away the Indian culture. That was not my experience. However, I do understand that for many, it was the goal.

[@mormonishpodcast1036]

We also believe the intent was good but the end result was that of appropriating the culture. The American Indians were not Lamanites from the Book of Mormon but that is what the church taught and encouraged from their white members to teach the native children in their homes.

[@ruelynng59]

@@mormonishpodcast1036@mormonishpodcast1036 I would beg to differ; the church was not appropriating the Indian Culture but rather twisting it to fit their narrative. Talk with those who were part of the BYU "Laminate Generation" I would love to hear their perspective rather than an academic. Of course, I have my own bias since I lived and interacted with the Navajo in childhood and youth. I saw the racism by leaders of the Mormon Church and its members vs what was taught in my home, where they were welcomed.