With Supreme Court Battle Over Native American Rights Looming, New Documentary Focuses on Removals of Native Children in Maine
“Dawnland follows the commission through its process and doesn’t hide the fact that, at times, the commission and the film crew were perceived as outsiders, discouraging some Wabanaki community members from participating in the commission’s events.”
“While a court battle over a law meant to keep Native American families from being separated seems destined for the U.S. Supreme Court, a new documentary clearly depicts the horrific circumstances that often arise when states decide to remove Native children from their families.
“If, through our film, people see that [the removal of Native children] is a problem then that’s a success,” said the film’s co-director Adam Mazo.
Dawnland opens in a 1974 Senate hearing in which Native American women and children explain how they were separated by child welfare workers. A pig-tailed and bespectacled girl named Anna begins to cry as she leans forward to speak into a microphone, describing how her brother was abused in their foster home.”
Continue reading at The Imprint.
'Dawnland' Documentary: Truth And Reconciliation For Native Americans In Maine
Listen to a discussion with the filmmaker, along with a Penobscot woman who was taken from her family as a child and one of the founders of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
“The documentary "Dawnland" is about cultural survival and stolen children. It offers an inside look at the first truth and reconciliation commission for Native Americans, which took place in Maine.
We'll host a discussion with the filmmaker, along with a Penobscot woman who was taken from her family as a child and one of the founders of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The documentary airs on Maine Public Television on Monday, Nov. 5, as part of the national PBS series, "Independent Lens."
Guests
Adam Mazo, filmmaker
Esther Anne, founder of the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Maine-Wabanaki REACH, Passamoquoddy tribal member
Dawn Neptune Adams, Penobscot who was taken from her family as a child”
Listen at Maine Public.
'Dawnland' Documents Maine's Efforts To Reconcile Indian Child Removal
"Indigenous people are not members of a race. They are citizens of a sovereign nation. You're not taking a child out of a race. You're putting them with people ... of the dominant culture." - DAWN NEPTUNE ADAMS
“In 2012, the state of Maine began an effort to address a disturbing part of its history and present: the systematic removal of Indigenous children from their families and tribal communities through boarding schools and the foster care system. The documentary "Dawnland" follows the work of the Maine Wabanaki-State Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
For Dawn Neptune Adams, who was removed from the Penobscot Nation in the 1970s, growing up in a white foster home "had far-reaching effects."
"I was made to feel ashamed of my family, my tribe, my culture," Adams (@MsLadyCarpenter) tells Here & Now's Robin Young. "I have reconnected with my community, but there is still always in the back of my mind that little bit of insecurity.’"
Continue reading at WBUR.
Indigenous Cinema Series In Missoula Features 'Indian Horse' Film
‘“Dawnland" follows the first government-created “truth and reconciliation commission” in Maine, which investigated the impact of the removal of native children from their homes.”
“Canada’s most popular film this year will be shown in Montana as part of an Indigenous Cinema Series in Missoula.
The film called "Indian Horse" is based on a novel written by Ojibway author Richard Wagamese. It tells the story of an Ojibway boy in Ontario, Canada torn from his family and placed in a notorious Canadian Catholic residential school.
The movie follows Saul Indian Horse throughout three decades of his life starting in the 1950s. After he’s separated from his family, Saul finds hockey and uses it to rise above his circumstances.
Producer Paula Devonshire says this film was made to shed light on a suppressed history in North America of native children being removed from their homes and placed in boarding schools.”
Continue reading at KUFM.
Dawnland Documentary Shows How the U.S. Government Took Indigenous Children From Their Homes — and Placed Them With White Families
"They were taught that being Indigenous was wrong, and this happened to generations of kids."
“Dawn Adams was only a child when her mother’s parental rights were terminated by the U.S. government; two years later, her adoption process began. Then, at age 15, Adams, a child of the Wabanaki community in Maine, was taken from her home and placed in foster care. Like other Indigenous children throughout the U.S., Adams, who was named Neptune prior to her adoption, was led to believe that her people didn’t want her and was placed with a white family to live out the remainder of her childhood.
The Maine resident is just one of the many Indigenous people profiled in the new documentary film Dawnland, which puts a spotlight on the U.S. government's history of systematically taking Native American children from their homes and placing them with white families.”
Continue reading at Teen Vogue.
Wabanaki Seek Healing and Justice in 'Dawnland'
“A new documentary follows the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission as it explores the legacy of forced child relocation policies.”
“As Indigenous tribes fight new challenges to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and their own voting rights, a documentary highlights one recent attempt to reckon with the genocidal policies that led to the act’s creation.
“Dawnland,” which airs on PBS tonight (November 5), takes viewers inside the groundbreaking Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)—the first TRC to address Indigenous tribes’ relationship with child welfare institutions in the United States. After being signed into existence by five Wabanaki chiefs and Governor Paul LePage (R-Maine), the TRC began cataloging testimonials from Wabanaki tribal members who survived forced child relocation.”
Continue reading at ColorLines.
Monday’s TV highlights: ‘Happy Together’ on CBS
““Dawnland” documents the first government-sanctioned truth and reconciliation commission in the U.S., which investigates the impact of Maine’s child welfare practices on Native American communities.”
“Independent Lens The new episode “Dawnland” documents the first government-sanctioned truth and reconciliation commission in the U.S., which investigates the impact of Maine’s child welfare practices on Native American communities. 10 p.m. KOCE”
Continue reading at Los Angeles Times.
TV This Week, Nov. 4-10: ‘Red Sparrow,’ ‘Outlander’ and more
“The decimation of Native American families by child-welfare agencies and foster-care programs is charted in the poignant documentary “Dawnland.”
“The decimation of Native American families by child-welfare agencies and foster-care programs is charted in the poignant documentary “Dawnland” on a new “Independent Lens.” 10 p.m. KOCE”
Continue reading at Los Angeles Times.