Historical Trauma: Holocaust victims, American Indians recovering from abuses of the past

Big Foot Memorial Ride photo by Gwendolen Cates

Natural disasters and terrorism have raised national awareness of major human trauma. In fall 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate from their homes.

Among American Indian people, these times bring to mind the trauma suffered by our ancestors: The Trail of Tears during the 1830s removed 18,000 Cherokee, Muskogee, and hundreds of other Indians from the Southeast to Oklahoma. (Over 4,000 Cherokee died, either in stockades where they were imprisoned before removal, or along the way). In 1863 on the Long Walk, over 8,000 Diné and Apache were herded to incarceration at Fort Sumner, NM. (About 2,000 died). In 1890, hundreds of Lakota were killed at Wounded Knee, SD

Another wave of forcible removal during the early 20^th century wrenched Indian children from their homes and placed them in boarding schools, separating them from their families and communities and sometimes subjecting them to physical and sexual abuse. Each removal left Indian people in the most destitute of circumstances, forced to rebuild their lives without resources.

Most never returned to their homelands, and their communities were forever shattered. There were no Red Cross or crisis response teams to deal with the aftermath of Indian genocide (the specific intent to destroy a national, ethnic, or religious group). Removal of Indians from their homelands was the United States’ government policy for many years.

Today, the pain has not diminished among the descendants. While they have survived, Indian people continue to exhibit the aftereffects, as evidenced by high rates of alcohol and substance abuse, suicide, broken families, poverty, and related mental health issues.

Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, Ph.D., explains that Indian people suffer from historical trauma. “Historical trauma is cumulative psychological and emotional wounding across generations,” she says, “including one’s own life span, and comes from massive group traumatic events and experiences.” Brave Heart (Hunkpapa Lakota and Oglala Lakota) recently discussed historical trauma with Tribal College Journal.

TCJ: What are symptoms of historical trauma?

Brave Heart: Historical trauma response includes survivor guilt, trauma, anger, depression, and sadness. It also involves self-destructive behavior with alcohol and substance abuse, suicidal thoughts and gestures, anxiety, low self-esteem, difficulty recognizing and expressing emotions, somatic (physical) symptoms, and high mortality rates.

TCJ: How did you become interested in historical trauma work?

Brave Heart: I was influenced by Indian activism, which brought attention to broken treaties and past massacres in the late 1970s. Around that time, I was at home looking at historical photos and became overwhelmed with grief. I started sobbing and realized I was carrying something that was bigger than me, bigger than my own family and community. I became aware of carrying the grief and trauma of our ancestors. Some repetitive childhood dreams began to make sense, and I later discovered my spiritual and professional path – to help our people heal from this trauma that we carry.

TCJ: Tell us about your professional training.

Brave Heart: When I was 14 years old and a Head Start volunteer, I worked with a little girl who would not eat, nap, or talk. I talked to her daily until she joined the other kids. I knew then I could work with people and maybe help them. So, I got a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s degree in social work, and a Ph.D. in clinical social work. I also took psychoanalytic training courses. My work has been mostly reservation-based, but I have worked with urban American Indians in Denver and in New York. Currently I am director of the Takini Network, an affiliate of the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work, and also serve on the faculty at the university.

TCJ: Tell us about the Takini Network.

Brave Heart: In 1992, a core group of facilitators formed the Takini Network. Takini is a Lakota word that means survivor or “to come back to life.” Through presentations, healing events, and parent training, we seek to restore our communities and move beyond survival to empowering our people. We have conducted more than 100 workshops on historical trauma. Our team has extensive experience in providing and evaluating substance abuse treatment, prevention, and related mental health and human service programs. As a Native-based organization, we are grounded in Lakota and other Native philosophy and values, and we use these as the core organizing principles of our work and our worldview.

MARIA Y.H. BRAVE HEART: “Our healers are ikce wicasa (common people), just human beings that the spirits talk to and through.” Photo by Richard Simonelli

TCJ: How did you build your knowledge base in historical trauma?

Brave Heart: I learned traditional Lakota ways through ceremonies and from talking with healers and elders. I also read, researched, and connected with other massively traumatized groups. Dr. Eva Fogelman, a Jewish Holocaust therapist in New York City, shared what she did with children of Holocaust survivors and how she trained providers. She validated that our work was on target. Dr. Donna Nagata and Dr. Rita Takahashi also shared their work with Japanese American World War II internment camp survivors and descendants. I also used my connections with indigenous peoples from other parts of the Americas.

TCJ: How do people overcome historical trauma?

Brave Heart: I prefer to say healing rather than overcoming. The healing is like a wound that leaves a scar — it hurts less and shrinks over time, but it remains. Like grief literature says, we cannot grieve alone. Mourning is a communal experience. So, I think that our historical trauma intervention is the most effective thing we have at this time – it is a beginning, it gets us started down that healing path and can be followed up by some individual work.

We began with the Lakota but work now with many different tribes. Each group adapts the intervention to fit its tribal culture. We start by conducting an orientation and overview and a community presentation. Next we plan the 4-day event and adapt it to fit the tribal culture, and then we deliver the training over four days, ideally. We also do follow-up when requested.

TCJ: Is it difficult for people to revisit trauma?

Brave Heart: Our method of having people revisit trauma is paced so that we limit feelings of being overwhelmed. We recommend holding interventions in a safe, retreat-like setting where people feel nurtured. We structure the intervention to build on people’s strengths while they also face their trauma and grief. By focusing on our common histories, people find the courage to face their pain as a communal pain.

TCJ: What is involved in the parent training?

Brave Heart: We offer emotional support to parents to help them see how their own lifetime trauma, including negative boarding school experiences, affects their relationships with their children and how it impacts their parenting skills. We help parents to understand how trauma across generations has also affected their own experience as children.

TCJ: How do you deal with people who deny historic trauma affects them today?

Brave Heart: We let those in denial know that we carry this trauma, even if it is not conscious. It affects our health, our emotions, our behavior, our relationships, and our children. We remind people that we have a responsibility to our ancestors, our children, and the next seven generations to heal from this. We respect each person’s place and their right to follow their own spiritual path. However, in the Takini Network, we feel that our spiritual and cultural traditions are extremely helpful in healing and transcending the trauma.

TCJ: Do you also work with Christian church groups?

Brave Heart: I have conducted some historical trauma workshops for Indian church groups with much success. We only blame individuals at fault – not entire institutions. People are free to choose their own spiritual path, and we respect that although some church officials may feel threatened. I even presented several years ago at a mission boarding school, at their invitation. I think there are many people who have a higher self that wants to heal, hear the truth, and rectify the wrongs.

TCJ: What has been a challenge for you recently?

Brave Heart: The most challenging thing for me has been lack of funding to do the work that needs to be done. I am not giving up! Calls from tribes keep coming in.

TCJ: Who are your heroes? What are your thoughts about contemporary heroes?

Brave Heart: My foremost hero is Sitting Bull because he devoted his life to protecting the people, especially women and children. Although misrepresented in history books, he was a very spiritual person dedicated to preserving the Lakota way of life.

About contemporary heroes, it is unfair to expect our modern healers and leaders to be superhuman. We have a teaching among the Lakota that our healers are ikce wicasa (common people), just human beings that the spirits talk to and through. They are not wakan (sacred); we all deserve respect. We each have potential to connect directly with spirits ourselves, which we need to remember and nurture in ourselves.

I know none of the heroes I name here are perfect, and I have many more, but here are a few. Dan Crazy Thunder and others who went to Ground Zero in New York City are modern akicita (warriors who kept order in the camp) and are heroes to me. My brother Birgil Kills Straight had the vision for the Big Foot Memorial Ride, sacrificed years to helping our people, and was instrumental in starting Oglala Lakota College.

The counselors who work for little pay or support are my heroes. I think we need to treat everyone in our lives as heroes in their own way.

TCJ: Considering that your work is so demanding, what do you do to recharge your energy or relax?

Brave Heart: I don’t do enough rest, relaxation, and fun. Ceremonies really help, but I am also talking about fun on a social, human level. I am trying to get back into dancing, but I am not as young as I used to be. I used to Latin salsa dance and studied some flamenco dancing. I used to dance women’s traditional at powwows and when I was younger, fancy shawl dancing. I have been trying to workout – cardio fitness stuff and weights – but not enough. These are all good stress relievers. I listen to Latin music, which I love, in addition to traditional and modern Indian music.

TCJ: What advice do you have for anyone following in your footsteps?

Brave Heart: Follow your heart; find your passion in life; and think of our people in everything you do. Our people need each and every one of us with our own special gifts. My motto is, “Carry the welfare of the people in our hearts. Every decision we make must be with the next seven generations in mind.”

Tina Deschenie, a member of the Diné Tribe, is a language activist and a poet who lives in Farmington, NM, with her family. She is a frequent contributor to Tribal College Journal. Deschenie serves on the board of FIVE, Inc. (Fostering Indigenous Values in Education). For more information on this topic, see the Resource Guide in this issue.