Emotions ran high as a couple of Native Americans shared their stories about what it was like to be torn from their families and forced to assimilate into white homes.
At the USM-Portland campus, a jam-packed lecture hall of listeners took in a history lesson about Native American genocide and assimilation that occurred mostly from 1950 through the 1980s.
This was the largest educational event about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission signed by Governor Paul LePage back in June.
Commissioners are still being nominated and appointed to be apart of the group that looks into what happened in the past and recommends how child welfare and The Wabanaki Tribes can best work together moving forward.
Organizers say it was a grassroots effort by native and non-native social workers that lead to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. They say Maine is the first state in the U.S. to address this history, and they hope it will be an example for the rest of the country.
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