Unbroken: Indigenous Peoples Today

Joseph B. Pacheco, Paiute and Washoe Native, 84 years old

Joseph Pacheco, 84 years old, was very young when he was taken away to an American Indian boarding school. These schools, which were often funded by the government, were made to eradicate Indigenous culture from Native children and assimilate them into Euro-American society. The children would have their hair cut to mimic American styles, were forced to convert to Christianity, had their real names replaced with European names, and were regularly abused.

"I went to Stewart Indian School [in Carson City, Nevada] from 1942 to 1945. Children were forcefully taken away from their parents by the government agents to be put in the schools and I was 9 years old when I was taken. I lost my right-eye at that school when another student stabbed me with a pencil...I had to be on guard most of the time. The teachers pushed Christianity and we were punished for speaking our own language and we'd get beaten with belts and paddles if they caught us. We grew up not knowing our language or our culture. It's a trauma I'll never forget. I even dream about it - Almost like going through a battlefield."

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