5 days ago
Remembering The Children Memorial sculpture honors those who lost their lives
Rapid City, S.D. (KELO) — Where the Oyate Health Center sits today was once the location for the Rapid City Indian Boarding School from 1898 until 1933.
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Across the street is now home to a new Remembering The Children Memorial.
It isn't fully open yet.
It's taken nearly a decade to get everything laid out for this memorial, with this new center sculpture bringing it all together.
'Uncover a story, tell the story through the experiences of Native people or people that live here right now and create something beautiful. A place where people can come and be educated, can come to learn on their own but also feel a little bit about what we're feeling or what has happened here,' Remembering The Children Memorial Executive Director Any Sazue, said.
Local artist Dale Lamphere took on the project and collaborated with elders, spiritual leaders, as well as local children and artists through a new mentorship program, including Derek Santos of Pine Ridge.
'Visual artist with Dale, kind of helping him. If I noticed anything, I was kind of talking with him about it but for the most part, in our culture, it is kind of left up to the elders to kind of walk us through it,' Artist Derek Santos said.
Of the nearly 1,000 children who died in Native American boarding schools, around 50 were in Rapid City.
'Every Native American person here is a descendant of somebody who endured or survived a boarding school. None of us were able to escape it, none of our ancestors were able to escape it. But there's so much beauty in the culture and the people that are here and strength.' Sazue Said
'We have a lot of art in our culture and to kind of pass that down and inspire some of the Native youth early on I think that's extremely important. Because these people will be the future leaders,' Santos said.
Along the walking path, you will find the names of students who lost their lives carved into stones by year. Soon, more sculptures will be added to complete the memorial.
The sculpture is titled 'Tiwahe', which means family.
While this site is currently not open to the public just yet, public events will be hosted in the future for all to attend.
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