Blood Memory: A Story of Removal and Return Virtual Discussion

Registration website

Join us for a film screening and discussion on the documentary Blood Memory, which tells the story of Native adoptees and their families.

Join us for a free online film screening and discussion on the documentary Blood Memory, which tells the story of coerced Native adoptions, the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), and Native adoptees/fosterees and their families.

Blood Memory will be available online for free to all registered attendees from October 29th through November 3rd. Pre-registration to view the film and to participate in the online panel discussion is required. Registrants will receive a follow-up email with screening instructions and a link to the event.

Meet the Speakers

Moderator: Sandy White Hawk

Founder and director of the First Nations Repatriation Institute (FNRI). At 18 months, Sandy was removed from her Sicangu Lakota relatives and taken to live with a Christian missionary couple 400 miles away, where her skin color and cultural heritage were rejected. Blood Memory explores Sandy’s adoption and reconnection with her Lakota community and identity.

Panelist: Judge William Thorne

Former judge on the Utah Court of Appeals and state district court judge. Judge Thorne has also served as a tribal court judge in 10 states.

Panelist: Dr. Priscilla Day

Professor of Social Work at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Acknowledgments

Presented by First Nations Repatriation Institute and Twin Cities PBS (TPT)

Special thanks to filmmaker and director Drew Nichols and to Sadie Hart and the Ain Dah Yung Center in Saint Paul.

This event is part of TPT's Racism Unveiled initiative, a digital storytelling project that aims to call out racism and to highlight how we can pull up this weed once and for all. This work is generously funded by a lead grant from the Otto Bremer Trust, with additional support from HealthPartners and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation.

Please consider supporting the First Nations Repatriation Institute, the first organization of its kind whose goal it is to create a resource for First Nations people impacted by foster care or adoption to return home, reconnect, and reclaim their identity. The Institute also serves as a resource to enhance the knowledge and skills of practitioners who serve First Nations people.

This event is graciously sponsored by:

Hiway Credit Union

Minnesota Humanities Center

Minnesota Judicial Branch's Second Judicial District Equal Justice Committee

Ramsey County Bar Foundation

Racism Unveiled

This work is funded in part by the Minnesota Humanities Center with money from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund that was created with the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.