Every Single One of Your Indigenous Friends Are Either A Residential/ Boarding School Survivor, A Survivors Child, A Survivor’s Grandchild, Or All Three.

Every. Single. One.

Just this past May (2026), our family through the brilliant research of my younger brother Keith and his partner Rose, confirmed that the first born child of our grandmother Marie Daniels was a victim of the Boarding School system who will never get the opportunity to move on or heal- it was right there in black & white, in a Google Docs report titled, “Chemawa and Forest Grove Indian School Deaths,” under a tab labeled, “Deaths and Burials at Schools.”

Number 311 on a list of 367 total names denoting deaths which occurred at these schools- “Simmons, Edgar Arthur, Death Date: 1938/09/20, Remains returned home.” With an additional note stating: “Not a student. Infant born at Chemawa, died age 4 days old. Burial at Grand Ronde.” Grand Ronde is the home and Tribe of our Grandfather- Edgar Arthur Simmons- the baby’s namesake.

We come from a family directly and harshly impacted by the removal and relocation policies of the Nation’s past: 14 siblings amongst my father’s immediate family… all of whom were removed from the home and separated from one another, from their siblings, from their parents, from their family, from their people and from their culture.  It is only through their strength of character and their fortitude that our generation and each that follows are blessed to be able to be here today… thanking each of them today for finding the way and creating the path for our generation. Our family story is sadly NOT unique.

Specifically, when you look at our Simmons / Daniels family history- 14 siblings born to the same household/ mother and father… all of whom were ultimately removed from this Tribal home as a matter of policy aimed at cultural genocide and assimilation. All were removed and replaced into the Western system as children… a system intentionally weaponized to destroy Tribal families, Tribal communities and Tribal people. A system designed and intended to destroy Tribes. To remove children and to take from them every piece of their Tribal identity and remake them instead into assimilated citizens of Western society.  Actively and intentionally robbed of every part of their Tribal culture and traditional teaching- their language and their spiritual faith.  Their hair was cut, their regalia and garb were discarded or disposed of, and they were beaten for speaking their own tongue.  Their names were both literally and figuratively erased and they were given new ones.

To be crystal clear, I’m not talking about some far off historical reference or story you have to read in an archive about some far-off or way-back historical trauma- I’m speaking about our mothers, fathers, aunties and uncles- a single generation before us. This was the reality for our family from Muckleshoot and Grand Ronde- the reality of the Simmons/ Daniels family- the reality not of some distant Ancestor many-times removed from or unknown to us; but instead, the reality of our own father and his siblings- our Aunties, Uncles, Moms and Dads.

The power and importance that despite all of this, our family Elders had the strength and fortitude to fight for their Indian. They found a way to keep that core Muckleshoot / Grand Ronde part of who they really were and to out-last, out-fight, out-live and out-class every agent and system designed and intended to destroy them and who they really were! They found their respective ways home... each of them. One step at a time- one sibling at a time. They found their path back to the source- their homelands and people. Back to Muckleshoot. They built relations with one another and re-learned how to be family- brothers and sisters. They reclaimed their place within our Tribal Nation… building connections and contributing to the growth and success of our Tribal Nations, together.

In doing so, they subsequently provided the ability, the option and the opportunity for each of us- my generation and beyond- to know our own place and to claim our own home and identity. Our family literally refused to allow our Tribe to be taken… from them or from us.

Because of our Elders, we get to be family with one another. Because of them, we get to be Muckleshoot and Grand Ronde. Because of our Elders, our children know and love one another as beloved family connections… Because of Dad, Uncle, Aunty, Mom- the power that runs through their (and subsequently our) veins, and the miraculous strength, fortitude and will to remain true to our fundamental spirit as Indian people, we each get to help define the future of our Tribal Nations.

We- as a family- truly are a miracle of strength and reclamation… and that fight- the one to make miracles real and to reclaim our Tribal name and identity, is what truly defines my father… and each of his siblings…  as bəqəlšuɫ tubšədəd / Muckleshoot Warriors!!!

14 siblings- all of whom were removed from their home, family, parents and Tribe… but all of whom also found their own respective ways back.  That is truly the Red Road and it is more powerful than words have the ability to describe.  Honoring this strength and the survivors while also remembering our families first born son- who we only learned of and confirmed this past May. Who we now know paid the ultimate sacrifice for our Daniels/ Simmons family- by spending the four days of his short life on this Earth at Chemawa Indian School with his teenage mother and father and will never have the ability to physically return home except in our family’s spirit and hearts… this is what Every Child Matters and Orange Shirt Day are really all about… Edgar Arthur Simmons matters…  

Sadly- as we all know- as extreme an example as it is, my family’s story and experience are hardly the exception or unique in our Tribal communities or Indian Country. Every single one of our families share their version of this experience and story.

So, because of this, we wear orange in solidarity and in recognition…  in truth and in healing. We wear orange because each of these stories deserves to be told. We wear orange because- Every Child Matters!!!"

Donny Stevenson

Chairman, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe