UNSEEN TEARS: THE IMPACT OF NATIVE AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL BOARDING SCHOOLS IN WESTERN NEW YORK [by Ron Douglas & Native American Community Services of Erie & Niagara County] documents testimonies of boarding school survivors, their families, and social services providers. Native American families in Western New York continue to feel the impact of the Thomas Indian School and the Mohawk Institute. Survivors speak of traumatic separation from their families, abuse, and a systematic assault on their language and culture. Western New York Native American communities are presently attempting to heal the wounds and break the cycle of inter-generational trauma resulting from the boarding school experience.
 
The mission of Native American Community Services of Erie & Niagara County is to provide quality human services that meet the individual and/or family needs of the off-reservation Native American community in Erie and Niagara Counties.”
 
Ron Douglas is a media artist and activist who currently lives and teaches in Mississippi. At the time of this video's production he was an M.F.A. candidate at the Media Study Department at University of Buffalo.