In July of 2024, I made the trip out to Marty, South Dakota — a small, rural community that most people have never heard of and yet holds within it one of the most painful chapters of American history.   We visited the site of St. Paul’s Indian Mission School, where the nine Charbonneau sisters and countless others endured unimaginable abuse as young children, decades before they found the courage to take legal action and demand that the world finally bear witness to what had been done to them.   When the Charbonneaus and members of the Yankton Sioux Tribe honored me with a traditional star quilt ceremony — one of the highest honors their culture bestows, representing wisdom, knowledge, protection, and the sacred connection between earth and spirit — I felt the full weight of what it meant to be trusted with a story this deep and this painful.   I am so grateful for the hospitality of this community, and for the courage of these survivors in sharing their testimonials. This visit has ...