That was the first time the country came to realize this horrible atrocity had happened, and it was still happening at that point.
While this conversation isn't very old, there's much education to be done. We're saying that memorializing a day, a special day separate from all other days, is important. We have only begun to tell our story. We want this remembered, and not put in side by side with people making dream catchers, necklaces and stuff like that. It will get buried.
People, for one thing, don't want to talk about this. It was very difficult for people to hear our stories. Believe me, I don't like telling my story either. If I didn't see some benefit to it—a huge benefit to it—I would not have gone there. In fact, even telling you today what I did is difficult. It's difficult every time I talk about it.
That's why we need to have a day when we can talk about it together and have that difficult conversation, and not try to forget it by making dream catchers or by offering our foods to you and that kind of thing.
I want this day put aside so that we can tell the absolute truth into eternity. We suffered at those schools. We don't want to cover it up anymore. It's not something that is pleasant; it's difficult. But it will get us to the next level as a country—to a better country, a better place for everyone.