|October 25, 2012 Susan Harness brings home the topic of
transracial adoption of Native American children By Lailani
Upham (L to R) Albert Plant, Harness’s uncle; Susan Harness;
Vernon Fisher, youngest brother; Ronnie MacDonald, sister; and
sister-in-law Karen Fisher take a moment for snap shot reunion
photo opp. (Lailani Upham photo) PABLO — The opening President’s
Lecture Series at Salish Kootenai College had a real life effect
on the message that almost it could not be linked to the word
“lecture” but more like the word “journey.” Susan Harness,
cultural anthropologist and associate researcher at Colorado
State University’s Tri-Ethnic Center for Prevention Research and
Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribal member, covered the
history of the American Indian assimilation process that
essentially began in 1830 with the Indian Reorganization Act all
the way to present day transracial adoptions in Indian country.
It was not book and head knowledge that the information flowed
from the podium, but her own life