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Biden Issues Apology To Native Americans Over Boarding School Abuses
Biden issued the long-requested apology on Friday during his first visit to Native lands, describing the boarding school abuses as a “stain on American history.”
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Speaking on the Gila River Indian Community’s land near Phoenix, Arizona, he described these actions as “a sin on our soul.”
He added, “Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make … Today, we’re finally moving forward into the light.”
Between 1869 and the 1960s, more than 18,000 Indigenous children—some as young as four—were forcibly removed from their families and placed in a government-mandated boarding school system.
These schools, many operated by Christian churches, were part of a forced assimilation policy initiated by Congress in 1819 to “civilize” Native American, Native Alaskan, and Native Hawaiian communities.
Children endured severe abuse, including beatings and sexual assault, were prohibited from speaking their languages or practicing their cultures, and often remained separated from their families for years.
A U.S. Department of the Interior investigation found that at least 987 children died within the system.
President Biden stated it is time to confront this painful history, still unknown to many. The president’s apology was met with a warm reception from the community, with Native American leaders describing it as a powerful and significant acknowledgment.
“Elders who actually lived through and survived the boarding school experience, have waited for their entire lives for this moment, many of them never believing that it would actually happen, but now it has,” said Reynolds.
Ramona Charette Klein, a 77-year-old survivor of the boarding school system and a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, told The Associated Press that President Biden “deserves credit” for finally bringing attention to the issue.
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“I do think that will reflect well on Vice President Harris, and I hope this momentum will continue,” she said, adding that the next president must follow up the apology with concrete action.
Biden’s Interior Secretary Deb Haalan, the first Native American in Cabinet, highlighted the resilience of her community’s “languages, our traditions, our life ways”.
Despite “everything that has happened, we are still here”, said Haalan, who joined Biden at the event.
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