On Friday, Joe Biden formally apologized for the US government’s role in running at least 523 residential schools in India. His remarks, made at Gila Crossing Community School outside Phoenix, Arizona, marked his first visit to India as president.
“After 150 years, the U.S. government has finally canceled the program,” Biden said. “But to this day, the federal government has never formally apologized for what happened. As President of the United States, I formally apologize for what we did. I formally apologize. It was long overdue.”
“The federal Indian boarding school policy and the suffering it caused will always be a mark of grave shame and a stain on American history,” he said. “For far too long, all of this has been happening virtually out of the public eye."
Indian boarding schools were run with the clear goal of “killing the Indian inside you and saving that person.” The term was coined by Richard Henry Pratt, an Army officer who founded the Carlisle Indian Boarding School, the first Indian boarding school operated by the federal government. From 1819 to 1969, which Biden called “one of the scariest periods in American history,” the U.S. government directly managed or funded Indian boarding schools in about 40 states. Formal education is restricted in schools, and indigenous children are forced and Systematically stripped of their culture.
A U.S. Department of the Interior report released earlier this year found that nearly 1,000 indigenous children died at school. Sexual violence was common. Dr. Dennis K. Rajmodiere, an enrolled citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and one of the founders of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, said, “The boarding school era was an ethnic murder, a cultural genocide.” , and represented a deliberate policy of human rights abuses.” ”.
“Some of our elders, survivors of residential schools, have been waiting their whole lives for this moment,” said Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis. “For just a moment on Friday, this situation will come to a head, and the most powerful person in the world, our president, will shine a light on this dark history that has been hidden.”
No president has ever apologized for the abuse suffered in schools by tens of thousands of indigenous children.
Deb Haaland, the interior secretary and the first Indigenous person to hold the job, whose grandparents and great-grandfathers were forced to attend the school, accompanied Biden for the historic apology. As Interior Secretary, Haaland launched the first U.S. government investigation into residential schools.
“For many parts of this country, boarding schools are places where wealthy families send their children to receive a special education," Haaland said in a speech. “For Indigenous peoples, this has been a place of trauma and fear for over 100 years.”
Haaland also acknowledged that the federal government has fallen short of its goal of cultural assimilation.
“No one could destroy our language, our traditions, our way of life. No one could destroy us because we endured,” she said.
Two years ago, Dr. Ramona Klein, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, testified about her experience before the House Subcommittee on American Indian Tribes, and was interviewed by multiple officials at the Fort Totten Indian Residential School. explained the abuse. At Fort Totten, North Dakota. She called on Congress to “help heal the deep wounds of generations of Indigenous peoples who have been affected by U.S. residential school policies and the treatment of Indigenous children.”
“I want resources to educate all Americans about how residential schools have impacted and destroyed their lives,” she said. “I want to see how people who suffer and perpetrate domestic violence, people who suffer and perpetrate sexual abuse, people who suffer from addiction trying to stop the pain and nightmares, and who today sees evidence of that destruction. We want all Americans to have the resources to educate themselves about what happens in extreme poverty and even in low-performing schools.”
The final boarding school report included eight recommendations from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to the federal government, including calling for a formal apology.
Cherokee Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said the apology was a “deeply meaningful moment for the indigenous people of this country.” While he praised the Biden administration’s apology, he said, “True healing goes beyond words and requires action, resources and dedication.”
“We thank President Biden and Vice President Harris, and especially Secretary Haaland, for their role in ensuring these truths are exposed and leading the efforts of the Residential School Pathways to Healing Initiative,” he said. said. “The president’s public apology on behalf of this country is even more significant and represents an important step that requires continued action.”
Cyrus Benn, chairman of Mississippi’s Choctaw Indian tribe, acknowledged the long-term damage to the school but called the apology an “important first step.”
“Today, Native students continue to learn about the importance of long hair, the importance of speaking their language, and the pride they take in wearing traditional costumes and beadwork at important milestones such as graduation. They face challenges related to their identity.
“This apology marks an important first step toward a broader conversation about Native Americans and recognizing that we are here and thriving despite historical injustices. We hope the conversation will bring about meaningful change and pave the way for a deeper recognition of Indigenous peoples and their invaluable contributions to our society.”
