On Friday, President Joe Biden issued a significant apology addressing one of the darkest episodes in American history: the forced separation of Native American children from their families and their enrollment in government-operated boarding schools designed to erase their cultural identities.
From the early 19th century until the 1970s, the United States operated numerous Indian boarding schools., aiming to assimilate Native children into European settler culture and often attempting to convert them to Christianity. A recent government report highlighted alarming instances of physical, mental, and sexual abuse, with nearly a thousand children reported to have died while attending these institutions.
In an emotional speech delivered at the Gila River Indian Community in Laveen Village, Arizona, which was broadcast live by the White House, Biden stated,
“I officially apologize, in my capacity as the President of the United States, for our actions,” he stated. He characterized the 150-year span of the boarding school system as one of the “most tragic periods in American history.” calling it a “sin on our soul.”
While recognizing that “no apology can or will make up for what was lost during the darkness of the federal boarding school policy,” Biden expressed hope, saying, “today, we’re finally moving forward into the light.”
Joining him was Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold a cabinet position. She asserted that “federal authorities failed to annihilate our languages, our traditions, our life ways. Despite everything that has happened, we are still here.”
Biden’s administration has made considerable efforts to support Native American communities, enacting measures that promote Tribal autonomy and safeguard sacred ancestral sites. This apology is part of a broader trend, paralleling formal acknowledgments in Canada, where numerous children suffered in similar boarding schools, and reflects a global recognition of the historic injustices faced by Indigenous populations.
