Biden issues historic apology for Indigenous boarding school abuses
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President Biden, with Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis, arrives to speak at the Gila River Crossing School in Laveen Village, near Phoenix on Friday. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden has formally apologized for the role the U.S. government played in abuses committed against Native American children in federal Indian boarding schools.
Why it matters: Biden's remarks in Arizona's Gila River Indian Community on Friday marked the first time a U.S. president has both formally acknowledged and apologized for the policy that saw abuses occur for more than 150 years and which the United Nations regards as genocide.
Driving the news: During a speech, Biden said that while the federal government eventually closed boarding schools, it never formally apologized.
- "Quite frankly, there's no excuse this apology took 50 years to make," Biden said.
Zoom in: A 2022 federal report found Native American children at these 408 boarding schools suffered whippings, sexual abuse, manual labor and severe malnourishment from 1819-1969 as part of the U.S. government's campaign to compel their assimilation.
- An Interior Department report out this year found more than 900 children died while being forced to attend the schools.
The big picture: Biden "believes that to usher in the next era of the Federal-Tribal relationships we need to fully acknowledge the harms of the past," per a White House statement outlining plans for the historic apology.
- Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who launched an investigation into the school system abuses after becoming the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency, accompanied Biden on the trip to the Gila River Indian Community.
- Biden also outlined his record of working with tribal nations to improve infrastructure and access to health care.
What they're saying: "Some injustice are heinous, horrific and grievous. It can't be buried, no matter how hard we try," Biden said Friday.
- "As I said throughout my presidency, we must know the good, the bad, the truth of who we are as a nation."
Haaland told AP Thursday that Biden's apology "will be one of the high points" of her entire life.
- "It's a big deal to me. I'm sure it will be a big deal to all of Indian Country," said Haaland, who is Laguna Pueblo.
- Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund executive director Judith LeBlanc said in a statement that Biden's "formal apology for the deep and lasting harm caused by Indian boarding schools will help heal generations of survivors and their families."
Go deeper: Reckoning with the forced assimilation of Native American children
Editor's note: This article has been updated with the announcement.
