Native Americans praise Biden for historic apology on residential schools. They want action to follow

LAVEEN VILLAGE, Ariz. — President Joe Biden did something on Friday that no other sitting U.S. president has done: Him apologized for systemic abuse generations of Native children in residential schools at the hands of the federal government.

For 150 years, the United States took Native children from their homes and sent them to schools, where they were deprived of their culture, history, and religion and were beaten for speaking their language.

“We should be ashamed of ourselves,” Biden told a crowd of indigenous people gathered at the Gila River Indian Community outside Phoenix, including tribal leaders, survivors and their families. Biden called a government-imposed system that began in 1819 “one of the most horrific chapters in American history,” while acknowledging that decades of violence against children and youth widespread destruction left.

For many Native Americans, the long-awaited apology was a welcome acknowledgment of the government’s longstanding culpability. Now, as they say, words must be followed by actions.

Bill Hall, 71, of Seattle was 9 years old when he was taken from a Tlingit community in Alaska and forced to take part in training boarding schoolwhere he experienced years of physical and sexual violence that brought him many more years of shame. When he first heard that Biden was going to apologize, he wasn’t sure he would be able to accept it.

“But as I watched, tears started flowing from my eyes,” Hall said. “Yes, I accept his apology. What can we do now?”

Rosalie Whirlwind Soldier, a 79-year-old citizen of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said she “felt a tingle in my heart” and was glad to be vindicated in a historic wrong. Still, she remains saddened by the irreparable damage done to her nation.

Soldier Whirlwind suffered severe mistreatment at school in South Dakota, leaving her with a painful limp throughout her life. The Catholic-run, government-subsidized facility took away her faith and tried to eradicate her Lakota identity by cutting off her long braids, she added.

“I’m sorry isn’t enough. Nothing is enough when a person is harmed,” she said. “An entire generation of people and our future has been destroyed for us.”

According to an Interior Department investigation initiated by Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to head the agency, the schools were intended to both assimilate Native American, Alaska Native and Hawaiian children and dispossess tribal nations of their land.

Introducing Biden on Friday, Haaland said that while the formal apology is an acknowledgment of a dark chapter, it is also a celebration of Indigenous resilience: “Despite everything that has happened, we are still here.”

Haaland, a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna, commissioned an investigation in 2021. It documented the cases of more than 18,000 indigenous children, 973 of whom were killed. Both the report and independent researchers say the overall number was much higher.

The report made several recommendations drawn from the testimonies of school survivors, including resources for mental health treatment and language revitalization programs.

Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis noted that Biden is committed to implementing these recommendations.

“This creates a framework in which to address residential school policies of the past,” he said.

Benjamin Mallott, president of the Federation of Alaska Natives, or Lingít, said in a statement that the apology must be accompanied by significant action: “This includes revitalizing our languages ​​and cultures and returning home our Native children who have not yet returned so they can be buried with their families and communities.”

That view is shared by Victoria Kitcheyan, head of the Winnebago Tribe in Nebraska, which sued the U.S. Army in January, seeking the return of the remains of two children who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania.

“This healing will not begin until the tribes find a way to bring their children home and bury them,” Kitcheyan said.

In an interview Thursday, Haaland said Interior is still working with several tribal nations to repatriate the remains of several children who were killed and buried at the residential school.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who last year introduced a bill to establish a truth and healing commission to address the harm done by the residential school system, called the apology “a historic step toward long-awaited accountability for the harm done to Native children.” and their communities.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican who is vice chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, also praised Biden, saying it reinforces the need for a truth and healing commission.

“This acknowledgment of the pain and injustice inflicted on indigenous communities – while long overdue – is an extremely important step towards healing,” Murkowski said in a statement.

As Biden spoke, hundreds of tribal members rose to their feet, with many recording the moment on their phones. Some wore traditional clothing and others had T-shirts supporting Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

There was a moment of silence, a formal apology, and then an outburst of applause.

At the end of Biden’s speech, the crowd stood again and chanted “Thank you, Joe.”

Hall, a Seattle residential school survivor, and others have long advocated for resources to right the wrongs. He worries that tribal nations will continue to struggle with recovery unless the government takes action, and he sees a long road ahead.

“It took a lifetime to get here. It will take a lifetime to get to the other side,” he said. “And that’s the very sad part. I won’t see this in my generation.”

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Associated Press writer Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed to this report.