Biden issues historic apology for role of US boarding schools

President Joe Biden he formally apologized on Friday for abuses committed by Native boarding schools for more than a century during a visit to the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, an important step toward healing the wounds inflicted on survivors and their descendants, Native American leaders in Oklahoma said.

According to A federal report under Biden and his Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. More schools – 87 – were located in Oklahoma than in any other state.

The report found that at least 973 Native Americans died in US-funded boarding schools where they were forced to attend, and that children were buried on school grounds at 74 locations, including 16 in Oklahoma.

Biden called his apology the most consequential thing he has ever done as president. He said he wanted to forge a new path to healing.

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“I formally apologize as the president of the United States of America for what we have done. I’m formally sorry. “It’s a long time coming,” Biden said. “There is no excuse that this apology took 50 years.”

Biden’s apology comes after Haaland’s three-year investigation into federally run and funded boarding schools for Native children. Her department concluded in 2022 that the schools had been in operation for more than a century the explicit goal of eradicating indigenous cultures and communities. The federal government did not abandon this model until the mid-20th century.

Another 105-page report released earlier this year expands on the department’s earlier findings and calls for a series of actions, including a formal apology from the U.S. government.

President Joe Biden apologizes for Native American boarding schools

During his Friday speech, Biden described the injustices caused by residential schools as abhorrent and horrific and said they cannot be buried.

“The truth must be told. The truth must be told across America,” Biden said. “This official apology is just a step forward.”

Biden called Native Americans the first Americans and the most patriotic. Generations of Native Americans have served in the military in greater numbers than the nation as a whole.

“Share your knowledge for the benefit of future generations,” Biden said.

Local leaders in Oklahoma say Biden’s apology is not the final step needed for healing

Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Chuck Hoskin Jr. called Biden’s apology a profound moment for Native Americans across the country. He praised Biden for acknowledging the pain and suffering inflicted on tribes and residential school survivors.

“Our children were created to live in a world that has erased their identity, their culture and upended their spoken language,” Hoskin said in a statement. “They often suffered harm, abuse, neglect and were forced to live in the shadows.”

Margo Gray, executive director of the United Nations in Oklahoma, told The Oklahoman that Biden’s apology is a step in the right direction.

“We drive through our communities now and you see the school. You don’t see a cemetery next to it, but that’s what happened to Indian children who went to boarding school and never came home, and so often, they were never told that they died at boarding school,” he said Gray, who is a citizen of the Osage Nation. “They suffered enormous cruelty that we will never understand.”

Gray said generations of Native Americans were separated from tribal culture, traditions and ceremonies.

“They cut their hair. They did everything to change their culture, their language and who they were as a nation,” Gray said. “The way they prayed changed. It’s just unheard of, but that’s how we were treated.”

Shawnee Tribal Chief Ben Barnes, who attended Biden’s speech in Arizona, said in a statement Thursday that he was pleased to work with residential school survivors and their allies to bring to light this chapter of U.S. history.

“Survivors said it was important to them to receive an apology for the atrocities that occurred in these institutions,” said Barnes, who is also a board member National Native American Residential School Healing Coalition.

Hoskin said citizens of the Cherokee Nation continue to feel the impact of Native residential schools. He said Biden’s apology must be followed by further action, calling the Interior Department’s recommendations on preserving native languages and repatriating ancestral and cultural property a path to healing.

“We know from experience that true healing goes beyond words — it takes action, resources and commitment,” Hoskin said. “The Cherokee Nation has publicly acknowledged our role in the painful history of the Cherokee Freedmen and has worked for positive change, as has this country.”

‘This is American history’: Advocate says stories of residential school survivors should be recorded

Gray said the next step the United States needs to take to repair the damage done by Native residential schools is to pass a bill Truth and Healing Commission on the Indian Residential School Policy Act.

The bill would establish a Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policy that would formally investigate, document, and report on the history of boarding schools, their policies, and their systematic impact on Native Americans.

It would also develop recommendations for federal action based on the commission’s findings and would seek to promote the treatment of Native residential school survivors and their descendants and communities.

Gray said this bill is important to create an opportunity for survivors to tell and document their stories.

“This is American history,” Gray said. “It’s just not my family’s story. This is simply not the story of the Oklahoma Indians. This is American history.”