Biden to apologize to Native Americans for era of boarding school atrocities

President Biden will issue a formal presidential apology to the Native American community for atrocities committed against Indigenous peoples during the era of federal Indian boarding schools, he announced Thursday. The apology is set to be issued in Arizona on Friday, according to a source familiar with the president's announcement. 

"I'm heading to do something that should have been done a long time ago," Mr. Biden told reporters before boarding Marine One on Thursday afternoon. "Make a formal apology to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years."

From 1819 through the 1970s, the federal government established and supported Indian boarding schools throughout the country to assimilate Alaska Native, American Indian and Native Hawaiian children into White American culture by forcibly removing them from their families, communities and belief systems. Many children who attended these boarding schools endured emotional and physical abuse, and some died, the Department of the Interior detailed. 

The Washington Post first reported the president's anticipated apology. 

Since Mr. Biden became president, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and her department conducted the first-ever federal investigation into the Indian boarding school system and completed a "Road to Healing" tour to hear from survivors of the boarding schools. The U.S. ran more than 400 such schools during that more than 150-year period. Haaland is the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary. 

Haaland's voice broke as she spoke with reporters on Air Force One. 

"For more than a century, tens of thousands of Indigenous children, as young as four years old, were taken from their families and communities and forced into boarding schools run by the U.S. government and religious institutions. This includes my own family. For decades, this terrible chapter was hidden from our history books. But now, our administration's work will ensure that no one will ever forget," she said.

"This is our home," Haaland added. "We love this country. We have fought for this country, even before we were citizens, even before we could vote. And so I want to make clear that Indian country are proud Americans, and this apology, it means more than words can even say."

Mr. Biden's presidential apology is a recognition from the highest level of government that the U.S. was responsible for systemic cruelties against Indigenous peoples. 

Lakota People's Law Project Director Chase Iron Eyes said Thursday in a statement, "An apology is an acknowledgment of wrongdoing, but it is not any form of redress. An apology is just the beginning of a necessary truth-telling. An apology is a nice start, but it is not a true reckoning, nor is it a sufficient remedy for the long history of colonial violence."

"The President's apology calls for a deeper examination," he added. "I ask him to work with those knowledge holders within Indigenous communities to tell the entire, historical truth and look at proper redress. We need real action on a path toward reconciliation following this apology."

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a statement, "President Biden's apology is a profound moment for Native people across this country, I applaud the President for acknowledging the pain and suffering inflicted on tribes and boarding school survivors, which is long-overdue."

"We know from experience that true healing goes beyond words — it requires action, resources, and commitment," he added. "Cherokee Nation publicly acknowledged our own role in the painful history of Cherokee Freedmen and have worked to address positive change, and so too can this country."

Mr. Biden has made efforts to repair relations with Native American tribes and communities. The American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act included billions of dollars for infrastructure investments in Native communities.