Biden made historic apology to Native Americans – DW – 25/10/2024

US President Joe Biden visited Arizona on Friday, where he spoke with members of the Gila River Indian community, offering a historic apology to indigenous peoples who have suffered from unfair federal policies for a century and a half.

Biden, who sought to invest in long-neglected tribal communities and expand tribal autonomy and protections, was accompanied by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, the first Native American woman ever to hold a Cabinet position.

Stephen Roe Lewis, governor of the Gila River Indian Community, introduced Biden, praising his “compassion, character and empathy,” saying that “no other president or vice president has done more for Native Americans.”

Addressing the audience, Biden called the opportunity to issue a formal apology “one of the most important things I could ever do.”

Biden apologized for decades of mistreatment of Native American peoples by the US government and its policy of forced assimilation of Native American children.

Biden told the audience: “The era of the Federal Indian Council is one of the darkest pages in American history. The trauma experienced in these institutions haunts our conscience to this day.”

He spoke passionately about the need to “right the wrong … to chart a new way forward” before praising “millennia of (Native American) culture” in government, culture and agriculture.

Speaking of the “trauma and shame” of “generations of stolen children,” Biden pounded his fist on his podium, shouting “I officially apologize!”

The insidious scheme of “Indian civilization”

The boarding school system, which was started as part of the Indian Civilization Act of 1819, operated until 1970 and at one point included about 400 schools, many of them run by churches, across the continent.

Over 150 years, records show that more than 18,000 Native American children, some as young as four years old, were taken from their parents and placed in brutal residential schools designed to eradicate tribal cultures. In his comments, Biden acknowledged that the true number of children removed was likely much higher.

Boys at school, for example, had their braids cut off, children were forbidden to speak their native language. Catholic educators denounced traditional tribal religion as “evil,” pushing for forced conversion under the slogan “kill the Indian, save the man.”

At least 973 children died in schools.

The first Indian cabinet member to help recognize a historical injustice

After Haaland headed the Ministry of the Interior, she ordered comprehensive review of federal boarding school policy. It was this report that prompted Biden to issue a formal presidential apology.

“He made commitments to Indian country,” Haaland said, “and followed through on every one.”

Biden, whom Haaland called “courageous,” has instituted federal protections at a number of sacred tribal sites in the Southwest, including restoring protections for Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, which his predecessor Donald Trump opened to drilling and mining while Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke.

On Friday, Biden listed numerous initiatives his administration has taken to help tribal communities, such as investments in infrastructure, health care and education.

Political observers say Biden’s move in his final days in office also aims to shine a light on the administration’s performance while appealing to a very specific group of voters in a critical swing state as Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump remain in a deadlock with just a few days before US presidential election.

In his remarks, President Biden called the Federal Boarding School era “a sin on our souls” and called for rewriting the history books. “Just because history is silenced doesn’t mean it didn’t happen,” he said, adding, “we have to know who we are as a nation.”

In closing, Biden spoke of hope and strengthening ties between the federal government and tribal peoples. Admitting that it was impossible to change the past, he said his apology was about “finally moving forward, towards the light”.

js/lo (AFP, Reuters)