Native American Indian leaders responded to Biden’s apology to tribal peoples – InForum

FARGO. On Friday, October 25, President Joe Biden apologized for what he called “one of the most horrific chapters in American history.”

The despicable actions taken by the federal government against tribal nations. Native American Indian advocates applauded Biden’s apology and said it was a serious first step in the recovery process

Biden laid out the painful history of the Gila River Indian community in Arizona, detailing atrocities at the Indian boarding school from 1819 to the 1970s.

“One hundred and fifty years, one of the most horrific pages in American history. We should be ashamed, a page that most Americans don’t know about,” Biden said.

Generations of Native American children have been emotionally, physically, and sexually abused, forced to assimilate into the United States. They were stripped of their families, belief systems, and identities.
Almost 1,000 children died, many went missing.

Biden became the first president to apologize to Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives and others in federal Indian residential schools.

He said it was long overdue. “I formally apologize as the president of the United States of America for what we did,” Biden said.

The purpose of his apology is to educate those who have never heard of the terrible things that have happened recently.

Former state representative Ruth Buffalo from Fargo spent many years in North Dakota politics and beyond, fighting for Native American rights.

She says her mother was only 5 years old when she was taken to boarding school in Wopeton, North Dakota; her grandparents were forced to attend schools in Minnesota.

She called Biden’s statement powerful.

ruth buffalo 3.jpg — Former state representative Ruth Buffalo of Fargo.

“Our job today is to bring it to light, to acknowledge it, because you can’t fully heal unless you acknowledge the atrocity or the act,” Buffalo said.

Human rights activist Tracy Wilkie of Fargo also applauded the president’s announcement, but said it should be just the beginning of working together for generations to come.

The woman wears a red blanket wrapped around her shoulder and is adorned in traditional Native American regalia. — Tracy L. Wilkie, a member of the Chippewa-based Turtle Mountain Band, was among the last generation of her family to attend American Indian residential schools.

“Now we need our friends and allies to support us in supporting the policy and making a difference and making sure it doesn’t happen to other people,” Wilkie said.

My name is Noah Losing and I’m from Oxbow, North Dakota. I graduated from Grand Canyon University in the spring of 2024, where I studied communications with an emphasis in broadcasting and new media. I had the opportunity to serve as president of the Future Broadcasters club on campus, where I supervised over 40 students in a two-week news program. After a summer internship in Tucson, Arizona, I found my home again at WDAY.