On Biden’s apology for Native American boarding schools

Those first steps really mean something to some of us. My grandmother, Luella Silje, was a boarding school student. She wanted to hear an apology from the American president, but the baby was still crawling when she died. I think we should encourage those first tentative steps. We should ask for more. Don’t stop there. Across the country, tribes are working, investing, praying, building and rebuilding their communities, trying to revive culture and language, and more. Restorative justice is long overdue. As for step two, let’s fund these Indigenous language revitalization efforts, strengthen and support Indigenous nations, and continue the heroic steps taken to end systemic poverty.

Instead of looking at the apology for what it is not, we should look at the apology for what it is—an opportunity to set a new tone for our country and begin a journey of healing. I understand indigenous people who want things to move faster and differently. But it will not lead to healing if you take 500 years of the culture of silence and respond to it with lines of “shut up.” No one can or should be forced to accept an apology if they don’t feel like it; but no one can be compelled to give up one if he does so. It will be best for all if we participate in reconciliation, despite our desire to withdraw. And non-Indigenous people will have to overcome fear and shame to join us. The only way to overcome this is together.