LAVEEN VILLAGE, Ariz. — U.S. President Joe Biden delivered an apology on Oct. 25 for a U.S. policy that forcibly separated generations of Indigenous children from their families for more than 150 years and sent them to federally backed boarding schools for forced assimilation.
During his remarks, Biden called for a moment of silence in remembrance of hundreds of thousands of Native American children who were impacted by the boarding school system that forcefully removed them from their homes, aiming to assimilate them into mainstream American culture. Generations of Indigenous children experienced loss of language, culture, and community. Many suffered physical and mental abuse, and many lost their lives.
"I formally apologize as President of the United States of America for what we did," Biden said. "It's long overdue."
At least 18,000 children were taken from their families and forced to attend more than 400 boarding schools across 37 states or then-territories between 1819 and 1969. Three years ago, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary, commissioned the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative to review the schools’ impacts on Native Americans.
The final report, issued this summer, found at least 973 Native American children died while attending these federal boarding schools. The report showed that Navajo children experienced the greatest number of deaths than any other tribe during the boarding school era.
Biden acknowledged that “no apology can or will make up for what was lost during the darkness of the federal boarding school policy.”
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren expressed gratitude to Biden for his apology to Native nations for the harm caused by federal and church-run Indian boarding schools.
“I deeply appreciate President Biden’s acknowledgment of this painful chapter,” Nygren said. “For generations, Native children, including many Navajo, endured an education system that aimed to erase our languages, cultures, and identities.”
Speaker Crystalyne Curley also accepted Biden’s apology.
“President Biden’s apology is a critical acknowledgment of past injustices and wrongdoings by the federal government, and it lays the groundwork for continued healing,” Curley said. “This moment is both a recognition of what our children endured and a commitment to a better future where our voices, cultures, and traditions are protected and celebrated.”
