Biden apologizes for forced Native American boarding school policy that caused abuse and deaths of children
President Joe Biden delivered an apology for a United States 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.
PHOENIX — President Joe Biden delivered an apology Friday for a United States 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.
"I formally apologize as president of the United States of America for what we did," Biden said in strident remarks. "It's long overdue."
The president's apology, on tribal land at the Gila River Indian Reservation, came in the wake of a years-long investigation commissioned by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary. Haaland’s grandparents were separated from their families because of the policy.
"We know that the federal government failed," Haaland said in emotional remarks before Biden was introduced.
"It failed to violate our languages, our traditions, our life ways. It failed to destroy us because we persevered," she added.
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