President Biden apologizes for 150-year Native American boarding school policy
PHOENIX — President Biden on Friday formally apologized to Native Americans for the “sin” of a government-run boarding school system that for decades forcibly separated Indian children from their parents, calling it a “blot on American history.”
“It’s a sin on our soul,” said Biden, his voice full of anger and emotion. “Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make.”
It was a moment of both contrition and frustration as the president sought to recognize one of the “most horrific chapters” in the national story. Biden spoke of the abuses and deaths of Native American children that resulted from the federal government’s policies, noting that “while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing” and that great nations “must know the good, the bad, the truth of who we are.”
“I formally apologize as president of United States of America for what we did,” Biden said on the Gila River Indian Community’s land on the outskirts of metro Phoenix. “The Federal Indian boarding school policy — the pain it has caused will only be a significant mark of shame, a blot on our record history. For too long, this all happened with virtually no public attention, not written about in our history books, not taught in our schools.”
Biden, whose presidency is winding down, had promised tribal leaders nearly two years ago that he would make a visit.
“He made commitments to Indian Country, and he has followed through on every single one of those commitments,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico.
Biden’s pick of the former New Mexico congresswoman made Haaland the first Native American to be appointed to a Cabinet position. She, in turn, ordered the review of the troubled legacy of the federal government’s boarding school policies. For decades, federal boarding schools were used to assimilate children into white society, according to the White House.
Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump are targeting voters’ fears as they make a final push for support before election day.
At least 973 Native American children died in the U.S. government’s abusive boarding school system over a 150-year period that ended in 1969, according to the Interior Department investigation that called for the government apology.
At least 18,000 children, some as young as 4, were taken from their parents and forced to attend schools that sought to assimilate them.
Democrats hope Biden’s visit to the Gila River Indian Community’s land on the outskirts of metro Phoenix will also provide a boost to Vice President Kamala Harris’ turnout effort in Arizona, a key battleground state.
“President Biden deserves credit for finally putting attention on the issue and other issues impacting the community,” said Ramona Charette Klein, 77, a boarding school survivor and an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. “I do think that will reflect well on Vice President Harris, and I hope this momentum will continue.”
She added that whoever the next president is must follow up with concrete action and begin making amends for the devastation the boarding schools wrought on tribes.
The moment gave Biden a chance to spotlight his and Harris’ support for tribal nations, a group that historically has favored Democrats, in a state he won by only 10,000 votes in 2020.
The race between Harris and former President Trump is expected to be similarly close, and both campaigns are doing whatever they can to improve turnout among bedrock supporters.
“The race is now a turnout grab,” said Mike O’Neil, a nonpartisan pollster in Arizona. “The trend lines throughout have been remarkably steady. The question is, which candidate is going to be able to turn out their voters in a race that seems to be destined to be decided by narrow margins?”
Biden has appeared only occasionally on the campaign trail for Harris and other Democrats since he ended his reelection campaign in July.
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But analysts say Biden could help Harris in her appeal with Native American voters — a group that has trailed others in turnout rates.
In 2020, there was a surge in voter turnout on some tribal land in Arizona as Biden beat Trump and became the first Democrat to win the presidential vote in the state since Bill Clinton in 1996.
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Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, met with tribal leaders in Arizona and Nevada this month. And Clinton, who has been serving as a surrogate for Harris, last week met in North Carolina with the chairman of the Lumbee Tribe.
In an interview published two weeks before election day, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff said he had grave concerns about Trump’s fitness for office.
The Democratic National Committee recently launched a six-figure ad campaign targeting Native American voters in Arizona, North Carolina, Montana and Alaska through digital, print and radio ads.
Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is locked in a competitive race with Republican Kari Lake for Arizona’s open Senate seat, has visited all 22 of Arizona’s federally recognized tribes.
Harris started a recent campaign rally in Chandler, near where the Gila River reservation is located, with a shout-out to the tribe’s leader.
She also reminded the crowd that she was the first vice president to visit the reservation. She and husband Doug Emhoff visited the community last year.
“I strongly believe that the relationship between tribal nations and the United States is sacred ... and that we must honor tribal sovereignty, embrace our trust in treaty obligations, and ensure tribal self-determination,” Harris said.
The White House says Biden and Harris have built a substantial track record with Native Americans over the last four years.
He designated the sacred Avi Kwa Ame, a desert mountain in Nevada, and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon in Arizona as national monuments and restored the boundaries for Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.
In addition, the administration has directed nearly $46 billion in federal spending to tribal nations. The money has helped bring electricity to a reservation that never had electricity, expand access to high-speed internet, improve water sanitation, build roadways and more.
Thom Reilly, co-director of the Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy at Arizona State University, said Harris’ and Trump’s campaigns — and their allies — have put a huge amount of effort into microtargeting in Arizona.
Harris, Reilly noted, has also focused on whittling away at Trump’s advantage among Mormon voters in the state, a group that historically has favored Republicans. Trump, meanwhile, has put special focus on young men as the campaign tries to narrow Democrats’ advantage with younger voters.
“They are pulling out every stop just to see if they could wrangle a few more votes here and there,” Reilly said. “The Indian community is one of those groups that Harris is hoping will overperform and help make the difference.”
Madhani writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Okla., contributed to this report.
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