By Armando Hernandez
24 Oct 2024, 7:39 PM EDT
President Joe Biden prepares formal apology for the role the US government played in boarding schools for Native Americansa brutal system that removed children from their homes and forced them to assimilate in an effort to destroy their language and culture over a period of 150 years.
Biden himself announced, in statements to the press at the White House, that he plans to make this apology during his visit to the Gila River Indian community, near Phoenix, Arizona, in what will be his first visit to a Native American reservation. since he arrived at the White House in January 2021.
“I am going to do something that should have been done a long time ago: formally apologize to the Indian nations for the way we treated their children for so many years.”“Biden stated before embarking on his trip to Arizona, where he will arrive tonight.
It will be the first time that a US president has apologized for the atrocities suffered by tens of thousands of indigenous children who were forced to attend these boarding schools between 1819 and 1969. During that period, the Government provided funding to churches and groups religious to direct 400 of these boarding schools in 37 states of the country.
On his trip to Arizona, Biden will be accompanied by Interior Secretary Deb Haalandthe first Native American to serve in the United States Government, whose grandparents and one of her great-grandfathers were forced to attend these boarding schools.
Haaland, who belongs to the Pueblo tribe of Laguna (New Mexico), launched an investigation three years ago into the residential schools and, in July of this year, published a report that revealed that at least 973 indigenous minors died from illness or malnutrition in the US government boarding school system.
As a result of the investigation, Graves, some unidentified, were found in 65 of the more than 400 internees, and the Department of Home Affairs formally urged the Executive to apologize for the trauma inflicted on generations of Indigenous children.
The visit comes as Biden seeks to build his legacy before leaving the White House in January 2025 and with less than two weeks until the Nov. 5 election.
Additionally, Native American voters make up a small percentage of the electorate, but their votes could be decisive in some key states like Arizona, where polls predict an especially tight race between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump.
*With information from Politico.
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