Biden Apologizes for US Role in Indigenous Boarding Schools

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Facts

  • US Pres. Joe Biden Friday apologized for the US government's history of compelling Indigenous — or Native American, Native Alaskan, or Native Hawaiian — children into boarding schools. Biden said it was something 'long overdue.'[1][2]
  • Biden made his apology at the Gila River Indian Community, where he commented on the 18K or more children who were taken from their parents for over 150 years beginning in 1819.[3][2]
  • This follows a Department of the Interior investigation into the schooling program, which was reportedly devised to assimilate Indigenous populations. The probe discovered 973 deaths and 74 gravesites linked to over 500 schools.[4]
  • According to the investigation, some of the children were physically and sexually abused, while others died of disease.[5]
  • Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to lead the agency, will also attend the ceremony, which will be the first-ever formal apology for the schooling program. Haaland's grandparents were forced into boarding schools.[4][6]

Sources: [1]Al Jazeera, [2]NBC, [3]Wsj, [4]Associated Press, [5]The Hill and [6]Breitbart.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by PBS NewsHour. This apology is a long time coming. Under the guise of 'civilizing' Indigenous peoples, the US government removed children from their families and forced them to practice the religion, culture, and language of their colonizers. They were also physically and emotionally punished for not adopting these foreign lessons, thus instilling generational fear and trauma.
  • Right narrative, as provided by Youtube and FOX News. Using White or American guilt as a form of penance for some of the tragedies that came with the conquest of US lands does no one any good. In both Canada and the US, laws have been written specifically for the economic benefit of Indigenous peoples. Instead of making modern Americans apologize for the past, society should study and respect this complicated history — and thereafter make informed and effective policy decisions.