Oct 25, V7N-President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that he will issue a formal apology for the U.S. government's historic mistreatment of Native American children who were forcibly removed from their families and placed into abusive boarding schools. These institutions, which operated for over 150 years, were designed to forcibly assimilate Native American children into white society. A recent government report highlighted numerous cases of physical, mental, and sexual abuse, as well as the deaths of over 950 children.

Biden, speaking before his departure from the White House, said, "I'm heading to do something that should have been done a long time ago," referring to his planned apology to Native American nations. He is set to make the formal apology during a visit to the Gila River Indian Reservation in Arizona on Friday.

The schools, many of which were located far from the children's homes, operated from the early 19th century until the 1970s, with lasting negative impacts on Indigenous communities. The report, driven by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland—herself a member of the Native American community—revealed harrowing details of abuse and trauma experienced by generations of children. Haaland, the first Native American to serve in a U.S. presidential cabinet, said the investigation hit close to home, as her own family was affected.

"For more than a century, tens of thousands of Indigenous children, some as young as four years old, were taken from their families and forced into boarding schools," Haaland said. "This includes my own family."

The apology mirrors similar actions taken in other countries, such as Canada, which has formally apologized for the abuse and deaths of Indigenous children in residential schools. The White House emphasized the importance of remembering and teaching all aspects of U.S. history, including its painful chapters.

Biden’s visit to Arizona, a key battleground state in U.S. elections, comes amid a close race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. However, the apology holds significant symbolic weight beyond the political landscape. Haaland described the upcoming apology as "historic" and a long-overdue acknowledgment of the suffering endured by Native American communities.

END/WD/RH/