Biden apologises for ‘sin’ of Indigenous boarding school abuses
Al Jazeera
Forced assimilation policy is a ‘sin on our soul’, said Biden in first-ever visit to Native country.
United States President Joe Biden has issued a formal apology to Native Americans for the government’s role in separating Indigenous children from their parents and forcing them into abusive boarding schools.
Biden gave the apology, long-sought by Tribal nations, on Friday during his first-ever visit to Native country, calling the boarding school abuses a “blot on American history”.
Speaking at the Gila River Indian Community’s land on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona, Biden called the abuses; “a sin on our soul”.
He added, “Quite frankly, there’s no excuse that this apology took 50 years to make … Today, we’re finally moving forward into the light.”
Between 1869 and the 1960s, more than 18,000 Indigenous children — some as young as four — were forcibly taken from their families and put into the boarding school system.
