Biden becomes first president to apologize for Native American boarding school policy

President Biden apologized Friday for Native American boarding schools that were part of U.S. policy for 150 years and stripped children away from their tribes and culture.  

“The federal government has never, never formally apologized for what happened, until today. I formally apologize as president of the United States of America for what we did. I formally apologize,” Biden said in remarks at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona. 

“I have a solemn responsibility to be the first president to formally apologize to the Native people,” the president added. “It’s long, long, long overdue. Quite frankly, there’s no excuse this apology took 50 years to make.” 

Biden made history becoming the first president to apologize for the tragedy, doing so at his first diplomatic visit to a tribal nation in his four-year term.  

“As time moved on, respect for tribal sovereignty evaporated. It was shattered,” Biden said, “targeting children to cut their connections to their ancestors and their inheritances.” 

He also discussed the history of the federal government mandating the removal of children for 150 years.

“One of the most horrific chapters of the American history. We should be ashamed,” Biden said. “The vast majority of Americans don’t know about it.” 

Native American boarding schools were in use between 1819 and 1969, sending tens of thousands of Native children to schools run in collaboration between the government and some churches.

An investigation by the Department of the Interior found almost 1,000 children died at the schools, and many more were physically and sexually abused.

The Native children taken to the schools were not allowed speak their language, dress in cultural clothing, or keep their hair long.

“Generations of Native children stolen, taken away to places they didn’t know, with people they never met, that spoke a language they’d never heard,” Biden said Friday. “Children would arrive at schools, their clothes taken off, their hair they were told was sacred was chopped off, their names literally erased.” 

He cited survivors describing what it was like at the schools, outlining that they faced emotional, sexual and physical abuse. 

“The policy continued even after the Civil Rights Act ... was passed in 1964. It continued,” he said. He then asked for a moment of silence for “the generations living with that trauma.” 

The president was interrupted briefly during his remarks by a pro-Palestinian protester, which has happened in many of his speeches over the past year, as many Americans have been angered over his pro-Israel response to the war in Gaza. 

“There’s a lot of innocent people being killed, and it has to stop,” Biden replied to the protester before she was removed. 

More than 400 boarding schools for Native children were active, with almost 60 grave sites uncovered from students dying from malnutrition or disease.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a Laguna Pueblo member and the first Native American Cabinet secretary, praised the community for speaking up about the issue that helped lead to the formal apology Friday.

“Today's event would not have happened without each and every one of you; without those who have spoken up, who have shared their pain and vocal in the face of injustice. Together, we have persevered,” she said Friday.

“It means everything to be with you today and with our courageous president who recognizes the impact these policies have had on each of us," Haaland added.