Biden Apologizes for US Role in Indigenous Boarding Schools
Biden Apologizes for US Role in Indigenous Boarding Schools
The 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."
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.
The Spin
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.
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.
