Joe Biden apologizes for boarding school policy

Author: AAMER MADHANI

LAVEEN VILLAGE, Ariz. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday formally apologized to Native Americans for the “sin” of the government’s residential school system that for decades forcibly separated Indian children from their parents, calling it a “stain on American history” during his first visit to Native Country.

“It’s a sin on our soul,” Biden said, his voice full of anger and emotion. “Honestly, there is no excuse for the apology to take 50 years.”

Biden spoke about the abuse and death of Native children as a result of federal government policies, noting that a shameful story remains untold and must be told. The president detailed how his policies aimed to support Native Americans in the form of jobs and new infrastructure.

Democrats hope Biden’s visit to the Gila River Indian Community on the outskirts of metro Phoenix, Arizona will also galvanize Vice President Kamala Harris” turnout effort in a key battlefield state.

Biden, whose presidency is coming to an end, promised tribal leaders nearly two years ago that he would visit Indian Country.

On Thursday before leaving for Arizona, the president told reporters that an apology for the U.S. government’s role in abusing and neglecting Native children “was something that should have been done a long time ago.” Federal for decades boarding schools According to the White House, they were used to assimilate children into white society.

The moment will also be an opportunity to highlight his and Harris’ support for tribal nations, a group that has historically favored Democrats in a state that won just 10,000 votes in 2020.

The race between Harris and former president Donald Trump it’s expected to be similarly close, with both campaigns doing everything they can to boost turnout among primary rock supporters.

“The race is a turnout driver right now,” said Mike O’Neil, a nonpartisan pollster based in Arizona. “The trend lines were extremely stable throughout the period. The question is which candidate will be able to win over voters in a race that appears to be decided by narrow margins.”

Since his re-election campaign ended in July, Biden has been used sparingly in the campaign by Harris and other Democrats.

But analysts say Biden could help Harris in her appeal to Native Americans, a group that outpaced others in turnout.

It took place in 2020 increase in voter turnout on tribal lands in Arizona as Biden defeated Trump to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since Bill Clinton in 1996.

Biden is making the visit as part of his official apology, and it appears that a formal apology – which tribes have long sought – is sure to attract attention from Native Americans across the country.

At least 973 Native American children have been killed by the U.S. government unfair boarding school system according to an Interior Department investigation that called for an apology from the U.S. government, this continued for 150 years, ending in 1969.

At least 18,000 children, some as young as 4, were taken from their parents and forced to attend schools that tried to assimilate them.

“President Biden deserves credit for finally paying attention to this issue and others impacting the community,” said Ramona Charette Klein, 77, a boarding school alumna and member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. “I think it will reflect well on Vice President Harris, and I hope that momentum continues.”

She added that whoever becomes the next president must take concrete action and begin to make amends for the damage that residential schools have caused to tribes.

Democrats have stepped up efforts targeting Native American communities.

Both Harris and her running mate, the governor of Minnesota. Tim Walzmet this month with tribal leaders in Arizona and Nevada. Clinton, who served as Harris’ surrogate, met with the chairman of the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina last week.

Most recently, the Democratic National Committee fired a six-figure advertising campaign targeting Native American voters in Arizona, North Carolina, Montana and Alaska through digital, print and radio ads.

Democratic Republic Ruben Gallegowho is in a competitive race against a Republican Lake Kari running for an open Arizona Senate seat, visited all of Arizona’s 22 federally recognized tribes.

Harris kicked off a recent rally in Chandler, near the Gila River Reservation, by shouting at a tribal leader.

She also reminded the audience that she was the first vice president to visit the reservation. She and her husband, Doug Emhoff, visited the community last year.

“I firmly believe that the relationship between tribal nations and the United States is sacred … and that we must respect tribal sovereignty, trust in treaty obligations and ensure tribal self-determination,” Harris said.

The White House says Biden and Harris have made significant gains in working with Native Americans over the past four years.

He designated the sacred Avi Kwa Ame, desert mountain in Nevada and Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – ancestral traces of the Grand Canyon in Arizona as national monuments and restored boundaries Bear Ears National Monument in Utah.

Additionally, the administration has allocated nearly $46 billion in federal spending to benefit tribal nations. The money helped bring electricity to a reservation that had never had electricity, expand access to high-speed internet, improve sanitation, build roads and more.