Biden Apologizes for Native American Boarding Schools That Aimed to Exterminate Indigenous Culture

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

President Biden has formally apologized for government-run Native American boarding schools, which separated Indigenous families and sought to exterminate Indigenous culture. He’s the first U.S. president to ever do so. Biden issued the apology Friday while visiting the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, where Democrats are vying for the support of Native communities, a crucial voting bloc that could swing the results of next week’s election. This was Biden’s first diplomatic visit to a tribal nation in his four-year term. He spoke for a few seconds before he was interrupted by an Indigenous protester.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: The federal Indian boarding school policy and the pain it has caused will always be a significant mark of shame, a blot on American history. For too long this all happened, with virtually no public attention, not written about in our history books —

PROTESTER: Yeah, what about the people in Gaza?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: — not taught in our schools.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hey, get out of here!

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Let her talk. Let her talk.

PROTESTER: [inaudible] every promise for our people. How can you apologize for a genocide while committing a genocide in Palestine? Free Palestine! Free Palestine!

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Get out of here!

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: No, no, let her go. There’s a lot of innocent people being killed. There’s a lot of innocent people being killed, and it has to stop.

AMY GOODMAN: The U.S. government operated hundreds of boarding schools from 1819 to 1969 where children reported horrific physical, sexual and psychological abuse. An Interior Department investigation this year found nearly a thousand Indigenous children died while at these schools. Biden was joined Friday by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first-ever Native American cabinet secretary, member of the Pueblo of Laguna whose grandparents were forced to attend boarding schools.

INTERIOR SECRETARY DEB HAALAND: Tens of thousands of Indigenous children as young as 4 years old were taken from their families and communities and forced into boarding schools run by the U.S. government and religious institutions. These federal Indian boarding schools have impacted every Indigenous person I know. Some are survivors. Some are descendants. But we all carry the trauma that these policies and these places inflicted.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Deb Haaland and President Biden, speaking at the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona.

For more, we go to Raleigh, North Carolina, where we’re joined by Nick Tilsen, founder and CEO of the Indigenous-led NDN Collective.

Nick, thanks so much for joining us again on Democracy Now! Can you talk about the significance of this apology, the first American president to do so, and what you are calling for?

NICK TILSEN: Absolutely. I mean, I think this is one of the most historic moments in the history of this country in its relationship with Indian people. And to be clear, this moment was really created and led by the leadership of Secretary Deb Haaland and her team there at the Department of Interior. And what this has meant and means for Indian Country is that we hope that this is a beginning of an era of repair, a repair between the United States government and the Indigenous people, the First People of this land.

And as monumental as this apology is, we have to embrace the complexity of this moment. We have to embrace the complexity of this moment and lean towards action, too, because it can’t be an apology that’s on empty words. And they’ve been making great strides at the Department of Interior by investing into Indigenous education and by investing into research to further know and understand what has happened, you know, with Indian boarding schools. But we need more of that.

And so, some of the things that we’re calling on is just a few things that President Biden can do before he leaves office to follow up on this. One of those calls to action is rescinding the Medals of Honor that were given to the 7th Cavalry at the Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. To rescind those Medals of Honor would be a way to invoke healing.

The other thing that we’re calling upon is, you know, America’s longest-living Indigenous political prisoner in American history is a boarding school survivor, and his name is Leonard Peltier. And so, we’re calling upon President Biden for executive clemency for Leonard Peltier.

We also want to see this administration, and actually future administrations, invest into unprecedented levels of investing into Indigenous language, culture and education, because it was the education that was weaponized and used as a mechanism to assimilate our people. And as a result of that, so many Indigenous languages were lost. And so, now we’re calling upon Biden to invest into unprecedented levels of Indigenous education and languages.

And then, lastly, what we want to see Congress do is we want to see Congress pass the U.S. Truth and Healing Commission bill, because that bill would make sure that the truth and healing work that is currently underway can be supported for the long haul, far into the future, because it’s not one apology that can fix this. This is hopefully the beginning of a new era of repair and healing between Indigenous people and the United States government.

AMY GOODMAN: So, on the issue of Leonard Peltier, there is also another incredible connection, because Leonard Peltier was a survivor of the residential boarding schools, wasn’t he, Nick?

NICK TILSEN: Absolutely. You know, he was in the boarding schools, in — he was in the Sisseton Wahpeton boarding school, and —

AMY GOODMAN: In North Dakota?

NICK TILSEN: South Dakota. And so, he was in that boarding school, taken from his home. And what a lot of people don’t realize is that Leonard Peltier and many people who became leaders in the American Indian Movement were survivors of boarding school. They came out of that era, and then they resisted. And so, Leonard Peltier is part of that resistance. And so, it’s an incredibly reflective thing to think about, that America’s longest-living Indigenous political prisoner, who is incarcerated right now at the age of 80 years old in maximum-security prison, is actually a boarding school survivor. And so, that’s why, you know, if we want —

AMY GOODMAN: Imprisoned in Florida. I remember asking President Clinton on Election Day 2000 if he would consider granting clemency for Leonard Peltier, which he said he was weighing at the time. That was almost a quarter of a century ago.

NICK TILSEN: Yeah, that was almost a — I mean, and here we are now, you know? And so, we are continuing to push. We’d like to see, you know, executive clemency for Leonard Peltier. And I think that one of the ways that this can happen is that Biden can give executive clemency to Leonard Peltier by humanizing him and recognizing Leonard Peltier is a survivor of boarding schools. And he just apologized for the impact of boarding schools. And the freedom that Leonard Peltier was fighting for was to break free of those things that happened by the impact of boarding schools on Native communities and Indigenous communities. And so, this is a profound opportunity. And it’s a way — it’s a way for President Biden to take action, you know, in a huge issue that would impact throughout Indian Country.

AMY GOODMAN: Nick, before we go, I want to ask you about the Native American vote in this country. The apology was made in Arizona. You have a very close race in Montana between Tim Sheehy and Senator Tester. The role of the Native American vote, not only there but in this country?

NICK TILSEN: Well, the Native American vote has the ability to swing this election in key swing states. And so, Native American vote does matter and has the ability to impact this election. What we want to see is we want to see more action. If the Democrats want the vote of Indian people, we want them to stand with us, not only — not only on issues like the apology around boarding schools, but we also want them to stand with us in the solidarity that we have calling for a ceasefire in Palestine. And both of those things are true to us. And they don’t automatically get our vote. The Democrats don’t automatically get the vote of Native people. They must stand with us. And we stand in deep solidarity with the Palestinian people for freedom and for justice and for liberation and for — and we call for a ceasefire. And so, what we want is the progressives to stand with Indian people. And that’s how you earn an Indian vote.

AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Nick Tilsen, what would you demand of a President Trump, if he is elected president, and a President Harris?

NICK TILSEN: Both of them, one, this apology that was made on behalf — it was made on behalf of the United States government. So, our expectation is that whoever is the president, Harris or Trump, that they have absolutely, unequivocally, they have to follow through on commitments that they’ve made for truth, healing and reconciliation.

Secondly, we want to see a ceasefire now. We want the — as people who have survived the American genocide, we want to stop the genocide of the Palestinian people. We want to work towards a more peaceful movement in the world. And we want to continue to fight for the return of Indigenous lands back into Indigenous hands.

And these are demands to both of these administrations, because this entire democracy is built on the stolen lands of Indigenous people. So, this is what we’re calling for at this time in history: you know, unprecedented levels of investment into Indigenous languages, the return of Indigenous lands back into Indigenous hands, and a ceasefire.

AMY GOODMAN: Nick Tilsen, we want to thank you so much for being with us, founder and CEO of the Indigenous-led NDN Collective, a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation. He’s speaking to us at a conference from Raleigh, North Carolina.

And tune in on election night to Democracy Now!, Tuesday, November 5th, for a four-hour election special, “War, Peace and the Presidency.” Join us from 8 p.m. to midnight Eastern Time. We’ll also be airing an expanded two-hour election show on Wednesday, November 6th, from 8:00 to 10:00 Eastern time in the morning. Any station, radio or television, can take these broadcasts, as well.

Democracy Now! is currently accepting applications for our video news production and digital fellowship programs. You can learn more and apply at democracynow.org.

Democracy Now!_ is produced with Renée Feltz, Mike Burke, Deena Guzder, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Messiah Rhodes, Nermeen Shaikh, María Taracena, Tami Woronoff, Charina Nadura, Sam Alcoff, Tey-Marie Astudillo, John Hamilton, Robby Karran, Hany Massoud and Hana Elias. Our executive director is Julie Crosby. Special thanks to Becca Staley, Jon Randolph, Paul Powell, Mike Di Filippo, Miguel Nogueira, Denis Moynihan. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.